'Horison' encourages students to appreciate literature

By Sori Siregar

JAKARTA (JP): Theoretically, students study literature from junior high school. But literature as a subject is taught as part and parcel of Indonesian language study. In other words, the time allocated for the learning of literature is very limited.

It is understandable why high school students' knowledge of literature is so poor and limited. The method of teaching prompts learning by rote, just to understand the definitions of verse and prose, the period of literary genres, the titles of books and the names of writers or poets in order in order to pass exams.

It is a rare student who is able to describe the content of a novel, to individually interpret a poem, to write an essay about the favorite works of writers or compose a simple book review. Such a situation still prevails and it seems no meaningful effort has been made to improve it.

A lack of teachers who can appreciate and understand literature is cited as is the main reason why its teaching in schools has been and still is so poor.

However good the methodology of literature teaching, the target of making students more appreciative is unlikely to be realized as long as the deficit of adequate teachers remains unresolved.

Changing the method of literature teaching could be one of the answers. But if that is the step to be taken, the availability of adequate literature teachers should be prepared well in advance.

Whatever the priority, one thing is obvious -- it will take time and require much money. Previous experience has told us that this sort of expectation is unlikely to be realized in the near future. It seems something has to be done to make high school students more literature-friendly.

In my view, with its present policy, the Horison literature magazine has taken steps in that direction. Since November 1966, this journal has adjusted its content to suit high school students. The supplement kaki langit (which means horizon) has been printed specifically for student activities. Last November, the supplement appeared with a number of poems collected from students and reviews contributed by Taufiq Ismail and Endo Senggono, a short story by Djamil Suherman and an anecdote by Motinggo Boesje.

Apart from poems by students, the December issue of kaki langit introduced the great Malay poet of the 19th century, Raja Ali Haji. Essays about him were also the main topic of Horison itself. Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, Taufiq Ismail and Maman S.Mahayana were contributors to the supplement with various reviews.

According to Taufiq, in his capacity as one of the Horison editors, the magazine, in its coming issues, will give priority to writings more accessible to students. Stories with aggressive sexual content, unsuitable for young students, will be given a lower priority. The argument for this is that students who read kaki langit will almost certainly read the works of famous writers.

In order to help students become more appreciative of literary works, Horison will also put forward "alternative" works of fiction in addition to those by renowned writers, O'Henry, Guy de Maupassant and Anton Chekov, to name but a few.

Experimental or absurd works, often the staple fare of high- brow readers such as critics or those seeking novelty, will also not be given the top priority.

A fellow writer of mine judges the new Horison policy cynically. To him, it is just a repeat of the steps taken by the now-defunct Sastra magazine in its final issues three decades ago. According to him, it is only a strategy to increase the magazine's circulation among high school students with the support of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, both of whose ministers hailed the birth of kaki langit as a noble and educative venture that deserves respect.

But challenging literary works, regarded as advantageous reading materials, surely sharpen the mind of readers, including students. Realizing that reading among students should be encouraged, sufficient high-quality materials should be supplied to them. It would be fair if kaki langit and Horison are seen in that context.

Light reading materials or trash are abundant but should not be condemned out of hand. The majority of readers, whoever they are, still require them for a moment of pleasure or just to kill time.