Indicting history lessons in schools

Indicting history lessons in schools

By M. Habiburrohman

JAKARTA (Antara): How would a history teacher feel if his own
students accused him of teaching them a lie?

Sumantri from junior high school SMP 18 in Jakarta knows from
experience.

"What you said about Supersemar (the March 11 Indonesian
presidential executive order) is not the same as what the
newspapers say," he quoted his students as asserting critically.

Long a subject of debate, the document contained president
Sukarno's order for Soeharto, then chief of the Army Strategic
Reserves Command, to take necessary steps to restore order in
1966.

Sumantri is not alone. At least 50 history teachers from
junior and senior high schools in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and
Bekasi told the same story in a "Dialog on History Teaching",
organized by the Directorate of History and Traditional Values of
the Ministry of Education and Culture in March.

They complained that their students asked them many questions
about historical facts, particularly those, like Supersemar,
which are controversial.

"According to our history books, president Soeharto is the
'Father of National Development' and an honest person," a
participant in the dialog said. "Unfortunately, according to the
mass media, he is involved in collusion, corruption and nepotism.
So, students think that we are lying to them."

Agreeing with the participants, director of the Directorate of
History and Traditional Values, Anhar Gonggong, said the dilemma
was the result of an inappropriate teaching strategy, curriculum
and materials for the subject.

He believed the teaching of the subject was undefined. "As a
school subject, history tends to be taught as events and dates
that the students have to commit to memory."

Historian Taufik Abdullah said the teaching of history from
elementary school to secondary school did not vary. "It is all
about dates, heroes and foes," he said.

History education, said Abdullah, chairman of the Indonesian
Society of Historians (MSI), tended to be out of tune with the
level of explanation desired at each educational level.

"From the junior high schools to the senior high schools, the
same materials are simply repeated without any effort to expose
historical events to the students from different angles. He added
that the Diponegoro War, for example, was simply repeated several
times without any attempt to reveal its various historical
aspects.

In his opinion, the history curriculum does not allow students
to have an adequate understanding of the subject. "As a history
lesson is fraught with political content, it is vulnerable to
lies," Anhar said.

Politically, a history lesson always sides with the interest
of the ruling class; the significance of a historical event can
be belittled or exaggerated according to what those in power deem
to be appropriate.

As a result, Taufik said, the teaching of history in schools
tended to be ideologically oriented. It is reflected, for
example, in the awarding of the title "The Father of Development"
to Soeharto.

Owing to the ideological orientation, the teaching of history
in Indonesia only cherishes great hopes. "As a result, the
significance of the dimension of time usually eludes the
students," he added.

Taking the March 1, 1949, general attack as an example, Anhar
said the event was evidence that the teaching of history was
coopted by the interest of the ruling regime. "Soeharto's heroism
in this event has been exaggerated," he said.

Book

Anhar also identified the constraint that many books history
books were inadequate but "unfortunately, these books are
compulsory at school".

He said most of the history textbooks had passed a credibility
test because they were written without adherence to a correct
textbook writing methodology.

"The trouble is that these books are already in circulation,
and some are being used as a teaching material simply on the
basis of a consensus between the publisher and the history
teachers concerned," he said.

Taufik seconded the opinion, saying that many history
textbooks were not fit to be used as teaching materials because
the pointers used to elucidate an event can indicate, at least,
that the textbook writers are incapable of drawing up a good line
of historical description.

It was justified by a study of history textbooks for secondary
schools which was conducted by a group of students at the Jakarta
Teachers Training Institute (IKIP Jakarta).

"The study has shown that many textbooks on history do not
meet the requirements, at least in respect to the line of
discussion and the language used," said Syamsiar, a teacher at
IKIP Jakarta's history department.

Not surprisingly, the Directorate of History and Traditional
Values has concluded that history textbooks are a problem for
both students and teachers on a national scale.

Controversial

In an attempt to compensate for the weaknesses, Anhar Gonggong
suggests that controversial historical facts should be honestly
exposed. "History is controversial," he said.

As an example, he said, revealing the facts related to
Supersemar, the birth of Pancasila or March 1, 1949, must be
coupled with putting them in their historical background.

"In this way, there will be no more cases in which a figure is
given more prominence than other figures or the role of a certain
figure in a certain historical is abolished," he said.

In this context, a sociological explanation of a historical
event plays a significant role to ensure that historical facts
will no longer be exposed and understood as merely black or
white.

In addition to this sociological explanation, Taufik believes
it is necessary to develop the materials of history as a subject
in accordance with the maturity levels of students and
educational stratification.

In this way, said Taufik, who is vice president of the
International Association of Historians on Asia (IAHA), the
materials for the subject must be able to kindle the students'
imagination about a particular historical event.

"This may avoid a level of explanation which is either too
sophisticated or too naive," he said.

Regarding the curriculum and materials of a history subject
that fail to conform to the intellectual development of the
students, the Directorate of History and Traditional Values views
it as the impact of the gap between historians and the team
drawing up a curriculum for the teaching of history.

"The Directorate General of Primary and Secondary Education
and the Directorate of History and Traditional Values must be
synchronized," a meeting concluded.

Taufik has suggested a thorough study of various textbooks on
history now available in bookstores. "Teachers must also be able
to evaluate the credibility of a textbook on history," he said.

The study must encompass the framework of discussion or
chapters, the line of description of a particular historical
event and the style of the language used in a history textbook.

"The style of the language used in a history textbook must
reflect history as a discipline. It means that each word chosen
must have a concept behind it." He added that there were frequent
cases of overlapping use of terms and words in textbooks on
history, such as the words "battle" and "war".

He continued that a history textbook should be provided with
attractive illustrations to conform with the historical events
being discussed to ensure that history will be more interesting
to study.

Anhar believes improvements in the teaching of history are
essential because the presence of too many confusing items will
only perplex students and teachers.

He admitted efforts to improve the teaching of history would
not proceed well unless the government shows its political will
not to include its political interest in the curriculum or
textbooks.

In the conclusion made at the preparatory meeting, the
Directorate of History and Traditional Values affirmed this,
saying that the teaching of history must be freed from political
interests from now on.

As long as political interests remain in the curriculum and
materials for the subject, the fate of Sumantri and his fellow
history teachers will remain difficult. They will continue to be
caught between feeling deceived by the curriculum presented to
them, and having to deal with being called liars by their
students.