International curriculum encourages students to speak up

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): It has been the experience of a lifetime for young Gelly Augustin. An English language teacher at the Paramita High School in Tangerang, west of here, Gelly recently spent three months teaching Bahasa Indonesia to high school students at the Jakarta International School (JIS).

"I learnt so much," gushed Gelly, who plans now to share her exciting insights with colleagues at Paramita.

It is a policy at Paramita to regularly organize workshops and seminars so that staff members can exchange new ideas and teaching experiences with each other.

The first few days on the JIS campus were indeed a cultural shock for her, said the Muhammadiyah Teacher's Training College graduate. She was amazed at all the questions that students at JIS are allowed to ask of their teachers. She thought it very cheeky of some students wanting to know the Indonesian translation of several "bad words" in English.

In comparison, she said, Indonesian students are too shy and afraid of making mistakes. It is considered rather rude of students to ask questions of the teacher. Although Gelly felt that life for a teacher is easier when students are obedient and quiet in the classroom, she cannot help but admire the self confidence that students at JIS radiate.

Most teachers in local schools are in the habit of spending much of their time trying to "control" students. They expend a lot of energy keeping the kids quiet and getting them to just listen and obey commands.

This is what Gelly is used to. So after initial feelings of discomfort, Gelly began to enjoy teaching a group of children who were so alive and inquisitive, who would not accept an argument just because the teacher told them it was so. Although she did have to be very careful about allowing discussions that were related to class work rather than conversations that might have wasted both the teacher's and student's time.

This perhaps is the basic difference between the traditional way of teaching, not just all over Indonesia, but also in other developing parts of the world, where education is based solely on curriculum.

Kuko Kapoor, head of Kinderland, a preschool in South Jakarta's Pondok Indah, said the entire emphasis of the international system of education is to help each child develop his or her full potential, and not just to dole out information from books. Education here is definitely child-centered.

"Even at the age of two years, the idea is to help children to think for themselves, to think creatively and to teach them to solve their own problems," said Kuko, who begins by teaching toddlers how to get along with peers and how to be useful members of the community. This is done by letting the kids clean up after eating or playing, and to be tolerant of those who look and behave differently to others.

Some Indonesian schools offer curricula encouraging students to reach their full potential, both inside and outside the classroom, in the hope that students will grow up to be self- reliant adults able to function responsibly in a complex and rapidly changing world.

However, such schools are few in comparison to the needs in the country. The majority of Indonesian children are still left to be taught in the outdated way, by teachers who are mostly out of tune with the spirit of the modern world.

Danielle, who has three children going to a local school, strongly feels that the education system here is still in its infancy.

"The system here emphasizes memorization only. There is no attempt at encouraging the kids to think critically, or how to go deeper into a topic by doing research. Of what use is this education when it does not help solve problems faced in life?" asked Danielle.

Educationists also feel that the impact of the krismon (monetary crisis) would not have been so tragic if more Indonesians had been better educated, especially in languages and technical subjects. Although on paper the country claims to have conquered illiteracy, it seems the education imparted to Indonesians does not help them in meeting challenges faced in their daily lives.

And the worst news from local campuses are stories, recurring every year, of degrees and diplomas being paid for.

"Those students who graduate this way will probably end up cheating throughout life," said a parent.

Gelly teaches English to at least 60 students every year, but she feels that many more need to be fluent not only in English, but in as many foreign languages as possible to keep pace with the rest of the world.

Millions of young Indonesians were employed in the service sector after crash courses in the art of courtesy. But when the economy crashed, courtesy was thrown to the winds as it could no longer help people earn a living. An endless stream of chaos seems to have ruled the country ever since.

Danielle cannot get over the fact that her 13-year-old has to memorize 17 subjects. She gives an example of her son when he was in kindergarten.

"He was very proud of his drawing of an apple, but his face fell when the teacher gave him a K (kurang, literally meaning "minus"). After talking to the teacher, it conspired that marks were deducted for coloring the apple red. The teacher had seen only green apples!" Danielle recalled.

She feels that schools here would be better off if teachers were themselves tested and further educated on an annual basis, and if large classes with 45 students or more were reduced by half.

International schools score better than most local schools also because they are brimming over with resources and are equipped with the latest technology. There, teachers are taught, in partnership with parents, to prepare children of from diverse national and cultural backgrounds for a positive attitude toward school, and toward a world of change in which a good education is a normal expectation.