International curriculum encourages students to speak up

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.