Muthahhari enlivened by classical music

Muthahhari enlivened by classical music

By Rikza Abdullah

BANDUNG (JP): Muthia and her colleagues from various parts of
the country find a fresh but challenging learning environment in
their new school here as they are exposed in the classrooms to
baroque classical music while listening to their teachers
explaining lessons in English with visual aids.

"Listening to all our lessons in English, except those on
Indonesian and Arabic, is challenging to us but we continue to
feel relaxed and fresh the whole school day because the music
helps reinvigorate our spirit," she said here earlier this week.

Headmaster Yusuf Bachtiar said that music, according to the
quantum teaching and learning method, is part of the requirements
for creating a conducive environment.

To create physically conducive conditions, the Muthahhari
Senior High School has equipped each of its classrooms with easy-
to-move chairs, a centralized sound system, black and white
boards, an air-conditioner, an overhead projector, flowers and
visual aids. All the walls are painted brownish red, a color that
is said to stimulate the blood flow.

Listening to music during the learning process in the
classroom is deemed important to balance the activities of both
sides of the human brain. Because most communication in the
classroom is conveyed in verbal and written forms, the learning
process activates the left side of the brain, which is
responsible for logical, sequential, linear and rational
thoughts . Meanwhile, music will activate the right side of the
brain, which can recognize non-verbal messages like music, art,
colors and space.

Furthermore, the learning process raises blood pressure,
intensifies brain waves and increases muscle tension, while music
can help reduce all of these. Musical works that are most
suitable for accompanying students in their learning are those
composed by Sebastian Bach, Handel, Pachelbel and Vivaldi, whose
rhythms are synchronized with the heartbeat.

"The relaxation brought about by the music, therefore, will
help students to continue to concentrate on their lessons,"
commented deputy headmaster Asep Durahman.

He said that to create a conducive environment for learning,
Muthahhari also engineers the psychosocial environment of the
school by, among other things, developing warm relations between
teachers and students, respecting the privacy of students and
recognizing the strengths of individual students.

The students' weaknesses are not disclosed publicly, so that
they will not feel disgraced. Teachers, therefore, keep the
results of the students' exams confidential and do not announce
them on notice boards.

A positive competitive environment is created through
celebrations for students who have notched up outstanding
achievements in the academic or other fields. Thus, the self-
confidence of students' can be developed.

Shulhu Khoiriyah of the third grade said students are also
allowed to eat snacks or have a drink in the classroom.

Yusuf said Muthahhari has chosen to adopt the quantum method,
which was first introduced by Bobbi DePorter and Mike Hernacki in
San Diego, the United States, in the 1980s, because it combines
various methods in order to optimize learning results.

"Besides the quantum method, we are actually also employing
the role-model and riyadhah (spiritual exercise) methods," he
said.

Under the role-model method, stories about certain religious
figures or scientists are narrated to students, so that they can
be used as models of achievement. Teachers are also encouraged to
act as role models for their students. Also under this method,
students of the second grade are given an opportunity to visit
professional persons, whose positions become their ideals, to
interview them about their job descriptions as well as good and
bad experiences in doing their jobs.

With the riyadhah method, students are expected to develop
their religious feelings together with their empathy for others.

On Wednesdays, Muthahhari students are allowed to learn
subjects of their own choice, which are not included in the
school's curriculum. Some of them learn music and dance while
others learn foreign languages.

The teaching methods introduced by Muthahhari have apparently
encouraged parents to send their children there, so that the
school was forced to close its doors to new enrollments in the
middle of May, long before state-run senior high schools had even
started enrolling new students. Because the number of this year's
applicants was so high, the school was also forced to open five
new classrooms accommodating 35 students each, instead of the
three originally planned.

Realizing that a large part of its students come from Jakarta
(31 percent as compared to 25 percent from Bandung and 44 percent
from other parts of the country), Muthahhari is now opening new
classes in the capital, where a new school complex will
eventually be built, Yusuf said.

Jalaluddin Rachmat. a co-founder of the school, said that
recruiting teachers is a tough job because they must be able to
deliver their lessons in English and satisfy the requirements for
teaching the quantum method.

"To select qualified teachers, we also allow students to
criticize their performance openly," he said.

Yusuf acknowledged that the costs to running the school with
some 400 students is so high that it usually suffers a deficit of
some Rp 300 million (US$33,333) a year, which is normally covered
by donors.

"We once wanted to ask for financial aid from the Islamic
Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank but the complex
bureaucratic procedures for processing the application
discouraged us," he said.