Political education begins in kindergarten

Political education begins in kindergarten

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): For about two weeks I watched my grandson
struggling very hard to memorize the five principles of
Pancasila. The first principle, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa Belief in
One God), was easy enough for him. When it came to the second
principle, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab (Just and Civilized
Humanity), he had trouble. He just could not get the word
kemanusiaan (humanity) pronounced right.

Instead of saying ke-ma-nu-si-a-an he always kept saying
ke-ma-nu-si-an. He constantly failed to pronounce the syllable
"a" before the last syllable "an". His mother -- my daughter --
became impatient. Sternly she said: "No, Dana, it is wrong. It is
not ke-ma-nu-si-an but ke-ma-nu-si-a-an. I saw that my grandson
was quite close to crying.

I tried to come to the rescue. "Okay, Dana, let us do it
together. Repeat after Eyang (grandfather), okay?" I said the
word ke-ma-nu-si-a-an very slowly. He repeated it. Then we said
it again together: ma-nu-si-a (human being). We said this word
several times. Then I broke down the word kemanusiaan into its
components, ke-manusia-an, saying it also very slowly. He
repeated it correctly and then we said it together several times,
each time a little faster. Finally I asked him to say the entire
word by himself. He did it. His clouded face was gone and the
tears were also gone. He smiled broadly.

My grandson is six years and four months old. He is still at
kindergarten. He was born in the United States and came home to
Indonesia only at the end of August, last year. His Bahasa
Indonesia is basically okay, I think. He still makes a few
mistakes here and there. He knows the difference between kita
(we) and saya (I). On the whole, however, I think that he speaks
the Bahasa Indonesia quite well. His knowledge of the language
is, of course, still too limited to understand and repeat by
heart those formal phrases within the Pancasila pledge. This
became quite obvious when he had to memorize the longest
principle, the fourth one: Kerakyatan Yang Dipimpin Oleh Hikmah
Kebijaksanaan Dalam Permusyawaratan Perwakilan (Sovereignty of
the people led by the wisdom of deliberation among
representatives). Could you memorize this long phrase yourself? I
stumble every time.

I felt very, very sad, watching this whole scene. Is this the
way the entire young generation is receiving its political
education? And can we call this "political education"? I really
wonder. And if after every hard struggle and much emotional agony
children like my grandson manage to memorize the entire Pancasila
pledge, does it really mean that they have succeeded in
internalizing the Pancasila spirit: religiosity and religious
tolerance, humane and civilized humanity, national unity and
nationalism, democracy and people's sovereignty, and social
justice? I doubt it.

In my opinion Pancasila education should not consist of
drilling exercises towards memorizing the whole pledge, but
should primarily consist of efforts to make children understand
the meaning of the five principles of Pancasila and internalize
the values that are contained in those five principles. Pancasila
education should not, in my opinion, be reduced to mere
verbalism. It should be elevated to become the main educational
instrument for stimulating the development of personal character,
nationalism, and humanism within each child.

Another aspect of this episode that makes me deeply perturbed
is that this method of teaching Pancasila at the kindergarten
level is clearly in violation of one of the basic principles of
pedagogy. If I am not mistaken, one of the first maxims of
pedagogy is that we should never treat children like miniature
adults. We should not dress them like adults, we should not talk
to them like we talk to adults and we should not require them to
think like adults.

Children need clothes that suit their needs and age. This
clothing style will gradually change to become an adult clothing
style. Children have their own language, children's language,
which will gradually develop into adult language. And children
have their own logic, which in time will develop into adult
logic.

The big question we have to answer in this respect is how to
rectify the situation. I do not think that this problem can be
separated from that of examining the educational validity of the
current design for political education for the entire school
system in this country. What is happening to my grandson and his
classmates is not an isolated incident. Throughout the nation
Pancasila education within the formal school system is done in
the same way: by rote memorization, first of the five principles,
and later on of any official formulation of national political
decisions. The emphasis has always been on memorization, not on
understanding; on acceptance as an expression of political
loyalty, and not on critical scrutiny. The end result is that
formal political education brings about competence only in
repeating official slogans and repeating official arguments, and
not on competence in analyzing the current situation and finding
alternatives for a future course.

It is only after we find a solution to this general problem
that we will be able to address the specific problem of improving
political education at the kindergarten level. It is only after
we have agreed on the general design of political education in
our schools that we will be able to talk about political
education at the kindergarten level that conforms to the basic
premises of preschool education.

How long will it be before we find solutions to these
problems? And what will happen in the meantime to our children?
This is another worry. If we take the time factor into account,
then we will realize that we just cannot wait idly until a
solution is decreed by the government. This is a problem, in my
opinion, that teachers and parents alike should be concerned
about. Indifference on the part of parents -- and grandparents, I
suppose -- will lead to an educational situation where our
children will become increasingly conditioned to look at the real
world through ideological spectacles and become estranged from
the realities of political life in this country. They will become
citizens who will be able to conform, but not to reform or
transform.