Problem-solving ability here still poor

Problem-solving ability here still poor

Simon Marcus Gower, Principal, Harapan Bangsa High School,
Banten, Tangerang

An Indonesian living and studying in California, U.S. recently
sent an email to a friend in Jakarta. He expressed his sorrow
about the news that he was hearing about Indonesia. His list of
complaints was familiar and quite long.

It was easy, however, to see how some of his complaints had
obviously been unrealistically added to by the sources of his
news. Western media tends to dramatize and can make a minor,
isolated event seem like the collapse of a government or economy.

The picture painted of Indonesia in Western media is often a
bleak and desperate one. There can be no denying that Indonesia
has suffered from some bleak experiences which have led people to
take desperate measures.

The ease with which many in Indonesia have resorted to
violence shows a weakness of mind and of willpower to solve a
problem with peacefulness, thoughtfulness and equanimity. Too
many have fallen into the trap of being willing to do anything to
apparently get them through their problems; without so much as a
second thought or regard for others. Many have been willfully
content to tread on the backs of others and violate their rights.

With greater humanity, greater willpower and greater
education, acts of desperation will always be sidelined. And this
is perhaps the greatest misfortune and sorrow to have been
visited on Indonesia. The lack of willpower to find a humane
solution to problems has left a fertile seedbed for acts of
inhumanity. The lack of educated minds that are able to think
ahead and consider consequences has left Indonesians to be
victims of Indonesians.

Education can and should help to provide a better future for
Indonesia by giving students powers of thought -- thought that
allows people to plan and really consider what may or will arise
as a consequence of their actions. In desperate times disputes
are always more likely to occur. People become more sensitive,
more reactionary and more vulnerable to the mood swings and
vagaries of being more emotionally charged up. But the educated
mind is better able to keep emotions in check and reduce the
dangers of reactionary behavior.

Schools and education systems have to be fundamental tools in
remedying these kinds of problems and so it becomes essential
that schools and educators maintain policies and procedures that
promote peacefulness, in particular peaceful dispute resolution.

Sadly, though, disputes and arguments in Indonesian schools
are not used sufficiently as potential sources of lessons and
learning. Sadly, too often the desire to punish, or to even take
pleasure in punishing, is allowed to cloud or just wash away the
potential to learn and gain understanding. Take the example of
two high school students caught fighting in their school. What
remedy was applied to their dispute? The teacher merely chose to
use a classroom ruler for a violent purpose on both boys.

Another teacher/ student encounter reflects weak willed
thinking on how to deal with "difficult" students. One student
had been disruptive in class and his teacher's patience ran out
and he decided it was time to act, time to punish.

But the student was told to choose between extra homework or a
violent blow from the teacher. The student, being disruptive and
lazy chose the latter. The student learnt nothing from this as he
merely continued to be disruptive.

Equally signifying failure was the teacher's observations
about this punishment, because he said it made him feel better
personally -- "It felt good and I felt satisfied that I had
really hit him" -- being his comment. This kind of attitude and
emotional involvement in punishment is misplaced. It offers no
opportunity for learning and can only be a short term remedy.

Indonesia needs to access more long term remedies. Schools and
teachers need to be equipping their students with the thinking
skills that will allow them to become problem solvers. Those
thinking skills need to be informed by a sense of responsibility
and humanity towards others.

Future generations are, after all, emerging from Indonesian
schools and so if we hope to arrive at a time when Western
reporters will only be able to report good news about Indonesia,
it is essential that educators work hard to create a learning
environment and habit within school students to be more
considerate of others. Thinking skills, the ability to plan and
organize and a real sense of belonging and humanity will be
crucial. Teaching humanitarianism in schools now creates the
possibility of a brighter future.