Problems facing teachers greater than low pay alone

Problems facing teachers greater than low pay alone

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): The teachers' demand for a salary increase is
only one aspect of a greater problem. Their grievance does not
come only from their meager salaries, but from the loss of their
professional dignity and social standing.

Since the mid-1960s their standing within society has declined
gradually, and it seems to have reached its lowest point this
year.

The combination of low salaries and feelings of being
neglected, coupled with the sense that society does not really
appreciate their service and sacrifices, makes them bitter,
frustrated and angry.

Unfortunately, the way they are expressing their
dissatisfaction and demands for better treatment is so focused on
the salary issue, the government has failed to sense the true
nature of their frustration. Hence the tough and tedious
negotiations, or "bargaining", that has been going on between the
teachers and the government.

The teachers cannot accept the government's explanation that
it is unable to fulfill their demand for more money. One group is
convinced the government, particularly the legislature, is
discriminating against them. Another group accuses the government
of treating them poorly, while giving its favor to those teachers
who do not really teach, but carry out administrative duties.

The negotiations have taken a rather hostile turn that, unless
an agreement is reached concerning a salary for teachers,
threatens our school system with collapse, a possibility which
should not be underestimated.

The decision of the teachers in the West Kalimantan capital of
Pontianak to return their functional allowances to the government
-- suggesting the money be given to legislatures -- indicates
that jealousy and anger have begun to enter into the negotiation
process. This will only make the problem more complicated and
difficult to solve.

What can be done?

I think it would be wise for both sides do their best to scale
down their differences. This could be accomplished if they were
willing to agree that the core issue at hand is restoring
teachers' dignity and standing in society, not just giving them a
raise.

At the same time, both parties must also recognize that
teachers' standing in society is not determined solely by salary,
but by other factors as well. For example, by their intellectual
and pedagogical competence and by the ethical standards they
adopt to regulate their professional conduct.

Teachers who are too poor to feed and clothe themselves
properly will find it very difficult to command respect from
their students, no matter how learned they might be.

Conversely, teachers who are considered "dumb" or "outdated"
by the students and society will never be respected, even if they
drive a BMW or Mercedes to school. And teachers who violate the
norms of decency in their classes will also have difficulty
earning the respect of students.

And without the respect and affection of students and society,
dignity will be elusive for our teachers. In turn, without
dignity it is impossible to restore teachers' standing in
society.

If both parties can accept this framework, the remaining
problem is primarily to decide on a salary that is considered
reasonable and appropriate by both parties. This is in itself,
without any other complications, a very delicate matter. With
which other occupations should teaching be compared?

The most important feature of the teaching profession is that
it helps our youth prepare for a life in the future that
certainly will be different from life as we know it now.

To accomplish this job, teachers must have adequate knowledge
of present trends that will influence the shape of the immediate
future, an idealism concerning the quality of this future life,
basic ideas of how our present way of living should be modified
to meet the requirements of future life and a passion for guiding
the young.

This puts the teaching occupation in a special category that
is qualitatively different from any other occupation. How do we
as a nation value this occupation, and how do we enumerate those
who choose this occupation as their calling, their profession?

Certainly it is immoral to give those in the teaching
profession a salary that is not even enough to meet their daily
basic needs.

One way to answer this question is to imagine what would
happen to our nation if our teachers did not possess the personal
qualities needed to carry out properly the job of teaching as
outlined above.

We do not have to stretch our imaginations too far to get the
picture. The present condition of our nation, with its mediocre
human resources, bureaucrats and politicians, is the result of a
national education system that has faltered and sunk further into
mediocrity.

Shall we maintain this sorry condition of our nation, or shall
we stop it and begin making improvements?

The way we settle the issue of teachers' salaries will reflect
our national resolution in this regard. It is clear to everyone
that at this moment, the government cannot possibly give our
teachers a salary they consider appropriate.

What can be done is that the government, after reaching an
agreement concerning a "reasonable salary", can immediately
formulate a plan, a five-year strategy, for instance, for
gradually realizing this reasonable salary.

At the same time our teachers must make their own plan,
outlining how they are going to improve their teaching competence
and ethical standards over the same five years.

Done properly this will result in a gradual improvement in
teachers' salaries, accompanied by gradual improvements in
teachers' competence and their observance of ethical standards.

This agreement should constitute a kind of contract between
our teachers and the government and private employers of
teachers.

What about comparing the salaries of teachers with the
salaries of our legislators?

This is a very sensitive issue for me personally, because I
happen to be a member of the legislature who came from the
teaching ranks.

As far as I am concerned there is nothing wrong with this
comparison. What I cannot accept is teachers' argument that they
are being treated unfairly by the government primarily because so
many members of the legislature, at least in their eyes, are
poorly educated, coarse, insensitive and greedy.

This is, in my opinion, an incorrect argument. The argument
should be that in the opinion of teachers, the teaching
profession is at least equally important to the country as the
occupation of being a members of the legislature.

And on the basis of this argument they should then demand a
salary that is comparable to what our legislators earn. This is,
in my opinion, the valid argument. And let society decide whether
it can accept this argument or reject it.

One small note about the "poor quality" of our legislators.
Whose fault is this? The fault of our political parties, and more
generally it indicates that at the moment our political system
and our national political life are indeed in very poor shape.

Again we can ask ourselves, whose fault is it that we see such
vulgar conduct by our politicians?

It is important here for our teachers to realize that the
teaching profession is at least partly responsible for our
present political condition. Not our teachers of today, but our
teachers of the past 20 to 50 years.

If our teachers can understand this causal relationship
between the quality of teaching in the past and present political
conduct, then they must accept the moral responsibility that will
accompany a salary increase.

The writer resides in Jakarta, where he is an observer of
social and political affairs.