Right education for building a democracy

By A. Chaedar Alwasilah

Democracy is like a raft. It never sinks, but, damn it, your feet are always in the water. -- D.W. Brogan, The Free State.

BANDUNG (JP): The fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union was perceived as a symbol of supremacy of democracy over communism. The contemporary world witnessed these historic events with astonishment and now believes democracy is the most valid form of government.

Democracy enhances the development of human potential in various aspects, through equality of access to education and active participation in all walks of life. The trend is particularly evident in recent years.

At home, Soeharto's downfall last year marked the beginning of the democracy era. Indeed not until May 1998 did the Indonesian people gain independence from their own ruler. It took years of hardship, suffering and incessant struggle to drive him to step down, yet there will be more years of trouble and effort ahead of us to maintain democracy as the sole teaching and the very foundation for building the nation.

Democracy presumes the existence of enlightened and rational citizens, respect for human dignity, equality and commitment to work together toward a common end. A theory says that these values are truly in accord with the pillars of the state ideology, Pancasila, a genuine concept unearthed from the soil of the newly founded Indonesia.

Unfortunately, the concept was buried again for decades. The biggest agenda of the country on entering the third millennium is indeed educating the bureaucrats how to exercise democracy.

Why the bureaucrats?

In Max Weber's framework, bureaucracy leads to antidemocracy. Increasingly complex problems of coordination and regulation cause expansion of the state, as much as government becomes the biggest bureaucracy in the society. Weber alerts us to the antidemocracy potential inherent in the ruling bureaucracy, namely the ruling group aspiring to maintain the status quo.

How is education for democracy carried out? First of all, in democratic countries all citizens are entitled to basic education. The government should provide them with basic education. Second, the sustainability of democracy is assured by dint of education, namely basic education for all and lifelong education, both of which should be promoted in a democratic environment.

The burning question is: Have all the citizens received basic education yet? Unfortunately, the answer is negative.

In 1997 alone, according to data from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the school-age population, ranging from elementary to high school levels, was 52.7 million, while the number of school dropouts was 17.5 million. Now, as the country endures social conflicts and economic collapse, many more youths will swell the number of school dropouts. The statistics tell us that so far the government is not able to provide citizens with basic education, thus indicating democracy is not fully exercised yet.

Lifelong education suggests the completion of formal education is not the end of education. It presupposes the formation of a learning society, one where ongoing learning activities will be broadly embraced. Opportunities for lifelong education should be made available to the greater number of citizens as part of the right to education, and not be restricted to a few.

To be successful, lifelong education must be based on basic education during which students will have acquired basic learning and language skills to enable them to make good use of available opportunities of continued learning. Outside school walls, there constitutes a lifelong learning laboratory in which democracy is learned and exercised. It is in this laboratory that the values of dignity, equality, mutual trust, appreciation of others' belief and culture and freedom of expression are observed.

The goal of education for democracy is essentially to enhance the human qualities imbued with the values mentioned above, i.e., to make those values internalized in the citizens, so that they can fully participate in all aspects of life, including democratic decision-making at all levels that will lead to equality, justice and peace.

How should the goals above be operationalized in the curriculum? The content areas of education for democracy include the following.

* Information and knowledge on democratic principles, various forms of democratic governance, political institutions and democracy in practice, democratic ways of life including nonviolent conflict resolution, dialog and consultation, collective decision-making and cooperation.

* Attitude and values to be inculcated to promote democracy in daily life. This comprises mutual trust, belief in human dignity, equality, freedom of expression, recognition of other's rights, especially of minorities and the deprived, belief in participation, cooperation and the need for sharing and caring.

The upcoming general election under Habibie's administration will be his greatest lesson on democracy to all the citizens of Indonesia, and the whole world as an eyewitness. High school students, as well as other citizens, will go to the ballot to exercise long-awaited democracy. The nation has learned a lot about democracy but, unfortunately, there have been no good teachers. Unless the general election is carried out fairly, education for democracy held in the classroom will contribute nothing to political maturation at home.

What skills are to be taught to students? To practice democracy, they should have skills of expression and articulation, dialog, consultation, participation, teamwork and cooperation, negotiation, decision-making and peaceful solution of problems. Education for democracy is a continuing process; appropriately introduced at all levels and forms of education through an integrated approach or through special subjects. These skills are to be taught not by civics or social studies teachers alone, but teachers of all school subjects. Those skills are essentially communication skills instrumental for transferring and developing knowledge.

Teaching democracy across the curriculum entails reconstructing textbooks, with major emphasis on the value of building challenges to student's thinking rather than emphasizing only factual information with indoctrinating overtones, a common characteristic of textbooks during the New Order.

Basic to developing democratic ethos and attitudes is reflective thinking as the means through which curricular elements are unified. Teachers transfer knowledge to their students in democratic ways, where students are free to articulate their opinion and even to disagree with the teachers. Both teachers and students agree that truth is never final and always negotiable.

Developed in the classroom, reflection is extended to social problem solving. In other words, reflective thinking is the testing of conclusion through application. Once they are taught the meaning of Pancasila democracy, for example, the students will critically observe whether the 1999 general election is carried out fairly. And if it is not, like those during the New Order period, Pancasila will not be perceived as a valid form of government.

Language teachers play major roles in developing communication skills for "doing" democracy. Verbal skills are particularly essential in developing competence for engaging in dialog, negotiation, teamwork, cooperation and collective decision- making. Indonesia is culturally rich in languages, religions, music, arts, literature, dance and games. These constitute themes, topic, and materials to be adopted and adapted for teaching democracy. It is in diversity that democracy counts a great deal.

The writer is a lecturer at Bandung Teachers Training Institute, West Java