Rising to the challenge of bilingual education

Rising to the challenge of bilingual education

Rachel Davies, Sydney, Australia

The debate surrounding the application of bilingual education
in Indonesia seems to be growing; and sometimes growing in its
intensity so that it is becoming rather heated. This debate is
good but we must all work to ensure that the debate does not
become overheated and actions become irrational.

It does seem as though some people that are getting involved
in the field of bilingual education are doing so without enough
knowledge and ability and this often leaves their actions flawed
and in turn rather irrational when we are hoping to deliver the
best aspects of bilingual education to schools and colleges.

Recent articles in this newspaper have highlighted the way in
which schools have been opening up in Indonesian cities that have
been effectively laying claims to bilingual education but are
nowhere near delivering such a sophisticated model of education.
It seems that the title of "national plus" school has come to be
inappropriately claimed in a rush to be "competitive" and gather
students.

Such a condition cannot be acceptable and nor should it be
accepted by those responsible for overseeing schools in
Indonesia. When the aim of bilingual education or the title of
"national plus" school becomes little more than a marketing
epithet, then a truly absurd point has been arrived at: A point
that is neither beneficial to the development of bilingualism nor
quality schools in Indonesia.

It has been suggested that new, private schools are being
allowed to commence operations entertaining and applying the
notion that the English language can and should supersede the
first language of Bahasa Indonesia; this is utterly wrong and
surely cannot stand. At a time when the government of Indonesia
has apparently been toying with the idea that expatriates in
Indonesia may need to prove their ability to speak Bahasa
Indonesia it seems contradictory and nonsensical that Indonesian
schools may be being allowed to set aside and even be dismissive
of the mother tongue.

The impact of such a policy in a school can be deeply damaging
and lasting and far from the genuinely valid reasons for
bilingualism in schools and also the development of better
private schools. Bilingualism (and that is true bilingualism not
some unacceptable misappropriation of it) does not promote any
ideas of usurping a language. Fundamentally such an idea exposes
a school and its students to a very dangerous condition.

Students that are literally "thrown into the deep end" of a
schooling system that demands that they use a second language
without sufficient support for such usage are left in a
predicament in which they will struggle to learn anything. They
may be left feeling inadequate and even foolish simply because
they do not have the linguistic wherewithal to rise to the
challenge of bilingual education.

Children that are entering a program of bilingual education,
critically, require the strong support of their teachers through
instruction and their school through curriculum design and
planning to rise to the challenge of such education. Children
that do not get this kind of support can quite literally be left
traumatized and damaged by an education that was not right for
them.

At the heart of true bilingualism are ideas of liberation and
opening up other possibilities and skills for students. Language
can, and should through bilingualism, come to be a liberating
force for students but where bilingualism is applied recklessly
and without sufficient planning and competence a lack of language
can become a shackle that inhibits growth and real development
for the child.

The eighteenth century German writer Goethe once wrote that
"whoever is not acquainted with foreign languages knows nothing
of his own". Such an analysis is strong and deeply critical but
it does have value and it has value that bilingualism in
education recognizes. The aim is not to degrade, denigrate or
dismiss a language but instead is to set two languages side-by-
side as a duopoly of vehicles via which students may learn.

This is without question at the center of any school worthy of
the title "school"; namely providing students with opportunities
to learn. These opportunities may come in diverse forms and ways
but critically they must be based in what is best, appropriate
and needed for the students to grow and learn. It is unlikely
that heavy-handed imposition of a foreign language will be best
for students.

Predicating the application of bilingualism on ideas that
"English is the foreign language used internationally and so is
essential" is that kind of heavy-handedness. It has even been
possible to hear it claimed that people who are able to use and
think in English are better thinkers than those that only use
Bahasa Indonesia. This sets in motion a notion of English being
superior which again is not at the core of true bilingual
education.

To set about offering bilingual education is not to set about
"beating up" another language and be disparaging about its value
or worth to the student. The simultaneous development of two
languages is the goal. Make no mistake, the development of two
languages side-by-side and hand-in-hand is by no means a minor
challenge; it is considerable and significant and so sets up a
great need to plan, prepare and execute in a very careful and
considerate manner.

Care and consideration for the students' development are,
naturally enough, central and critical but in addition care and
consideration for the mother tongue should not be neglected. For
example, it is possible to hear high-school students in Indonesia
be quite dismissive of their mother tongue; only recently one
student in her mid-teens told me that she "doesn't want to study
Bahasa Indonesia in school" because she "doesn't need it in her
future". This suggests a dismissal of a language that
bilingualism should not be the instigator of.

The value of the mother tongue should not be undermined by
bilingualism. Bahasa Indonesia is part of what it means and is to
be an Indonesian and to recklessly push it aside would be and is
wrong.

The Canadian writer Kildare Dobbs wrote "My country is the
English language"; this literally represents pride in a language
as a cultural and key aspect of who you are. Indonesian children
in Indonesian schools should get the chance to feel such pride in
their own language; placing English, and so bilingualism,
alongside that should be done respectfully and wisely. Skill in
two, or even more, languages liberates and enhances the students
but we should not risk imprisoning them when languages are
imposed and done badly.

The writer is an education consultant and can be reached at
rachdavies@hotmail.com