Scholar slams 'link and match' concept
Scholar slams 'link and match' concept
JAKARTA (JP): The government's program linking schools and
universities to the needs of the industrial world goes against
the basic concept of education, literature expert Umar Kayam
says.
The "link and match" program has created partitions in
Indonesia's world of education, the professor of literature at
Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University was quoted by Antara as
saying.
"This program forces a child to study and master one field
only," Umar said at a ceremony to launch a book by Eko
Budihardjo, the dean of the School of Technology at Semarang's
Diponegoro University, Monday.
"We really should ask, why are we teaching our children?" he
said, adding that the basic concept of education was to instill a
strong general knowledge foundation in children from primary
school to university.
The "link and match" program, the brainchild of Minister of
Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, was launched four
years ago in response to complaints from industry about the poor
quality of Indonesian school and university graduates.
Under the scheme, the government has introduced measures such
as revamping school curricula and introducing sandwich courses at
vocational schools, streamlining the number of study programs at
universities and opening more polytechnics.
Wardiman said in Padang yesterday that the "link and match"
program is also aimed at preventing the recurrence of unemployed
university graduates because no one wanted their skills.
Speaking after installing Marlis Rahman as the new Andalas
University rector, the minister said Indonesia should build 150
more polytechnics in the next 25 years, Antara reported.
Umar said he feared for Indonesian education, with the "link
and match" program coming on top of the frequent changes to
national education curricula in schools and universities.
"This partitioning is detrimental to us all," he said.
Indonesian education should really produce people with general
knowledge, not specialists, he said.
Because children were encouraged to take specialized studies
from primary school until university, graduates tended to lack
perspective in academic and humanity matters, he said.
This is the case with virtually everyone, whether they
graduated in medicine, technology, economy, literature or another
field, he said.
Even within schools of literature, what is taught in one
program can be so different to another, that students tend not to
communicate with one another, he said.
Some so-called language experts were not even familiar with
Indonesian literature because it was not required reading, Umar
said.
He said that what had been known as liberal arts studies had
disappeared in Indonesia because of the specialization introduced
from senior high school on.
"Ideally, all the basic subjects should be taught so students
are prepared to face social and cultural realities when they
graduate," Umar said. (emb)