Should teachers

Should teachers
have degrees?

From Pikiran Rakyat

Reading a news story titled The bill on national education,
teachers should have at least a S-1 degree to be licensed to
teach published on Dec. 29, 2001, I, as a teacher, need to
respond to the statement made by Prof. Dr. HS Hamid Hassan, MA, a
member of the Educational Reform Committee.

First, the quality of a teacher is not necessarily determined
by his university. After 18 years of teaching in South Banten and
currently in Bandung's Junior High School No. 5, I have found
that one-or-two-year diploma holders are more qualified as
teachers than those with full university degrees.
Second, the personality of a teacher is not determined by the
possession of an S-1 (equivalent to a Master's degree) but from
their natural disposition.

Third, teachers may be obliged to have a teaching license but
their trainers should really be responsible for, in particular,
their mentality and morality. Do not let teachers with university
degrees bring the negative influences of urban modernization to
the regions in which they are stationed.

LALAN T TAKHRUDIN

Bandung