STPDN students are aggressive: Research

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

An "unfriendly" study environment at the Public Administration Institute (STPDN) has turned students into monsters, research indicates.

Psychological tests conducted by the institute last year, show that 37 percent of the 806 students were alarmingly aggressive and 35 percent showed hypersexual tendencies.

A senior lecturer at the school presented the psychological test results to reporters on Saturday, saying that he needed to show people what was going on inside the institute.

"This is the wrong place to educate civil servants," he said on condition of anonymity.

The lecturer further revealed that violence has become part of the students' daily lives. Violent acts in the student community were common through until they become senior students, he said.

The test also shows that 31 percent of the students lack the of ability to integrate and 38.4 percent had no social awareness, empathy or tolerance.

The report suggested that 31 percent of the students were considered to be immature and 54 percent of them had a low-level ability to see reality.

STPDN Director Soetrisno said a personality assessment is the determining factor for his students' graduation and the minimum score for the subject should be 720.

One of the parents of the STPDN student said that it was common for his son to come home over the weekend covered with bruises.

He said that his son had been the victim of initiation- activities in which senior students "kidnap" freshmen and sophomore students from their dorms at night, put covers over their heads and beat them up.