Teach You A Lesson as a Mirror for Self-Improvement

The Korean drama ‘Teach You A Lesson’ has gone viral. Like an aspirational spokesperson, the 10-episode series seems to vividly voice all the problems and grievances within the schooling system. Collusion between schools and parents, bullying that is allowed to escalate into a trigger for suicide. On the other hand, parents excessively demand their children to achieve. They even pressure teachers to favour their own children. These are old practices that keep repeating, yet they upgrade according to the dynamics of the times. For example, schools become a fresh business field for the illegal drug trade. To unravel this tangled mess of problems, South Korea’s Ministry of Education formed the Bureau for the Protection of Educational Rights (BPHP). Schools with serious problems are handled by the BPHP until they are resolved. The bureau will finish its duties at a particular school when students have returned to school feeling safe, teachers are teaching comfortably, and parents are aware of their true roles. The wisdom and advice of the main characters are trending as quotes. While comparing it with the current schooling system in Indonesia, many netizens are cursing the scattered problems. The reflective question is, is it possible for us to fix it? From the many problems, where can we start to unravel and fix them?

School Management as an Instructional Leader

Schools are a very important microsystem of education. In this environment, the principal acts as an instructional leader. Through this role, they can begin to unravel and fix the tangled mess of schooling problems. As a leader, they are the first to translate the school’s vision into a mission that always sides with the students and answers their learning needs. The principal as an instructional leader is responsible for creating an effective learning environment and improving the quality of education in the school. Regarding the school’s mission, our national education founding father, Ki Hajar Dewantara, cited local wisdom owned by Indonesia, namely the ‘Among’ system. The Among system is a learning system that prioritises the holistic formation of human beings. It is a method that does not demand ‘command and force’, but rather provides ‘guidance’ for children’s lives so they can develop healthily and safely, both physically and mentally. Not only at school, ‘among’ should also occur at home. This alignment between school, home, and society is what Ki Hajar Dewantara called the tri-centres of education, which are responsible for children’s character development and education. In the six models of family involvement offered by Epstein, parenting and collaborating with the community are strategic choices for achieving educational harmony. One trending line from Na Hwa Jin in the drama seems relevant to harmonious education: ‘Be a teacher as a teacher should be, be an adult as an adult should be. Adults are protectors of children.’

Can the Deep Learning Approach Be a Solution?

The Deep Learning approach, echoed since 2024 by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, embodies the vision and mission of education as a means of glorifying humanity. Deep Learning rests on three main principles: mindful, meaningful, and joyful. These three sound simple, perhaps even cliché to some. But if contemplated, these principles actually attack the root of our educational problems so far: learning that lacks awareness, meaning, and joy. The effectiveness of learning is not about how much material is delivered, but rather how deeply that material is absorbed and changes the student’s way of thinking. This is the fundamental difference between teaching and making students aware and shaping understanding. The mindful principle is designed by teachers to invite students to be fully present in the learning process. This contradicts old habits where students sit passively, take notes, and then memorise without truly processing what they are learning. When full awareness is present, students no longer ask ‘what do I have to memorise for the exam?’ but rather ‘what am I actually understanding?’ Without awareness, any learning method, no matter how sophisticated, will only become a new package for old habits: learning for grades, not for understanding. In many developed countries, to help students be more focused and mindful in their learning, physical exercise is done before starting the day’s learning activities. Provision of nutritionally balanced meals also affects students’ concentration and learning capacity. Meanwhile, in the classroom, when learning is about to begin and is in progress, triggering questions and support for students are very important to maintain their awareness and understanding of learning. The second principle, meaningful, answers the question often asked by students but rarely answered thoroughly by teachers: ‘What am I learning this material for?’ Meaningful learning connects the material with real experiences, social contexts, and issues relevant to students’ lives. When students understand the relevance of a concept, for example, how mathematics is present in personal financial management, or how history shapes the way we view today’s social conflicts, then learning changes from an obligation into a need. Meaningful knowledge is much harder to forget than knowledge that is memorised without context, because the human brain is designed to remember things that have meaning for survival and life.