The failings of computer classes in local schools

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Each time I look back on when I was still an elementary school pupil, I cannot help being amazed at how much our school system has changed. Most striking is perhaps the change in the main mission. Our schools seem to have shifted from being a social institution that provides education for the masses to being money-making centers through which individuals can become rich quickly.

I am no expert on our school system, but as the parent of a ten-year-old girl I realize how I'm merely one of its captive customers. I send my daughter to school, pay her school fees, and allow her teachers to treat her in the same way as workers in the assembly line of a computer factory put together the components of a PC. The only difference between our schools and a computer manufacturer is perhaps that at the former quality has long stopped being an issue. If a PC we buy turns out to be defective, we can claim our money back. We cannot do this with schools, as they're not required to give us any warranty for their products.

Cash cow

And this basic philosophy has been used to advantage by school principals, school owners, as well as the independent entrepreneurs who cooperate with them. Realizing that parents want their children to study computers at school, they add computer studies to the curriculum, and charge for it. Unfortunately, the government endorses this.

The business of running a computer class at our formal schools is a highly lucrative one. Currently, most schools collect around Rp 12,000 from each student per month. Supposing the students have to pay "only" ten times a year, the extra annual revenue they receive will be Rp 120,000 per student. Suppose the school has 500 students, the additional revenue will amount to Rp 60 million per year.

What do they have to provide? I talked to a number of pupils and students from various schools, and most of them told me that their school provided only about 25 to 30 cheap PCs of the 286 or 386 class. Most of them also told me that during each computer class they used the PC for 15 minutes at the most.

And this computer class does not cost much to run. Each student is given two blank diskettes at the beginning of the school year. You can get a blank diskette for Rp 500 in Jakarta. In many schools, the students still have to pay even for photocopies of their homework. The teacher does not have to be highly qualified, since, like almost all other subjects at our schools today, what the students have to do is memorize the material. Maintenance cost is minimal, too, since in reality these old PCs are hardly used.

Based on the rough calculation above we can see how the initial investment for the school's computer class will be amortized within a single year. The following year, and the years thereafter, the schools or the entrepreneurs who cooperate with them will simply make a profit of Rp 60 million. Doesn't it sound rather like the toll-road business?

Why is this wrong?

Studying computers at school is wrong not only because it's merely a money-spinner for certain individuals, but also because it doesn't really teach students how to use the computer.

For her computer class, my daughter, for example, has to memorize the definition of "internal and external commands". Not only did the definitions given by her teacher not mean anything, these terms no longer have any use in the real world today. In the old days, when we still lived in the character-based DOS world, these terms were used to distinguish DOS commands that could be issued when you only had the COMMAND.COM in the subdirectory from those that required their own .COM or .EXE files. Today, most of us work in a Windows 3.X environment and some of us have even moved to Windows 95. We rarely use DOS. Clearly, "internal and external commands" are of no relevance whatsoever anymore.

Why have our so-called education experts outlined a syllabus that includes memorizing obsolete computer terms such as the ones above? Because, just like in other subjects, there has to be enough material to fill the entire twelve years our children spend at their elementary and high schools.

Music is another good example. My daughter has to learn to read musical notation when what she actually needs is the opportunity to learn and sing children songs. Physical education (PE) is another sad example. She has to memorize the various rules of the soccer game, the name of each movement in self- defense, in addition to tons of other useless material.

In short, the teaching of computer studies at our schools today is ethically wrong because it does not teach the skills most parents think their children are getting. It is wrong because not only does it add to the burden of the students who are already struggling with heaps of materials they have to memorize, it has also become a covert device for ripping off the parents -- the captive customers.

What must be done

The problem is, parents do not realize that, no matter how sophisticated and marvelous they may be, computers are just a tool. Most parents are disillusioned by so much worship of this electronic device.

Because it is just a tool, we have to use it. We don't have to study it. Isn't it true that, although most of us are supposed to be able to drive a car, not all of us need to become mechanics or automobile engineers?

Just like a car, or even a bicycle, one cannot master the computer if one only uses it for a quarter of an hour each week. Just like mastering driving, mastering computers requires practice -- preferably accomplishing a real task.

Seasoned computer users do not need to know how the machine works. Over the years they have interacted intimately with it, they have built up some kind of intuition. They do the basic things, such as to create a new file, save a file and print a file automatically -- in the same manner an experienced driver makes sure the gear is in neutral before starting the engine.

With current methods, we cannot expect our children to ever develop the intuition they need in order to be able to use the computer effectively. Therefore, I definitely believe that computer studies should be dropped from school curricula. I believe that computer training should be left to independent institutions or private courses, because these people can provide more professionally organized computer classes. Because we can pull our children out and choose another computer training course for them any time, they have no choice but to give us the best. When schools provide computer training there is simply no competition and therefore they don't have to worry about the quality of their teaching.

In the meantime, what can the schools do to make our children computer-literate? During my visit to Australia earlier this year, I was told by Kevin Sumption, head of the Information Technology Center at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, that at many public schools in that country computer studies are tied to English. Students are not taught directly how to use a computer, but they may be required to submit their assignments in the form of computer printouts. How they do it or where they do it is up to them.

In the accompanying picture, courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum, you can see a young boy proudly comparing the wax object he has just cut with the CAD/CAM system provided by the museum with the design on the computer screen. Children in this country, as well as in many other countries, do not have to learn about computers, they learn to use computers. Why can't we learn from them?