Ways, means to fight political illiteracy
By Setiono
JAKARTA (JP): In this political reform era, political education stands as a central focus of contemporary concern about the improvement of the democratic climate in Indonesia. In the last 32 years under Soeharto's regime, political education was tailored to create a "zombie-like community" in which political rights were always oppressed and centralized by the elite bureaucrats.
The unfortunate educational by-product of the New Order regime undoubtedly produced a politically illiterate society. In his article Developing Political Literacy, (The Jakarta Post June 7, 1999), Chaedar Alwasilah eloquently articulated and exemplified the immaturity of Indonesians' political education. Alwasilah's piece lamented the failure of our educational system to provide political literacy and to shape educated and cultured politicians.
Alwasilah's position, in this case, is understandable on at least two counts. First, political education in the past was overwhelmingly loaded with manipulation and propaganda that not only impoverished society's critical and innovative thoughts but also corrupted the moral sense of genuine political views. It is evident that members of our society have been deceived by fallacious and misleading political jargon notoriously characterized by excessive use of "euphemism".
Second, in formal schooling the failure of teaching systems is potentially severe. Teachers, for example, often fail in developing a student's behavior or belief system. However, even if they succeed, the behavior may turn out to be inappropriate or the belief to be unwarranted. The high incidence of student brawls on our streets is a case in point.
The failure may in turn be a disadvantage in his or her pursuit of creating an educated and cultured community: the students may fail to acquire the general characteristics that are fundamental to one's choosing, holding or pursuing any view of the cultured and politically mature society; the student may adopt a view of an educated community that is poorly understood and, thus, proves ultimately unsatisfactorily; or the student may fail to acquire the knowledge or skills required to advance his or her view of a politically educated society.
What seems crucial and relevant to combat the present political illiteracy and enhance political literacy in this era of political reform is the concept of "community-based education".
Community-based education should not be equated with community education. The former is viewed as a form of social action within a community framework that extends beyond formal schools as an institution, and thus allows community members to become politically self-oriented participants in the creation of an inductive learning environment that the school offers.
Most importantly, community-based education allows community members to become critically and meaningfully involved in shaping their own futures not only through the schools, but also via the other agencies in their community. In fact, meaningful school reform calls for this type of participation, in which people can freely express their counter interpretations, renegotiate and reconstruct the ways in which a school relates to its community's interest. As such, community members can become self-aware and active political subjects.
In contrast, community education, which has been practiced over the last 32 years, tends to be authoritative in nature and seems to diminish the value of truth, particularly if related to political issues. As this type of education views its learning participants as objects rather than the subjects of learning, it underpins no room for active participant involvement in the decision-making process.
The above discussion implies that a revolutionary outlook in shifting the present political paradigm is indeed imperative in order to liberate our society from chronic political illiteracy.
The practice of community-based education in this reform era will truly benefit our diverse communities who have equal needs and interests and who want to free themselves from their long- repressed aspirations for self-determination and justice, as well as from political oppression.
In the formal school setting, research is beginning to confirm the real value of community-based education. Corson (1999), for example, demonstrates evidence to support the claim through the following conclusions:
* active parental involvement in decision-making brings children from class or cultural minorities closer to their teachers, who usually come from the dominant class and culture.
* students' parents themselves grow in confidence and develop a sense of their own efficacy which impacts positively on their children's learning.
* the harmful stereotypes that dominant culture and that teachers often develop about their pupils and their families fall away as teachers begin to collaborate with parents.
* local communities grow in self-respect and acquire genuine political influence at the same time as they take greater responsibility for their schools.
Above all, this model of education has a great deal in common with the model of education voiced by many reform-minded education specialists. They typically share the conviction that school must change to reflect the community, all teaching should be linked to real life issues, curriculum has to be continuously revised and redesigned and that all politically related issues must lie at the heart of education.
The writer is a member of the teaching staff in the Department of Education, Atmajaya University, Jakarta.