Hi, my name is Susi, at least that is the name that my friend choose for me, I worked for a private company in Jakarta. I have been away for a few years and it is absolutely new for me. I love to discuss things and would like to use my blog to draw my thought and opinion on education and other things. Well, now let talk about education, and my first topic is about the system of the current education in my country
Educational System
Perspective
These days, I was amazed at how many parents are struggling with online learning from their children. They are worried because the grades are going down or are less than expected when the children go to school like a prior pandemic. Parents for small children felt like they are forced to join the lesson and felt like they are the ones going back to school.
Parents for teenagers, in general, feel like they are having trouble communicating as find the children are being totally ignorant or rebellious. The children are mostly very nonchalant about it. And the more the parents panic over the situations, the kids are actually becoming more and more ignorant.
The same situations also happen to teachers. The syllabus and curriculum at school become more and more detailed. They are pressurized by the targets of the grades the students need to achieve so the certain school could maintain its accreditation or reputation. But the students seem reluctant to do their homework or unable to follow the lesson however, are not willing to ask questions.
Well, the government is aware of the advanced technology and wants to prepare a generation that will prepare them to face the world and focus on the numbers they want to reach so they could estimate in which year certain problems could be eradicated.
I happened to read an article from Bill Gates about how some organizations are helping students to learn algebra 1 as more students are flunking in that class and it was one of the classes that will determine whether one should graduate from High School in the US. By numbers, if a student could pass the class, they have more advantage in choosing advanced education which in the end will help them to get a job with a higher salary.
Disclaimer: This is just my observation, another point of view There is no right or wrong. Hence please agree to disagree. I welcome new perspectives from any angle. But please do not let this cause you any inconvenience or even mild suffering in your heart, mind, and soul.
Having said that, continue to read or stop right there is at your full discretion.
From all of the notions I heard or saw above, all that comes up to me is just numbers.
And we are not robots or A.I which has become more and more popular these days.
And yes, though I am too like most people I know are not good in math and was one of the students who failed in it, but I agree that math is a necessary lesson to take.
However, looking at the textbook from 1st grade to high school. I wonder if everybody is aware that we only have 24 hours in a day of our lives? Or how each one of us has a different way of receiving information or learning method? Some people are born with visual learning, some with audio, some are kinesthetic, some even have other methods that haven't got terms into it yet. Yet, why there is a need to emphasize how to solve simple calculations of math in a certain way within the shortest range of time possible? Shouldn't we emphasize how to solve the equation and give them ways of doing it and let the students choose which way that suits them better?
I was referring to the math lesson from Indonesia when I had to help a 12 yo girl with her assignment. It kind of bring back some memories in the past when my late dad tried to teach me how to solve algebra problems, but his solving methods were different than what the teacher told me. I was a dramatic kid who was afraid of the teacher rather than being rude to my parents at that time.
I didn't get the lesson until he passed away.
Aside from math, even subjects like history or language, and many more, I had the sense that the students were being rushed to comprehend the information.
Parents are worried about the bad grades because they think good grades will give their children a more successful future. And if there is more than one child in the household where one has a better grade than the other, the one with a lower grade is more likely is gonna get some mild discrimination. They would be compared even though the reason behind it is to motivate the child. Nevertheless, more often than not, the child is not prepared to receive the lesson yet. Hence, the chance of them being ignorant or rebellious is higher than not.
With the teachers, they have reports to fill. And the majority of them in numbers may be one or two columns to fill with remarks. Teachers are usually exhausted. Could be from many factors, but the most commonly heard is their salary received can't even make their ends meet. Some teachers I know had to work part-time. At the same time, they need to answer from students, parents, and even the institutions.
I can understand why the government makes regulations like that or schools press the teachers to achieve a certain kind of nominal before deciding how well is their accomplishment. On the other hand, I also know that institutions, big or small, are not human. People who are running those institutions or putting all regulations are so much giving focus on the numbers that they forgot that the rules or syllabus they create for educational purposes are for human beings.
Won't it be nice if parents instead of worrying about the grades are focusing on the moral ground or principles for their children so they know what is right or wrong?
Or imagine, a school is a fun place with full creativities where both teacher and students help to make the lesson more and more interesting? Rather than force them to learn a certain lesson in a certain method and at a certain time?
And regulation for educational system is focusing on the welfare of the teachers, the diversity of the institution, and other rules that are more humane than anything?
Because as John Dewey said once upon a time, quoted above.. education is not preparing for life, education is life itself.
Education starts when we were born. Our certain antiques in behaving towards certain things had been designed by how we were treated since even before we understood a word. School is not a place to prepare us to be productive employees... school should be a place for us to learn about life. To learn to accept the diversities, to communicate with one another, to socialize, and then some more practical things like math, for example, and science. It is just a place that gives us options in which skill we can be excel.
School is just like in baseball, our first base. Then in society, second base. How we are going to make a family of our own, third base... then... well... I haven't been to the last base yet. So, can't say much of it.
The point is we can't stop learning. Who knows what the future will hold? One certain life-changing experience can't be applied to another. Each one of us will make our own path and to me, that is education.
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukkitattha. May all beings find their true happiness
Regard
Susi