Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Duping Behaviours toward Students in Schools in Indonesia

       Is the teaching-learning process of our education in school nowadays is effective for the students? In this essay I will say that the teaching-learning process of our education in school nowadays is not effective for the students because in the practice of our education it is still found many kinds of duping behaviours toward the students. M. Joko Susilo (2009) said that our education nowadays is the duping process toward the students as the object of education. Why not? We can see the practice of our education nowadays full of deceits whether from the students, teacher, parents, the government, and others subjects that have influence toward education in our country. But this essay is focus on the duping behaviours toward the students especially in school.
            The effectiveness of the education of a country can be seen from the orientation of education. It will show how the process of education done and it will be used as a standard to predict the quality of the education by the practice of the education at that time. According to M. Joko susilo (2009), every orientation of education can be learnt from four dimension and each of them has two  poles that is obstructed continuously, those are: the dimension of students statue that is obstructed the students as an object to the students as a subject, the dimension of teachers role that is obstructed from the teacher as the authority in process of learning to teacher as the facilitator or motivator in the process of education, the dimension of subject matter that is obstructed from subject-oriented to problem-oriented, and the management of education that is obstructed from centralistic management to decentralist management or school-based management.
            From the dimensions above, we can see education in our school nowadays; it is most tread the students as an object, teacher as the higher authority of the knowledge, Subject-oriented materials, and centralistic management. It case our education isolates us from the real situation, it less relevant between what is taught and what is needed in the field of job. It more focus in the development of intellectual than the development of individuality as a unity cannot be separated. Teaching-learning process is dominated with the obligation for students to all the materials to be tested in examination without thinking about the reality in job field that need the ability, not only the intellectual.
            The effect of the practice of education like this is there is many kinds of gap, such as academicals gap, occupational gap, and cultural gap. Academic gap show that the knowledge get from school has no relation with what needed in real life. It is caused by the teacher didn’t aware that nowadays we are in transition era that go on quickly and exactly, so they see the school as an independent institution, not a part of society that have changed. Besides it, the changing of our curriculum erratically, and many teachers cannot connect the subject matter and the phenomenon in a society, so they fixed in narrow thinking. The limited of teachers’ conceptions to understand the phenomenon make them not so sensitive and exactly anticipate the problems in education. The consequence is they lost the concept map of education and society comprehensively. That is why I said that the teaching-learning process of our education in school nowadays is a kind of duping process toward the students.
            I think it is better if our education tread students as the subject, teacher as the facilitator, problem-oriented materials, and decentralist management, so there is no gap between what is learned what is needed. Because the students just learn what is needed and the teacher helps to facilitate or motivate them to learn based on what needed in society, so it does not be a suffering for the society as said Thomas Amstrong(2002) that our society nowadays are in suffering because of the wrong education. Albert Einstein said that “the only thing which block my learning is my education”(Thorpe,2002). By seeing the opinion of the experts of education above, we are able to learn that our education will be useless or moreover it can be a block for us in learning if we practice our education in which the teaching-learning process in wrong way.
            Besides the unsuitable of orientation of education, there some more behaviours can be found in teaching learning process that can be categorize as the duping of the students in school, such as manipulation of score, the teachers do not have self-confidence, the strategy of teaching that is able to fooling the students, the same question test every year, not educating punishment for the students, and not ideal teacher in teaching.
            The first one is the manipulation of score. The news about manipulation of students’ scores by the teacher is not secret news for the public. The teachers do it because of the pitted to the students, they have close relationship to the students they help, pressing from the headmaster, moreover some of them do it because they get bribery from the students’ parents or the the students themselves. An Indonesian teacher told her first experience when she taught in a state junior high school. She wrote the score of the students as objective as possible according to what they have got from the test, but because of many students got low score, then she was asked by the headmaster to manipulate the scores to make it higher with reasons that if the score of the students are low then many students cannot continue to next grade and stop their education, and then the head master would be given sign as not good in leading the school. Finally with suspected she remarks the scores. So the scores in the report is not an original score, it just the manipulation of score to help the students. This case cannot develop the students, because they know that they have good marks in which they did not know their original scores whereas they think that they are good enough to get high score without study more. In other side, if the students know their own ability by their original scores, it can be a motivation for them to study harder than what they have done to improve their ability and automatically their scores next.
            The second is the teachers do not have self-confidence. The main thing that cause the lost of self-confidence of the teacher the increasing of education quality in which the policy of the government to increase the standard score of national examination every year as in 2005: 4.26, 2006: 4.51 and continuously until 5.50 in 2011. It is being something that primary debated by the actors of education in Indonesia because there is a controversy from the students, parents, teachers, and also the headmasters. It is like a frightening monster toward the students and the teachers who did not have good mentality preparation or do not have self-confidence in their ability.
            Anybody know that it is not an easy job the score that determined by the government as has been said above, but if the policy of the government is response as a challenge that have to be won by more preparation, not a problem that has to be debated, then I think the quality of education in Indonesia can go better. But the pity is it has been a tradition of Indonesian people is to oppose the troubling policy of the government from the government, what we want is an enjoyable policy without thinking about how to create something with good quality. The consequence is when many students do not pass the national examination 2005; many teachers use a strategy to help the students by give answers of the test. Some help their students by sending the answer into the students’ mobile phones; by giving them a piece of paper that contains the answer, and so on to cover up what they have done for our education. Whatever the way of the teachers to give the students answer in national examination, it is because of the teacher does not have self-confidence in what he has taught during the teaching-learning process. It is not the way to help the students to be better whereas it is a kind of helping students to be stupid. If the teachers have enough self-confidence, whatever will happen they did not help their students by giving them answer because they believe in them, they believe what they have taught toward their students. But we can see the real condition in the field that the teachers do not have self-confidence that is able to fooling the students.
            The third is the strategy of teaching that is able to fooling the students. Many teachers nowadays are not professional in teaching, the usually teach the lesson monotonously as giving speech that makes the students bore and sleepy. Anybody knows that the way of teaching like that able to reduce the creativity of the students. That’s why students nowadays are difficult to give their opinion about anything; they just sit silently and hear what is said by the teacher even though they do not understand. So some people called students nowadays as “dumb generation”. I think if the teacher is more creative in teaching and create more active learning process toward the students by giving them chance to say their opinion or to look for information by themselves and discussed it with the teacher and another students, then the atmosphere of the classroom can be looked different and the ability of the students can be improve better.
            Martin Seligman (Stolts, 2003) said that the disability of someone is actually a process to be learnt (learned helplessness). Therefore, the teachers should find the key of effective learning to release the duping behaviours toward the students. One of the key is the teacher should know how to transfer the information into their brain can be found by their own ’’style of studying’. It means that the students have to learn according to their own style and the teachers have to adapt their way of teaching with the students’ style to study. But what we found nowadays is contrary in which the students have to adapt their way of studying with the teaching style of teachers with a great difficulties.
            Making a variation in teaching is the skill that has to be mastered by the teachers so the students are not bored by the style their teaching. The variation can be done is like variation of voice, focussing the attention, making visual contact with the students, variation of gestures or body language and changing position(Mulyasa,2005). A teacher who is able to teach well is a professional teacher. St. Kartono (Kedaulatan Rakyat, 11 April 2006) said that in dimensional of professionalism, teachers are demanded to motivate and involve the students in learning process by using style, strategy, and technique of teaching that is suit as the teaching-learning process.
            The fourth is the same question test every year. Some teachers usually use the same question test from year to year, so when the time for examination the students usually busy to look for the questions from their senior to help them in studying. Maybe for the teachers it is a noble job because they can minimize the burden of the students, but anybody knows that it is a kind of duping behaviour toward the students because they need not  to learn seriously, they just take the question test, memorize the answer and able to get high score in the test. While what actually needed in education is the quality of the students, not the quantity of their scores without quality at all. So I think the teachers had better not provide the same question test every year to create a kind of duping toward the students because it can lower the motivation of the students to study hard. Because we know that the purpose of an education is to create a human that not only has good score but also good ability. In other side the practice of giving same question test every year just enable the students to get high scores without more knowledge, just good in memorizing answer key.
            The fifth is non educating punishment toward the students. Some teachers usually give non educating punishment toward the students who against the school regulation. For example, some teachers did not allow the students to follow the teaching-learning process because they came late, troubled their friends, and did not do their homework, and so on. The effect is the students lose their chance to get knowledge and new experience through the teaching-learning process.
            In Samarinda, a primary school sent one of its students back home because his school attribute is not complete. The result was the student lost his soul because he spent his free time to play in the river.  The student slinked into the river because of swift current (www.samarindapost.com/15-03-2011). If the case is like that, who would be responsible? His parents who were not able to complete the school attribute of their children? The school who does not give educating punishment to the student? Or the river which has sank the student until he lost his soul?
            Punishment sometimes cannot be separated from violence with purpose for the students so they do not against any rule again. But I think violence is not a good way for punishment because if the students are punished with violence, they will usual with violence and will make violence action in the next. Therefore it will better to give them an educating punishment, order them to make an essay, to memorize vocabulary, or another activity that still related to the subject than did not allow them to take part in teaching-learning process.
            The sixth is not ideal teacher. Be an ideal teacher, why not? But because of the demand era, so it is really difficult to find an ideal teacher nowadays because the teachers are more focus in their incoming from their job without thinking about what they have done to their profession as a teacher. An ideal teacher is a teacher who is able to be set as an example for his students, society, and whoever. He has to professional in doing his teaching and do not against the norm, and of course has competence as said in UU NO.14/2005 about teachers and lectures, those are pedagogic competence, academic competence, social competence and personal competence.
            Due to the duping behaviours of the students in school as has been said above, it is better for us to hear the suggestion Charles Hardy as written in his book “The Age of Unreason” that is rethinking our education. Degeng(1998) also suggested us to change the behaviourism paradigm of education into constructivism education. He explained briefly the concept of constructivism learning process is; (1) knowledge is not objective, it is temporarily, always change and not certain. Learning is the arranging of knowledge from real experience, collaborative activity, reflection and interpretation. Teaching is the designing the atmosphere so the learners can be motivated, free to look for meaning and respected the uncertain. Mind is functioned to interpret the meaning so it is unique and individualist; (2) failure or successes is seen as different interpretation that need to be respected. Freedom is seen as the key to success in learning and the control of the learners is determined by themselves; (3) the purpose is learning to know how to do, how to be, learning together in peace and harmony; (4) teaching-learning is emphasized in the process. The activity of learning is emphasized in the ability to criticize/ critical thinking; (5) evaluation is emphasized in the organizing of meaning actively and integratively, provides multi true answer, so not only one true answer.
            I think by following the suggestions above and avoid the duping behaviours, such as manipulation of score, teachers do not have self-confidence, teaching strategy that is able to fooling the students, the same question test from year to year, non educating punishment, and not ideal teacher, then our education will go far better in the next.
            Education in school also is and enjoyable in the teaching-learning process not a forced process in learning, because learning in enjoyable atmosphere is more effective than in forced atmosphere. Mac Gregor (2000) said that 5-6 years old children are able to learn more data and facts than those who study in university. It is because the children enjoy doing it while the universities students more stress and forced to do that. Therefore to be able to learn more data and facts, the students have to learn it in enjoyable and comfortable condition.
            This essay is not purposed to forbid the process of teaching and learning in school, whereas it just an opinion about the reality of education nowadays and that look like a duping toward the students. I hope this essay may have benefits for the development of our education nowadays, especially for the teaching-learning process in the school to better in the next time. Because by better education, automatically it is easier for us to be able to compete in international level and be able to avoid the gap between academicals aspect and occupational aspect

(Penulis: Risad Kollo)

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