Parents, ideally, has set up what kind of education their children would attain since the beginning. Going through parenthood is really challenging, that is why preparation crucial. The children’s growth and development goes once; no chance to redo it when there is a mistake. If parents neglect the children’s upbringing, the result would be disastrous. Nevertheless, it does not mean we all have to be perfect in the first place. Perfectness is a strange concept in humanity, indeed. There is nothing actually ideal in a world whose growth never reaches a final state.
What I am trying to explain here, parents ought to know what the goals, know where to go, and understand how to provide a good education. If there are some unfortunate events occurred, say, performing some mistakes, and it is unavoidable, at least it would not leave any scratch in our precious kid’s heart or mind, or leads them to a fundamentally wrong concept they will adopt for a long time. Even if we are mistaken, make sure it is nothing serious and is still correctable.
It follows that the first important thing to notice is the meaning of education. What does education refer? We acknowledge and recognize so many activities easily: eating, sleeping, writing, walking, etc. Nevertheless, what is educating, anyway? Could we just look at somebody and tell that he is now busy educating a person? Of course, it is not as simple as teaching—actually, teaching was not that simple, too—that is relatively easier to define. Education, somehow involves many activities. It is unbound to certain place or time. It is where the person lives, and is a lifelong process. This is surely so.
Within education, a person was not the one who grows alone. It is not a single change, anyway. He lives and being educated in such an environment that is not resistant to change, too. That is why to Driyarkara, an Indonesian philosopher, education is a matter of existence. It is exist within the world to live and grow together. He explains that education is the attempt to enter a young person into the world or nature of human. In line with the sentence, Paulo Freire says that education is a way to humanize a man.
Considering that, the meaning of education is interrelated with the view about human and humanity. Therefore, there is not a single universal method or system of education. The ideals about education vary according how we define human and humanity. I think here is where we begin taking sides. We need to choose a base where our concept of education would lies over. That step will then lead us to build a unique concept from which we arrange a compact system of education.
To meet the need, especially for Muslim children, I will explore the concept based on several Islamic thoughts. In Islam, speak of the system, education lies on the shoulders of many. It is the parents’, the societies, as well as the states responsibility. However, in this article, I will restrict the discussion within the scope of first education the parents provide to children. Hence, when I speak of children onward, I refer to little kids aged around six years old or less. It would cover some basic question around what is the first thing first to give; is it primary for them to learn, and so forth.
Basic Principles in Islamic Education
In Islam, human was nothing but slave (‘abd) to the Creator. He created human to live in this world and fulfil the obligations, after that they will return to Him and are responsible for everything they have done throughout lifetime. The concept is as simple as that. Thus in Islam, the education i.e. the process of humanizing human has a goal to raise an obedient ‘abd. The consideration of their being as God’s slave will grow as they reach maturity. The job for the parents is to nurture the eeman and every potential they had to be an all-embracing and devoted ‘abd who has a duty prospering the world in their own way; to prepare them serves and gives loyalty only for Allah and meant those only for His consent. This is the basic principle that every Muslim parent and educator must not forget. It is not a training just to cut out for some good jobs, to ease pursuing some wealth, or to reach any other transient accomplishment. More than that, parents should instil the good manners and noble virtues in their child as well as nurturing their unique potential properly, so that they grow up according to the goal of education in Islam.
Home, whatsoever is the first milieu where the inclination, personality, and virtues built. That is why the importance of putting thoughtfulness onto the home condition is undeniable. Every member of the household ideally shares the same perception on children education. Preserving the children’s fitra (primordial state) is of the highest priority that everyone should consider. It becomes more urgent in this very moment when most of Islamic institution (mu’assasah) has been destroyed unless the family institution. The family is the last institution that is still exists right now to preserve Islamic values. “There is so much fitna (tribulation) out there in the world. We can’t protect our kids from everything bad,” warns a devout grandfather of ten children. “But it is for that very reason that the home must be an oasis where Allah is remembered and obeyed, where children can relax and feel cherished, where they can practice their religion without feeling apologetic or alien. The home environment should be as halaal as possible. Our litmus test was always ‘Would we be ashamed if the Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wasallam) were to walk into our house right now? Is there anything we would want to hide?’.”
First Language
Language has a wider role than a way to communicate each other. We convey our thought trough words, whether we reveal or keep it on mind. It is true that some persons have mental imaging on their brain to put ideas, but they never leave words completely. People accustom to think using their mother language. Some could change when they are introduced to several new languages and preferring to use them.
One said, learning a new language is growing a new brain on head. This saying is true in several ways. Learning a new language stimulate the forming of some neuron connections on brain. On the other side, when we attached to another language, we see, hear, and think differently. That is because language was not only a heap of words. It is important part of each culture.
That makes the proper teaching of language, especially the first language or the mother tongue, become very important. It structures the mind. The mother hones linguistic skills of a child and therefore the language spoken by the mother would be the primary language that the child would learn. The first language of a child is part of their personal, social and cultural identity. Another impact of the first language is that it brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking. It is basically responsible for differentiating the linguistic competence of acting.
It is a subject thought and by which other subjects can be tackled, understood and communicated. Clarity of thought and expression is only possible when one has a certain command over the mother tongue. Weakness in any other subject means weakness in that particular subject only, but weakness in the mother tongue means the paralysis of all thought and the power of expression. Deep insight, fresh discoveries, appreciation and expansion of ideas are only possible when one understands the subject through being able to assimilate and be stimulated by the ideas of the subject.
Critical Thinking
We are human being, and by nature are curious; desire to know. Becoming humanly means getting used utilizing the basic potential that differs us from any other creature. It is not only a brain, but also the thinking ability, the one we possess uniquely. The other animated creatures have brain—few are even bigger than ours are—but still they cannot think.