A Missing Piece in Indonesian Education

The school is not limited to the building and the backyard. It is actually deeper than that. The school here is meant the curriculum and what is taught. The habit that will last forever starts here. It is also supported by the fact that society has put a big trust on the school as the place where their kids can be molded as good kids with good characters and personalities. The chance to well craft the habits will be when they are still young and easy to be shaped.

The contributive thing that really makes me to have such a habit, as far as I can remember, is the values that the school implants into my mind. At my school of my elementary time, the writings of good values are every where in the school walls. Every day I can look at it and read it. The process is equipped with the practice that is designed by the school to get exposure. By practicing directly, exposing directly, the impact will be much bigger than just teaching of values before the classroom. While teachers teach the good value, the students practice them. They walk the talk. In so doing, the value will be well ingrained in their mind and later become a habit that will last forever.

This habit will be a lifetime habit that will never change. At least, that’s what I feel and experience. The written value on a carton paper is very brief. The phrases like keep clean, don’t litter, cleanliness is part of belief are written in contrast color. The writings are eye-catching and placed on the wall that can be seen easily when a student is entering the room. It happens every day. The students read it every day till the message runs in their blood through the practice.

The practice is the activity which is created to get the students takes part in the school social working. It is translated into an assignment. The students are divided into six groups representing days of the week except Sunday. One group is responsible for the cleanliness and the tidiness of the school for one whole day. They broom the class floor, wipe the table, collect the garbage, water the plants, clean the white board, prepare the teaching equipments like chalks and the eraser, change the teacher’s table clothe and arrange the class tables and chairs. Every student experiences the hardship of keeping the class clean. In turn, they will appreciate other students’ work and will help other group keep the class clean by not littering and tiding up their own tables.

School should function as it is supposed to be to create a student with good values that later becomes a habit. I sample one habit which is ‘keep clean’ value. It can be practiced for other values. We can take the other values for samples such as studying hard, understanding that the achievement gained is through process, respect your parents and friends, appreciate friends works, respect other belonging. These values are very basic and fundamental but also very significant to be able to deal with the future which is very challenging and dynamic. Further, these implanted values will equip them with the coping mechanism so they are not so easy giving up with the situation of problem or trouble.

As a matter of fact, the teaching of values has been long time gone from Indonesian curriculum. The students are pushed to understand something by remembering without having exposure with the real thing. The students are now burdened with a lot of things with the very short time to understand them and without being equipped with the ability to deal with problems. The existing

curriculum will never create a student who is supposed to have the abovementioned values.

They are now thinking that they have to figure out any possible way just to get the high score. They want it to be instant. They cheat and are not honest with themselves on the way they achieve something. Score has been sacred; process has been left far behind. The curriculum is not down to

earth anymore. Everything is superficial. The lesson is something leading to lesson memorizing process. The students can not value the hard work anymore. To the worst, they can not understand what’s the right way is to achieve it. The ways can be any possible ways.

For the sake of the betterment of the Indonesian education, the teaching of values, norms, ethics, and esthetics, which have been long gone from Indonesian education curriculum from elementary to senior high school, must be restored. The existing system now will not create students as they are supposed to be ones. This missing piece, teaching values, from the Indonesian education must be returned and put in place again due to the fact that these values functions as the raw materials to construct a required solid fundamental for the development of the students themselves and at the same time of the country. Toward this end, the policy makers must be aware of the existing worrying situation and be proactive to address it.