Sunday, October 11, 2009

Three Pillars of Education Change

Below is the essay practice for English Writing Subject. I myself made an essay to describe an urgent need to repair Indonesia's system of education.I called the essay...

Three Pillars of Education Change

Indonesian education system desperately needs help to improve its falling quality. Especially in the era of globalization, there is a systemic breakdown which causing the lack of competitiveness among Indonesian students compare to other South East Asia’s countries like Singapore, Malaysia or even Thailand. The quality need to be achieved in order to maintain a progressivity in Indonesia is not showing any improvement yet. Some students in Indonesia tend to see school as an obligation they must get through in order to get a ‘normal’ life. This kind of perception making it hard to get what a school supposed to be, as a source of unlimited knowledge. In the other hand, there is a big issue about the teachers’ quality of teaching which many people believe that they already lost their capability to teach their children with the right matters and methods. 

There is an urgent need for solutions towards this long-neglected problem. What Indonesian need now are three pillars of education change which are curriculum change, change in the perception of students toward school and improving teachers’ quality.
The most important thing need to be taken seriously is the need to change the curriculum especially in elementary, junior high and high school. This can be done by doing formal forums by the government, especially The Ministry of Education with experts, academics, and even with students themselves. Another thing need to be established is the permission to customize the curriculum in provinces. This is important consider that there is a gap between students in each provinces. But the customization needs to be guided with the nationally accepted curriculum.

Second thing need to do is to change students paradigm about what school is all about. A lot of students who already got the opportunity find that school is just an obligation, a search for an A and a place to hang out with friends. The real meaning of school as a place to learn need to be communicates to students. Therefore, teachers will be the person who can communicate that most effectively. Teaching in school will not just need to be about theory and practices of skills and knowledges. The teaching of attitudes and the meaning of learning in school suppose to be at a higher priority.

In order to do so, it is undeniably important to improve the quality of teachers themselves. Teachers all over Indonesia need to have trainings with national accepted standard. Underperformance teachers judge by panel of judges from experts will be trained to achieve certain standard. After the training being completed, teachers that already pass will obtain certificate stated that they are accepted as Indonesia’s Certified Teacher. Besides the training, another important aspect need to be considered is the teacher’s salary. Even though for many teachers, money is not the motivation, but raising the salary can show that government of Indonesia is appreciating their effort to build this nation.

Indonesian Education System needed to be build in order to eliminate the systemic breakdown this nation face today. The nation itself will be able to achieve higher human resources standard in the future. This is an urgent and very important needs needed to be implemented as soon as possible. The era of tight competitiveness already happening all over the world and it would not wait for Indonesia.

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