Indonesian education

This is something I wrote 2 years ago, based largely on personal observations of Indonesian culture.

Indonesian culture & education

• Indonesian culture places a high emphasis on conformity, and deference to those in authority. As an Australian it can seem bizarre, as the values you might assume in talking with a fellow Australian are turned on their head.*
• Indonesian education not only fails to teach students to think - it actually teaches students not to think.
• Indonesian lecturers who have studied overseas tend to have a different teaching style - more oriented toward understanding and less toward rote repetition.

*This is based on my own experience of living in Indonesia for two years, and also on the work of Geert Hofstede. Hofstede derived 4 indices to describe culture, and on 3 of them - individualism, attitude to authority and (to a lesser degree) assertiveness ("masculinity") - Australia and Indonesia are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Schools

What I saw first-hand of Indonesian schools was not impressive. I was invited to English classes a few times. English teachers who can't speak recognisable English are quite common. The textbooks for English were a sad joke, and the textbooks for other subjects not much better. Producing textbooks provided lucrative contracts for Suharto's cronies, and quality obviously wasn't a priority... (I don't know if they've improved - they hadn't by the time I left in 2000, 2 years post-Suharto).

When I stayed in Surabaya, my Indonesian partner's younger brother was still at school. I was surprised by how long he spent at school, as he stayed back every day for extra tutoring. The tutoring seemed to be just extra rote learning. "Is it helpful?" I asked. Not really, he said. Why don't you stop then, I asked - you could save a lot of money, and learn more by doing your own reading at home. No, I can't stop, he said. "The teachers who give the tutoring rely on the money, and they won't like it if we stop... and they might give us bad marks."

That's a disgrace - but knowing what a pittance Indonesian public school teachers earn, it's not surprising.

But there's worse than this of course - the pesantren, traditional Islamic boarding schools, may give a poor education, or even lead students into violent fanaticism. As with the Bali bombers.

Australia's choice
Imagine what an impact could be had by a significant investment in Indonesian education. Better textbooks, better trained teachers. Students with a future that doesn't involve relying on dangerous fanatical religious leaders. A more prosperous Indonesia.

Imagine what that would mean to Australia's national security.

Now when our government spends billions of dollars on defence hardware and a relative pittance on aid, think how much more secure we'd be with more farsighted security and aid policies.

When teachers don't teach...

Reminiscing about school with a friend, today.

In the beginning of year 11, at Pittwater High School on Sydney's Northern beaches, we were split into two Physics classes. They did it by putting those at the from the front in one class, and those at the back in another class. Sitting at the back and joking with my friends, I looked around and realized the other nerdy kids were at the front. I moved my chair forward.

The other class apparently enjoyed themselves. Even their teacher mucked around instead of working (or so they claimed). Some time later, after an assessment exam, he was reading out an exam. Partway through, someone asked "Sir, is this out of 20?" He replied "No, it's a percentage."

One person in their class passed, with 65% (and he was a very smart kid). We, the "girly swats" in the other room, did well.

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Actually, I have a bit of a gripe against that teacher. I had the chance to try out for the Physics Olympiad in Year 11, as I'd always done well in the (state? national?) science competitions. I was on my own - my school didn't really cater for that sort of thing - but I gave it my best shot, and handed in my exam to the teacher, who did the initial marking. (If I did well enough, it would be checked and I'd go to the next stage.

He told me later that he had to give me half marks because I hadn't included units. Um, there weren't any units, I said. Yes there were, he said. I was seriously disappointed. He didn't have time to go through it with me and told me to come back later. When I caught him a couple of days later (I wasn't feeling enthusiastic when I'd apparently stuffed up) he told me sorry, but he'd already sent it away to the Olympiad people. He gave me the answer paper, which I put away and didn't look at till I told the story to my brother more than a year later, and showed him the paper.

There were no units. The correct answers did not use units (i.e. units were part of the variables). As far as I'd been able to work out, if I'd been marked correctly, I would have been borderline for making it through to the next stage. It's possible I would have made it - or at least I would have had a more impressive rejection letter.