Arah Pendidikan kita?

Akhir akhir ini saya merasa resah ketika membaca berbagai berita mengenai kebijakan pendidikan kita. Sebagai seorang pendidik, Saya merasa resah karena secara pribadi saya merasa arah kebijakan pendidikan kita semakin hari semakin absurd saja. Ada beberapa kebijakan pendidikan yg dibuat pemerintah kita melalui Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional yang notabene tugas utamanya adalah meningkatkan kualitas Pendidikan kita, justru menurut saya pribadi melakukan hal yang sebaliknya.
Hal pertama yang membuat saya kecewa dan sedikit tergelitik ketika membaca bahwa Menteri Pendidikan kita mengatakan akan menggunakan Nilai UAN sebagai standar atau syarat utama masuk ke perguruan tinggi negeri. Menurut hemat saya sebagai pendidik, kebijakan ini adalah suatu kebijakan yang sangat riskan dan konyol karena sebagaimana diketahui secara umum: UN dalam pelaksanaanya dilapangan banyak terjadi kecurangan dan UN sendiri pada hakikatnya adalah suatu kebijakan yg diskriminatif karena berbagai hal seperti yg diungkapan banyak pakar pendidikan yg tidak perlu saya jelaskan lagi. Lagipula, secara hukum tetap melaksanakan UN merupakan suatu pelanggaran hukum karena secara hukum MA telah memutuskan bahwa UN harus dihentikan karena pemerintah belum mampu menyediakan standar standar yg diperlukan sebagai syarat UN dapat dilaksanakan. Saya sebagai guru tidak dapat memahami apa landasan pemikiran menteri pendidikan ingin menerapkan kebijakan yg konyol seperti itu ketika asumsi dasarnya saja sudah bermasalah. Maka sangat bisa dimengerti mengapa PTN yang berkualitas seperti UGM dan UI menolak ide pak menteri itu. Jika itu terjadi, maka input PTN akan sangat semberawut karena nilai UN hampir diseluruh Indonesia telah banyak disulap oleh tangan tangan ajaib demi masa depan anak didik. Biarkanlah UGM, IU,ITB dan semua PTN membuat tes masuk sendiri sendiri karena dengan begitu terlihat jelas kualitas peserta didik yang akan menjadi mahasiswa.
Kita sebagai bangsa seharusnya belajar dari sejarah. Sebagai contoh saja kebijakan UN, dengan menerapkan UN sebagai standar kelulusan pemerintah secara langsung menghancurkan salah nilai utama pendidikan yaitu kejujuran karena ketika UN menjadi patokan dasar kelulusan yg pada akhinya membuat semua kepala daerah secara tidak langsung memerintah kepada semua jajaran pendidikan dibawahnya untuk “menyukseskan” daerahnya dalam UN. Hal ini tidak dapat disalahkan kepada kepala daerah semata karena pada esensinya tidak ada daerah yg ingin siswa siswinya banyak yg tidak lulus hanya karena UN. Dengan menjalarnya sistem ketidakjujuran ini akan hanya menghasilkan anak didik yg tidak jujur pula dan tidak akan bisa berpikir kritis karena dari sejak dari SD mereka telah diajarkan ketidakjujuran. Bagi saya sebagai guru, esensi proses pendidikan adalah bagaimana saya sebagai guru mampu membuat siswa bepikri kritis dalam melihat segala issue dari sudut pandang yang berbeda. Mampu berpikir krits terhadap segala informasi yangg mereka terima dari berbagai sumber dan bertanya tentang hal yg mereka baca dan lihat. Apakah ini benar apakah itu benar?. Rasa ingin tahu adalah dorongan terbesar dalam pendidikan. Dengan sistim ini, saya melihat kehancuran dalam setiap anak didik kita. Siapa yg salah? Guru, bupati, gubernur? Tidak. Mereka dan kita hanyalah pelaksa kebijakan yg secara terpaksa harus menerapkan kebijakan yg secara esensinya sudah salah. Yg salah menurut saya (maaf) menteri pendidkan dan presiden karena secara jelas melanggar hukum karena tetap saja menerapkan UN dengan melanggar putusan MA.
Seringkali bapak menteri pendidikan yg terhormat jika ditanya mengapa UN tetap dilksanakan ditengah putusan MA yg melarang UN? Beliau selalu berkata bahwa setiap proses pendidkan harus ada tahap mengukur keberhasilan proses pendidikan dan menurut beliau tahap itu adalah UN. Memang sangat mudah dimengerti bahaw harus ada semacam evaluasi yang bisa mengukur proses pendidikan tiga tahun anak didik, namun tidak dengan UN. Bagi saya, proses pendidikan tiga tahun itu merupakan proses panjang dan tidak akan bisa dievaluasi dalam waktu seminggu. Yang UN berikan hanyalah gambaran tentang kemampuan siswa pada level dimana kepercayaan akan validitas evaluasi semacam ini sangat diragukan. Saya rasa kita sebagai bangsa harus belajar bagaimana negara maju dalam hal melakukan evaluasi pendidikan mereka. Kita ambiL contoh saja Amerika Serikat. Sepengetahauan saya, di Amerika Serikat sendiri tidak ada UN yang sifatnya berlaku secara nasional yg menentukan kelulusan siswa. Di AS tidak ada istilah lulus atau tidak bagi siswa SMA, yang ada adalah bahwa sekolah menilai siswa dengan proses belajarnya dan siswa harus menyelesaikan beberapa mata pelajaran yg harus dipenuhi jika ingin menyelesaikan sekolah menengahnya. Pemerintah dan dewan pendidikan setempat menentukan apa saja yg perlu dipelajari di jenjang SMA. Pemerintah hanya membuat panduan secara umum tentang konten apa saja yg perlu dipelajari siswa pada masa SMA. Yg ditekankan oleh pemerintah Amerika sendiri adalah proses pendidikan dan perekrutan guru serta adanya upaya pendidikan berkesinambungan bagi para pendidik dalam melaksanakan tugasnya. Salah satu contoh sederhana saja bahwa menjadi guru di Amerika mmbutuhkan kualifikasi yg betul betul berkulitas. Setiap akhir semester akan ada evaluasi dari siswa dan dewan pendidikan lokal. Jika guru tersebut dinilai oleh siswa tidak cakap dan tidak bisa mengajar maka guru tersebut bisa saja dalam dua semester kedepan dipecat. Guru juga dalam bebarapa tahun scera rutin diwajibkan untuk mengambil beberapa mata kuliah tertentu dikampus untuk meingkatan kualitas. Hal ini saya temukan ketika saya sekelas dengan pak Erick guru bahasa Inggris di SMP di Newark ketika sama sama mengambil mata kuliah Structure of language. Esensinya adalah bahwa guru selaku pendidik perlu diupdate pengetahuan secara berkesinambungan agar kualitas pembelajaran yg diberikanya kelak juga akan baik. Sementara perekrutan guru gur PNS pada umunya tidak melalui proses yg sesuai. Guru yg nanti akan mengajar bidang keilmuanya hanya ditest pengetahuan umum saja tanpa ada test spesifik seperti tes Praxis di Amerika dan tes praktek mengajar. Saya secara pribadi merasa jika cara merekrut guru seperti ini terus, maka jangan banyak berharap pada kualitas pendidikan anak kita kedepan.
Hal kedua yg membuat saya tidak habis pikir adalah ketika Dirjen Dikti mengeluarkan kebijakan bahwa setiap calon sarjana,master dan doktor harus menulis jurnal ilmiah sebagai syarat kelulusan. Pada dasarnya, menulis jurnal ilmiah adalah bagian dari kewajiban setiap insan intelektual dalam dunia akademik. Namun dengan cara kebijakan yang memaksa dan tidak diimbangi dengan proses perbaikan proses pendidikan di perguruan tinggi secara menyeluruh, kebijakan seperti ini akan menghasilkan budaya yg mengutip kata romo Magnis di Kompas disebut “Jurnal asal-asalan”. Bagi saya yg hanya seorang guru, landasan pemikiran Pak dirjen ini sangat tidak masuk akal karena dengan cara memaksa, kementrian pendidikan ingin calon intelektual ini menulis jurnal karena pemerintah kita merasa malu kalah jumlah jurnal tiap tahun oleh pemerintah malaysia. Saya rasa apa yg dijelaskan oleh romo Magnis dikoran Kompas merefleksikan betapa kebijakan pendidikan kita sangat absurd. Yang perlu kita perbaiki adalah sistem pendidikan kita yang masih feodal. Kita perlu menciptkan suatu proses pendidikan yg bisa menghasilkan siswa yg berpikir kritis bukan sebuah kebijakan yg secara umum menghancurkan nilai paling esensi dalam pendidikan yaitu kejujuran. Dengan kebijakan ini, saya merasa bahwa pendidikan kita semakin hari semakin tidak jelas arahnya. Saya berharap kita tidak akan tersesat lagi dalam banyak hal. Mungkin Inilah resiko yang harus kita terima ketika dunia pendidikan menyatu dengan dunia politik sehingga terjadi kekacauan kebijakan dlm dunia pendidikan.

My experiences

Having been staying in the US for a couple of months, I started to see the nature truth behind a famous saying which says ‘Wherever you step down the earth, there you hold up the sky’. In other words, things work differently in different places. There are some new things that I have to adapt with the new situations where I live. I don’t say things here much better or worse compared to my home country. But, definitely it is a new experience for me. Here are some of my new experiences that I encountered when I first arrived in the US.

Firstly, when I had just landed at O’Hare Airport, the officer at the airport asked some of us from special countries such as Indonesia and Middle Eastern countries to queue in a special line for the immigration check. In the immigration check, all the stuff including my shoes and socks needed to be taken off as well as my wallet. After all my stuff was scanned, the officers told me to stand in between of a machine (I don’t know what machine that is) in order to be scanned. This first experience taught me how tight American security is after the 9/11 tragedy. One good lesson can be learned from this security process is that Indonesia needs to tighten its security process by creating a computerized system to track people who come to Indonesia.
Secondly, after landing in East Lansing Michigan for the orientation, I directly went to a supermarket called CVS to buy stuffs such as toothbrush and hair cream. After finding the things I wanted, I went to the front of the store to pay for the stuff. I was looking for the cashier in order to pay for my stuffs. I did not find any cashiers there. I saw two guys near the exit windows but I thought there were not the cashiers. I came to that man and asked “where is the cashier?”. The man replied “you pay with the machine and scan stuff”. Man, it was a self-service store where very few cashiers available because it was 8 AM in the morning. Later on I find out that in many US stores, they provide a lot of self-service counters for the customers to ease the process of payment.
Thirdly, most things are paid electronically in the US. Since I come from a county where cash is always the way to pay for stuff, I got confused for the first time on how to pay stuff using credit card. In every place where I buy stuff such as store, restaurants, bookstores or online shopping sites, things are paid electronically. What you need to do is just swipe your card and enters the pin or sometimes you don’t have to enter the pin and then sign the receipt. It seems that bringing huge amount of cash in the US is not a habit or considered to be dangerous. I find this habit of using card is useful and practical because it saves time and does not need to get our change back.
Fourthly, when I was attending a course in the class, I was a little bit shocked to see a student coming in the class with her short pants because it seemed she had just done jogging. She sat in front of the row and she help up her legs in the seat. As a teacher in my home country, I would say to my students to sit properly and politely which mean no crossed legged or help up legs. In the US, how you dress in the class is a matter of personal choice because the lecturer will not bother with what you wear as long as you are not naked. Speaking of dress code manner, it seems in the US, there is no such a strict dress code in offices. When I was taking care of my SSN card at the International Student Office, the man who served me wore a casual t-shirt and jeans. The only civil servants or officers who wear uniform are the police. This is totally different from where I am from where uniform is a symbol of pride but neglecting the service to people. We need to learn more how to serve people rather than asking to be served or respected.
Fifthly, when a friend of mine saw my teacher’s identity card, he was shocked to see that they put my religion in my identity card. My friend said “why do they put it in your ID card?” I said to him “having a religion in my country is a must, unless you will have hard times in taking care of any stuffs”. My friend looked confused with my explanation. He then continued “Man, religion is a personal stuff, it is your business none of other businesses”. When I recalled our conversation with my friend, I remembered one of my friend FB statuses which question a very essential value “If there is no religion, there would be more peace and harmony among human beings”. From the lesson I learn from my home country, I might say yes to her opinion. In the US, religion is a matter of personal value. The government has nothing to do with your religion. You can also be an atheist here. That’s why it is called the land of freedom.
I do hope that my country could provide a better service to its people someday in the near future.

DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION

Kemarin, saya secara tak sengaja, saya menemukan tulisan yang saya tulis ketika kuliah dulu. Saya menulis hanya untuk iseng saja..Rupanya masih tersimpan di fash disku dulu.....Aneh juga

As an Indonesian, I am happy and as well as proud of my country because this country has taken better steps to be a fully democratic country. The democracy in this country is growing so fast, and this can be seen from the first Indonesian direct presidential election on September 20, 2004. The election itself shows us that in Indonesia, every voice of the Indonesian people is respected. A sentence in Time magazine says that the 2004 election in Indonesia is one of the shining examples of a fully democratic country in Asia. We, Indonesians are also proud of our country because Indonesia is the first country in Southeast Asia which allows the people to choose their own leader. The good facts mentioned above about democracy in Indonesia are a sign of better democracy in the political context.
Since I was a kid until becoming a teenager, I had been taught the concept of democracy only in political contexts or merely associated to a form of government and most of us have understood the meaning of democracy in this case. T.V Smith argues in his book that democracy is more than a form of government; it is also a way of life. In my opinion, here democracy is seen a way of life which respect differences, uniqueness in every aspect of life. As democracy can be applied in every aspect of our life now we are going to see how the concept of democracy that has been applied in our educational system in Indonesia. Does the curriculum teach students about democracy? I do believe that our curriculum teaches us about democracy, but the problem is that the democracy in the curriculum is the concept of democracy in politics, history, civics etc that most people think only can be applied in politics. What about in education?
As Smith mentioned above that the democracy is a way of life, so the concept of democracy can also be applied in educational system in our country. The meaning of democracy in education or classroom particularly means that everyone involving in the process of learning respects each other in term of thinking, being able to forgive and being able to see differences or uniqueness as something normal in the classroom. In fact, many teachers cannot apply the concept of democracy in class, our teachers still use a system what is so called “monocultural education system” which kills the concept of democracy. Monoculutiural education gives the highest authority to teachers to decide everything in class, teachers are always right and students have to do exactly the same as the teachers do. Because of this system, teachers find it is hard to appreciate students’ opinion; students may talk if they are asked to talk, so the only correct answer in class is the teacher’s answer. This kind of system kills students’ creativity and makes them good listeners instead of critical thinkers.
I have a story as an illustration of how the undemocratic situation has been built in our education in Indonesia.
Every student at SMUN#2 Sanggau West Borneo has to come on time to school everyday. All of the students have to be at school before 7 am in the morning, afterward the gate is locked. If the students come late they will be punished by the teachers. The students are asked to clean or throw the trash in the rubbish bins etc. as students; we are taught to be good students. Many teachers at SMUN2 always come late at school because our school is a state school, so when they come late they do not explain why they are late, they just say sorry in class. One day, Endar, a student writes in the wall magazine an article titled “student comes late is punished, teacher comes late is ok”. When the teachers read that article on the wall, the teachers asks the student who writes it to put it down, Endar is considered as impolite student, he is scored. On Monday ceremony, that teacher tells us that students have to follow students’ rules and teachers have to follow teachers’ rules. Our class is considered an impolite class. Since that time our class decided not to write any wall magazine anymore.
As seen above, Indonesian teachers still cannot apply the concept of democracy in education. Teachers cannot accept when they are criticized, they feel humiliated by the students. How can we make democratic people in education if the actors of education itself cannot show the democratic ways of life. One thing which is worth noticing is that the actual task of transmuting democratic theory into school practice belongs to the teachers and school officials. Teachers have to realize that their democratic behaviors in the learning process will make democratic students.

So in conclusion I would like to restate that democracy is much more that a form a government; but is also a way of life. A way of life which respect differences, uniqueness etc. democracy in education means that every individual in classroom has rights to be respected in term of differences they have, the differences they have shown by their participation in class process, the more the students participate in learning process, the more democratic the class is, since participation is a sign of democratic situation. Democratic in class does not always mean having the same agreement about something, but the process in arriving at that agreement is much more important in Democracy. One way of changing our education to be democratic education is by using multicultural education instead of monocultural education. Multicultural education gives more freedom.

Faces of The World