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.