Indonesia and the quest for greatness through mediocrity

Indonesia and the quest for greatness through mediocrity Endy M Bayuni ;  A Senior Editor at The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA POST, 16 Januari 2013

For a nation with aspirations to be a global player commensurate with its size as the fourth-largest nation in the world, Indonesia’s education policy hardly supports the quest. A recent court ruling to kill off an eight-year-old pilot project to introduce international benchmarks in government schools is a reaffirmation that the national education policy discourages excellence, and promotes mediocrity at best. With the stroke of a pen, the Constitutional Court ruled that 1,300 or so government-run schools that have been converted into international-standard schools (SBIs) were unconstitutional. The court agreed with the petitioners, which included NGOs and teachers unions, that these schools, which were founded on the 2003 National Education System Law, were discriminatory and that their presence promoted divisions in society through education. The SBI concept was so commendable that there was hardly any objection when it was enacted into law. It recognized that our education system fell below global standards. Survey after survey indicated that the academic achievements of our children rank among the lowest, even in the region. The decision to abolish these schools has not addressed the concerns about Indonesia’s ability to survive in an increasingly competitive world. We will learn more about where we stand in the regional competition after 2015 with the launching of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community. There is, however, also recognition that there are children that are above average in our schools, and that if they were better prepared, they could compete with the best in the world. Hence, the idea of an international-standard school was launched. Professor Yohanes Surya knows this more than anyone, for he has the knack of spotting talented children, including many in far-flung Papua province, and grooming them to win mathematics and science Olympics. Indonesia does not have to trail behind other countries in academic excellence. If the idea of special classes or schools for talented children sounds too discriminatory, that is too bad. Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender and the color of money in education is a bad thing for sure. But differences in children’s intellectual levels are a fact of life and it is simply wrong to deny these children the chance to stand above the rest. Children may be born equal, but over time some of them become more equal than others, if not through life’s privileges, than through their own motivation and ability to excel. To deny their intellectual differences would be to kill off the quest for excellence in education, and with it the capability and creativity of talented children. If we want to make all children equal through our education system, we risk turning everyone into a bunch of mediocre kids. The introduction of international-standard education at government schools was seen as one way to lift Indonesia’s global ranking in education. It is also a way of changing public perceptions about the poor quality of the education system. If children were given the chance, and teachers in government schools were given the autonomy, there was no reason why some of these government-run schools couldn’t beat the best schools in the country and in the world. Many discerning Indonesian parents who recognize the shortcomings of government schools are already sending their children to private schools or abroad for a considerably larger sum of money. The SBIs are intended to make quality education available and affordable for those less fortunate. These schools receive government block grants, but then so do just about all schools, both public and private. Carrying the “international-standard” label means the schools should be pushing the envelope and the children, if they had been appropriately screened and selected, would rise to the challenge. These children’s needs for more intellectual challenges would be served well; schools would improve their reputation; and society and the nation would benefit.  The implementation of the SBI concept is left wanting for sure, and that was the main reason why some people objected to it. Many of the 1,300 or so schools have not really met the stringent teaching criteria to justify the “international-standard” label. Some schools have also used the label as part of a money-making scam, with admissions based on high fees in contravention to the government’s free education policy. Some of these international-standard schools have compromised quality by admitting children of wealthy families who failed to make it even to the regular schools or classes.  But should these violations or aberrations of the international-standard school concept be the basis for killing the pilot project? The reason why it is called a “pilot” is because it is still in the experimental phase. The aberrations could have been resolved without killing off the noble idea itself. Anis Baswedan, the rector of Paramadina University in Jakarta, has made a strong case for education as a means to give people the chance to move up the social ladder. The court ruling narrows the chances of children from poor families to improve their lot through excellence in education. Rather than breaking barriers to social mobility, the court is helping to preserve the status quo, and that is discriminatory against the poor. Ultimately, the problem with our education system is that it is the subject of too many unnecessary interventions, from bureaucrats, politicians and now even judges. Together, they conspire to produce a mediocre education system and a mediocre nation. ●