Education for democracy Alfonsus Murtanto Gatum  ;  The writer holds a master’s degree in theology from the Ledalero School of Philosophy in Maumere, Flores, and teaches at an international school in Jakarta

JAKARTA POST, 04 April 2015

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                           

Do students talk about current political events in their studies, in sociology for example, and turn their concerns into lively discussions in class? Do they even bother doing research on their closest neighborhood to observe how nationwide problems, for instance inflation, affect communities? I bet most do not. A friend, who was recently busy preparing his 12th grade students for the national exam, shared via Facebook his discontent with the way sociology was taught in school. “The most important thing in a sociology class is memorizing facts. Students are left with no other choice, because passing the national exam is mandatory.“ Instead of unraveling the meaning of social events, students memorize the whole book with this sole purpose in mind. “The municipal office of education has relentlessly asked all teachers to make sure that the school has a 100 percent pass rate for the exam. What a pain to be a teacher nowadays!” This single testimony, sprung from a particular context, might not represent the whole education scene across the country. It might sound naive then to make a conclusive remark about the diverse realities of education in each school by simply focusing on this case. Yet it is not unreasonable to say that this is particularly unfathomable unless certain conditions exerted by a higher institution that is capable of producing policies affecting all school activities, are really at work here. Moreover, the mishap this particular friend had to endure, in all likelihood, must be shared by other teachers in other schools. This is something that surely does not only happen in one remote school on my home island, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. In a speech delivered in 2010, valedictorian Erica Gouldson, 18, openly lamented the “dilemma” she had to face in the American education system. “We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test or graduating first in the class. Education, as an agent of socialization and humanization, determines the quality of democracy. “However, in this way, we do not really learn. Maybe you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps you only learned how to memorize names, places and dates, only to forget them to clear your mind for the next test. “School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.” As far as our education system is concerned, such an accusation is hardly negligible because it also applies here. Too much preoccupation with the national exam greatly incapacitates learning, leading to rote learning, the type that my friend resented. Surprisingly, our infatuation with the national exam, despite an influx of criticism, shows no sign of receding. Yet this much contested exam is not the main culprit. The dismal quality of teachers nationwide, as a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study reported, is also at the heart of the problem. Instead of encouraging interactive learning, many teachers still adamantly believe in the obsolete conviction that students are blank slates that need to be filled with knowledge. This is an embarrassing fallacy considering that students nowadays can get information from multiple sources via various platforms. Students’ achievements are graded based on how much information they have amassed and later correctly dispense in exams. Their performance is determined by how successful they are in repeating what they have learned in any test. In the words of Gouldson, “[Students] are trained to ace every standardized test and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to public education and are, therefore, viewed with contempt.” The question is, can this model of education, with its multifaceted inadequacies, enhance the quality of democratization still underway in the country? This question is ineluctable since education plays a significant role in public life. Education, as an agent of socialization and humanization, determines the quality of democracy. Here, democracy is not merely interpreted as a form of governance, but ultimately the very act on people’s behalf of exercising democratic rights and participating in the public realm to maximize the common good. Bearing this in mind, the logical conclusion is that education prepares citizens for such an active, mature and critical involvement in the political realm. The next questions are: can education that mainly revolves around memorizing information bring about the desired participation? Can education that alienates students from understanding and evaluates their social statuses spark critical consciousness them? Can a learning process that largely treats its students as, in Paulo Freire’s terms, “containers” or “receptacles” ready to be “filled” by teachers encourage curiosity and critical awareness of social realities? Can it trigger the emergence of so-called deliberative democracy, in which citizens actively contribute to the public discourse or collective deliberation? The answers may vary, but honestly speaking, these hard questions will not make us look at our education system in the same way again. As our current democracy is still showing obvious signs of its susceptibility to the malicious influence of many pseudo-democratic figures, it is now our urgent task — and specifically the task of the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry — to seriously revamp our education system. Taking a different path is more urgent than ever as we surely want to avert the temptation to view school with contempt and consider it “a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible”. ●