Time to go back to School. This time in Indonesia
Someone once said: "we learn during our whole life" and he/she was totally right. Almost twenty years after I entered the classroom for the first time, it is time for me to refresh my knowledge.
In Indonesia, school starts as early as 6:50 am and continues until 1 pm. The school week lasts 6 days and every day each student is personally welcomed by the principal, standing at the front gate of the school.
Monday
Ceremony day - aimed at building up and strengthening the national identity of the children.
Tuesday
Physical Education day
Students are shy but diligent. They use pencils with erasers, for easy correcting, and hardly speak out when asked to read or say something in English.
Even though the children in the village live a simple life by following their pure whims and desires, their imagination is not as developed as it could be in the absemce of technology. Even though the opportunities they face on a daily basis are one of the most valuable in children development - interaction with each other and with nature - they still lack the ability to develop and apply their imagination.
The main reason why children use just a small capacity of their imagination is the flawed educational strategy. Children are directly instructed to fit into the national model of humble citizen rarely questioning the status quo. They have to blindly follow every step that the teacher makes and that the Indonesian educational system gently forces them to - from the Monday national identity ceremony, Tuesday physical exercises, to what they wear and how they behave. They blindly copy every word and symbol written on the whiteboard without making the effort to make sense of it. Like in this case where I introduced myself and connected my name to "Maya, the bee."
Here is the outcome when the kids were asked to introduce themselves, in turn, by answering the same questions and using a symbol/ drawing to connect it to the answer:
The best example of their blind following of rules is exhibited in the pictures they brought after asking them to make a drawing of their choice and bring it to school. Most of the pictures are exact copy of notebook covers or textbook images.
I wanted to make the kids feel recognized and valued and also to help them feel they occupy a certain area within the class and a certain role within the general society. I wanted to make them feel special by bringing something of their own and hangining it in their classroom. Drawing with their name would also help me remember them more easily. For the older students (grade 5th and 6th) I used simple name tags.
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In Indonesia, school starts as early as 6:50 am and continues until 1 pm. The school week lasts 6 days and every day each student is personally welcomed by the principal, standing at the front gate of the school.
Monday
Ceremony day - aimed at building up and strengthening the national identity of the children.
Tuesday
Physical Education day
Students are shy but diligent. They use pencils with erasers, for easy correcting, and hardly speak out when asked to read or say something in English.
Even though the children in the village live a simple life by following their pure whims and desires, their imagination is not as developed as it could be in the absemce of technology. Even though the opportunities they face on a daily basis are one of the most valuable in children development - interaction with each other and with nature - they still lack the ability to develop and apply their imagination.
The main reason why children use just a small capacity of their imagination is the flawed educational strategy. Children are directly instructed to fit into the national model of humble citizen rarely questioning the status quo. They have to blindly follow every step that the teacher makes and that the Indonesian educational system gently forces them to - from the Monday national identity ceremony, Tuesday physical exercises, to what they wear and how they behave. They blindly copy every word and symbol written on the whiteboard without making the effort to make sense of it. Like in this case where I introduced myself and connected my name to "Maya, the bee."
Here is the outcome when the kids were asked to introduce themselves, in turn, by answering the same questions and using a symbol/ drawing to connect it to the answer:
The best example of their blind following of rules is exhibited in the pictures they brought after asking them to make a drawing of their choice and bring it to school. Most of the pictures are exact copy of notebook covers or textbook images.
In conclusion, public education tends to highly encourage conformity and obedience.
I wanted to make the kids feel recognized and valued and also to help them feel they occupy a certain area within the class and a certain role within the general society. I wanted to make them feel special by bringing something of their own and hangining it in their classroom. Drawing with their name would also help me remember them more easily. For the older students (grade 5th and 6th) I used simple name tags.
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A very noble and interesting cause, miss Bee. May it enrich you vastly every day!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mrs. Buchvarova, your comment is highly appreciated as you are considered a very notable critic!
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