My Head is Out of the Ground - here is the post on Education

So for awhile now I have eluded to the state of the average Indonesia school, but never really talked about it. Knowing that my first post on this grand topic would take some time to write, I have avoided it. However, considering that it is the main reason that I am here, to skirt the topic much longer would leave a gaping hole in your understanding of my work.

I find myself hesitant to write because I want to be careful not to be judgmental about practices here. I recognize that my experiences in the American education system were very extreme, even by America's standards. Education was (and probably still is) third on my list of values only to God and family. I recognized early on in my time in Indonesia that to use my past experiences as the measurement of a "good education system" would not only bring me a lot of stress and frustration, but that it would also not achieve my goals as a volunteer of understanding why things here are the way they are. If (but more realistically "when") I choose to overlook this key factor, it can mean a lot of wasted time, energy, and emotions for  the people involved. And as a logical human being I try to avoid that when possible. I am fairly certain that I have failed at my goal to be nonjudgmental in this post (it is something I am working on), but the account I give here is the reality of my Indonesian school.

I would say that Indonesians have high standards for their system. They want to make sure students obtain an understanding of many subjects by the time they graduate from high school. It isn't uncommon for students to take 18 subjects per semester. This is especially the case for students at madrasahs (Islamic schools), such as the one at which I teach, because Arabic and religious classes are added to the normal curriculum. Students study the general subjects (math, biology, chemistry, history, etc.), but they also study more social subjects like sociology and psychology. Of course those subjects are not unheard of in the average US high school, but they are usually an elective and the average American high school student has about 8 subjects per semester. Where do all the extra subjects come from you ask? Well all the sciences are studied simultaneously. You start to add up those simultaneous subjects and in no time you find students studying 18 subjects at a time. 

Every student studies every subject because they are assigned to a class and do not have individual schedules. This does not allow for flexibility in learning. If a student is smart overall then they are put in the smarter class, even if they are horrible in one or two subjects. This also means that a student must pass or fail overall because there is no opportunity for them to take grade 10 English for a second time.

In order for there to be enough time for all of these subjects, the school week is Mon-Sat, although Fridays are a couple of hours shorter. The schedule is usually set up in a way where subjects are taught in two period blocks. Although many subjects have an average of about four hours a week, some have three and others have five. This means that my classes meet on average twice a week for an hour and a half. With some classes the days are consecutive and with others they are spread a part. Either way the students only have to think about English twice a week. The rest of the time they are welcome to sit back and forget.

Of course with a more sporadic schedule teachers find some days wildly busy (for me Tuesdays and Saturdays) and other days completely empty. This allows teachers to come and go as they please (as long as they are not being paid by the government) and also gives most teachers a second day off in the middle of the week (mine is Friday). I can't pretend that I don't like the leisurely system though. To be honest I think that without it, it would be difficult for women to be teachers here.

For most teachers the time between teaching usually spent socializing with their friends. The school provides workbooks that also contain basic lesson plans. These lesson plans usually consist of "tell the students to do task 3 then go over it." Because most teachers take this approach they find that they have free time in the middle of the day and students usually find English (and if what I am told is correct, all other subjects) difficult. The speed at which most teachers go is usually too fast for students to have adequate time to practice each skill, especially when their classes only meet twice a week.  In the end the students retain hardly anything.

To get by students cheat on homework, quizzes and tests. Indonesian cheating has become so bad and systematic that it even received global attention from NPR and The Economist over the summer. I assume that each student has a strength in at least one subject because of the way the classes are grouped. It seems that by cheating they get themselves (and their classmates) through the rough spots. I have been told that this is because students start to receive pressure from their teachers and the national exam to always be correct. Most students therefore don't realize that there can be more than one answer to a question. If somehow a student still falls behind, in the end there is still a certain amount of pressure from the administration to bump up a student's grade if they are only failing one or two subjects.

In general I find that my students lack critical thinking skills, basic logic, and study skills. When they go to write sentences in English they always write it out in Indonesian first and then use a dictionary to translate. I know that by the time I was in high school I was using the basic words of Chinese and throwing in English when I couldn't remember or didn't know a word. Unfortunately my students have yet to make that transition.

I will say that the students are very energetic. This usually means good things for game based learning, but it is a big a draw back when I am or one of their classmates is speaking. They are all very sweet and although not all may see a purpose for education I would say that the majority do. Their definitions of respect and diligence may not be the same as mine, but I am sure that we will find some common ground.

I think about education a lot here. What goals are realistic? How will my background  mesh with their practices? Which things really need to be worked on and which are ok to let be? How do we find a balance between the American education system that I know and the more laidback one that I work in here? What is the value of education in a society who's local economy is primarily made up of labor intensive jobs? This is what I think about regularly (feel free to give wisdom). These are the questions that don't necessarily need answers but need thought in order for me to work well at my school.

I wrote this today because I in my next post I want to address an article that I one of my PCV friends posted to another. Thanks to Facebook's stalker qualities I read this NYT article today. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/meet-the-new-super-people.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

Because this post is already long enough and because it was necessary to give a background on Indo schools before commenting on the article, I will leave my thoughts on this it for another day.  

One last thing: Do you all like my blog's new look? I mean I didn't work on it for a full day or anything but I think it turned out pretty darn cute! It's a picture of Indonesian batik fabric. I haven't had it made into a shirt yet, but one day you will see it in a picture on me.