When visiting a school system that is completely different from what you know, it is easy to get lost in all the differences. And there are some really big differences. Like having 6 day school weeks and students taking 12-15 subjects at a time, only meeting for each class once a week. But more important than cataloging all the differences is seeing the underlying values that make up an education system and thinking about what takeaways from those values would benefit my own students. A few of the huge takeaways would be the importance I saw here on character education, educating the whole student, and the emphasis on personal responsibility and accountability. Here are some examples of how these things are done so well here in Indonesia: The students stay in their classroom together all day and all year, and they are responsible for its upkeep. They take time every week to all work together to clean their classroom, and every quarter the school comes together to clean the school. Imagine how US schools might look different if students didn't expect someone else to clean up after them.
Classroom cleanup time - with smiles!
The respect for elders and the wisdom of age and experience we witnessed here is something I think white dominant culture in the US works to erase. So many other cultures value their elders and work to preserve their knowledge for the benefit of future generations. But the American media makes us feel bad about getting older, and as a culture, we often dismiss older generations as no longer useful. This is a heartbreaking corruption of culture that I want to, in my own small corner of influence, work to reverse. I will be asking my students to share the value put on elders and ancestors in their cultures, and we will do something to preserve and pass on that wisdom. If anyone has any project/unit/thematic ideas, I'd love to work with you!
Here are students demonstrating one way they show respect for their elders. In this handshake, the younger generation takes the older person's hand and touches it lightly to their forehead or cheek.
I witnessed a young person go around the room with his family doing this, and he touched everyone's hand to his cheek until he got to his little niece, and then she switched and did it for him, bringing his hand to her face. It's a beautiful (albeit often sweaty) physical reminder of this core value. Leadership and responsibility are also cultivated here. Each classroom has a class leader who helps keep the class on track and spearheads larger projects. You know that these traits are strong in Indonesian students when you walk by classrooms that have no adult in them, but still have 30 students working quietly. Here is a group of class leaders from my host school assembled to learn a little more about reducing, reusing and recycling to take back to their class communities and make a difference. I plan to really push this thread in my connections with my host school by having US and Indonesian students come together to identify and work to solve environmental issues in their respective communities.
There are so many strengths of the students, staff, and education system in Indonesia, and I look forward to continuing to deepen my understanding of those strengths through further collaboration with schools here.