Musings on education

There are many days where I'm deeply grateful to have another American as a housemate.  I've had a week of quite unfortunate events, starting with a motorcycle accident that ruined my favorite pair of pants (the ones I always wear when I want to do yoga or relax, ironically) and left nasty, painful scrapes all across my body.  Things escalated when I found a brown spider larger than a tarantula scurrying across my floor.  Normally, I'm not the type to panic over arachnids, but large brown ones with fangs in a place like Borneo where so many insects are deadly...well, they don't belong in my bedroom.  The fact that an entire can of bug spray didn't kill the unwelcome visitor is testament to how unreal these long-legged freaks are.  Thank God for Talya's willingness to smash it with a shoe.

Today, however, is the icing on the cake of my week from hell.  I came home today from probably the worst day in a long time (even worse than the accident).  I spent all weekend and all of Sunday night preparing for a Valentine's Day party I planned to throw on Monday at school.  I bought cookies, biscuits, and candy that I know my kids love.  I worked all day when I wasn't teaching to prepare handmade Valentine cards for my kids, plus Valentine cards my mom sent me from the States for the students.  My school is full of wonderful teachers who all willingly assisted me in my preparations and were incredibly enthusiastic about the party.  I'm deeply grateful to them for all of their help - I couldn't have managed without them. I told my students there was a party and about a hundred of them showed up.  Ibu Vivi, my counterpart teacher, helped me hang Valentine heart decorations and set up speakers for my music I planned to play. 

I laid out the cookies on the table and was immediately mobbed by a hundred sweet students who turned into ravaging, selfish kids who took entire boxes of cookies for themselves.  I do not work in an impoverished school, and I know that my kids have money to buy treats outside of school.  Watching the students was horrifying experience that made me feel like I was back in an American middle (or even elementary) school.  I started  to pass out Valentines and was forced to dramatically raise my voice over the crowd of whining teenagers shouting "Me! Me! Me!"  I couldn't get them to stop grabbing the bag of Valentines I tried so desperately to hold on to or to only take one Valentine.  Several of them lied to me and told me they didn't have one so they could get multiple Valentines. I had set up music and decorations and planned to play games, but as soon as a Valentine card was in their hands, the students took off and went home.  Most didn't even say thank you.  To be fair, I was grateful for the few students who told me thank you and showed that they cared for my attempt to make English fun.  However, I'm still disappointed that no one wanted to stay for my party, especially since I've spent 6 months trying to make learning English enjoyable and fun. 

In truth, the most frustrating part of today is the realization that in spite of the progress I've made with my students, I still haven't changed the behavioral habits of students that impede the learning process.  I've been trying so hard to motivate my students and spark their interest in English; yet, they're too lazy to come to English club or meet with me after school.  I've given them my e-mail address, phone number, facebook...and only a few ever contact me to practice English.  When I try to get them to participate in after school English activities or even field trips, I get the same response: "Malas, Ms. Rachel!  We're lazy!" as they giggle and walk out the door.  At the risk of sounding like a failure, I feel as though it is impossible to motivate them, eliminate the massive cheating problem I've discovered in the school, and inspire the kids to reach their dreams.  I want my students to know that they can achieve anything they set their minds to if they work hard.  Not a week goes by without someone saying, "Miss Rachel!  I want to go to America!  I want to study in America!"  To make such dreams happen, though, you need to be active.  Opportunities don't fall into your lap; you have to make them happen.  I teach so many bright students at SMK Putra Bangsa; yet, they don't reach their full potential because they continually choose to shortcut and cheat.  I try to motivate...and watch as they walk out the door, never truly believing they could have opportunities to go to America.

The shortcomings of the Indonesian education system continue to take me by surprise, even though I've lived here for 6 months.  I shouldn't be surprised, though.  I'm noticing a trend from the top down - a trend of laziness and inability to utilize time in a productive manner.  The whole country seems to lack a work ethic - people openly admit that they're lazy and choose not to take action or find work.  I continually see people take elongated work breaks, smoking outside their offices or business for well over an hour and a half.  Every time I walk into the local department store (which, by the way, is seriously overstaffed), I consistently find only one cash register open and a long line of people standing there as 3 or 4 young sales clerks stand idly by, gossiping with each other.  In the States, you'd be fired automatically, no protests allowed. I have to restrain myself at times from barking orders like a manager.  Schools have so many holidays that it's odd to not have a week with a day or two (or seven) off.  At many schools, teachers randomly cancel class for reasons as simple as not wanting to go to school that day.  With a culture where such behavior permeates every part of society, it shouldn't be a surprise to me when my students choose not to participate in my activities because they'd rather hang out with friends.  And yet, I was still disappointed today.

I find it incredibly frustrating at times to be in a country that appears to be devoutly Muslim and is very religious, yet scorns the Islamic principles of working hard and utilizing the skills that Allah gave them.  It seems incredibly contradictory for people to be so religious and yet be so unmotivated and, in some cases, corrupt.  In fact, at times, people even  use Islam as a means of justifying lazy behavior and poor decisions.  
I'll give you an example.  There is a middle-aged man in my town who has a wife and ten kids.  He once held a solid position as a lecturer at a prestigious university in a city in my province.  One day, he decided he would quit his high-paying job, move to a small town, and sit around and meditate on the hereafter.  He felt like Allah was calling him to sit at home and be religious.  He lives in a tiny shack with his ten children and his wife is forced to make ends meet by running a small shop in front of the shack.  I asked a friend of his, a devout Muslim man, if he agreed with the man's lifestyle choice, to which the friend replied "Your first duty to Allah is being a responsible person and caring for your family."  I've met quite a few people like this man.  I'm not sure how they can adhere to Islamic principles while neglecting personal responsibilities.  To me, this seems like a contradiction.

Today, one of my co-teachers and I were talking about unemployment in Indonesia.  She said if people are unemployed, they apply for government work.  The government provides jobs, which one can speculate lead to bribery money and privileges.  She stated that there is no incentive for people to find employment at small businesses or corporations when they know the government will hand them a job.  Hearing this, I feel like the political and economic situation in this country is ridiculously broken and it's trickling down through the education system.  The same lazy attitude and desire for easy money, in my opinion, is impeding many Indonesians from pursuing quality education.  Such problems pose a danger to a developing democracy.   If the education across Indonesia is often incredibly poor, how can people participate in good governance and government accountability?  How can people vote for new leaders without records of vast corruption? People cheat on exams and never do their own work.  There is much rote memorization and little development of critical thinking being taught in the schools (my school being an exception) and it makes me wince.  People cheat, bribe, steal...and yet are devoutly Islamic.  People aren't educated.

As I reluctantly gathered up my party decorations from my failed attempt at a holiday celebration, I was nearly in tears.  My teachers were profusely apologetic, but didn't know how we could motivate students to stay and participate in after school English activities.  Feeling discouraged, I returned home and walked into my kitchen to open one of Talya and my precious few beers...only to find Talya as frustrated as I was.  She told me how horrible her day had been - how she prepared lessons and teachers cancelled class (happens all the time here because many teachers don't care about education) and how she was stressed.  We spent the next few minutes venting about the problems of the Indonesian education system.  I opened my beer and Talya, the public health student, confessed she'd just finished a cigarette.  On a day like today, we definitely needed an American roommate.