Global Education Guide
Travel
June 26, 2017
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This is my first entry as a blogger. It comes at a strange time as I am supposed to be typing these words from the Philippines, but alas, I am sitting at my desk in my classroom in Belfast, Maine, USA instead. As part of our TGC (Teachers for Global Classrooms) field experience, the US State Department chooses destinations for several cohorts of teachers to travel to in order to share best practices with counterpart teachers, present info about the US education system, and sample local culture. Events in the Philippines, since the fall of 2016, have been...unsettling. An unpredictable new president, a “war on drugs” that appears to condone vigilante-style justice, martial law declared in the southern portions of the archipelago, kidnappings, warnings to not leave one’s hotel after dark, etc. There’s more, but the kicker for me was a text that I sent to my friend who grew up in Cebu and now lives in Portland, Oregon. I simply asked her, “Is it safe for me to go?” Her response, “Honestly, no. That is why I decided not to see my family this year.”
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The folks at IREX and the State Dep’t. knew that many of us were hesitant about embarking on this adventure. About 10 days before our scheduled departure, they offered us the opportunity to defer our field experience travel until next year. I chose this option with the understanding that the TGC program may or may not be able to place me with another travel cohort in 2018. I’m good with my decision, however that creeping sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) washes over me occasionally, especially when I read the blogs of the 6 teachers who did decide to make the trip. Fellow New Englander, Greg Schwanbeck has done a heck of a nice job with his blog and appears to be having a blast. http://www.schwanblog.com/
So, I’ll wait and see what travel assignment I might get from TGC to complete my field experience. Stay tuned.
International Field Experience - Indonesia (7/15 - 7/31, 2018)
Welcome to Indonesia! Jakarta is a city of 10 million.
Day 1 - Getting Acclimated
Getting to Jakarta from the US east coast can be a bear. 30+ hours on planes and in airports takes a toll on one's body. Luckily our cohort of 13 teachers had an opportunity to sleep in and adjust to the 11 hour time difference. In the afternoon, we had a chance to see a few of the sites in the city.
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The National Monument is a Jakarta highlight and represents the Indonesian struggle for independence (1945.) Unfortunately, we were there on a Monday, the only day of the week that the grounds are closed. Someone in our group suggested that we tell the guards at the gate that we were the cleaning crew...
The 18th Asian Games were slated to begin in mid-August. The event venues are split between Jakarta and Palembang.
Traffic in Jakarta is like nothing I've ever seen...
Not far from the monument is the Istiqlal Mosque. It can reportedly hold 200,000 people and is the biggest mosque in southeast Asia. Mosques seem to be constant hubs of activity in this majority Muslim country.
Before calls to prayer were amplified with electronics, drums were used.
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Many larger mosques have clocks indicating when the five prayer times occur.
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No shoes inside the mosque.
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I thought the shot of the mosque dome with the church steeples in the background represented the diversity in Indonesia. The country motto is "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" or Unity In Diversity.
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The tiles on the outdoor surface are meant to replicate the size of prayer mats.
Photo bombing is a universal thing...
Food Break
At left: nasi goreng bebec - fried rice with duck. It was, like almost all the Indonesian food I tried, enak - delicious!
Above: the small white side dish contains sambal - it's a universal Indonesian condiment made with chilis.
Some dishes are prepared inside banana leaves.
Random observation: Indonesians eat with fork and spoon as we do in the US. However, the fork is generally used to move food onto the spoon and the spoon is the utensil that goes to your mouth.
Day 2 - Indonesian education system; U.S. Embassy visit; Batik 101​
Having a native Indonesian as a guide, translator, and all-around question answerer was invaluable. Teacher and former participant in the International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP,) Dewi Susilawati, took us through a whirlwind session about how education services are delivered in Indonesia.
General highlights:
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Indonesia has a nationalized curriculum and a national exam is given at the completion of each level - primary, junior high, and secondary.
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Students stay in their classrooms and teachers move.
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Schools have flag ceremonies every Monday.
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Textbooks are written and provided by the government.
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There are public schools, private schools, and Muslim schools. All must follow the national curriculum, but the private schools have more flexibility.
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She delved into other details about schedules, breaks, lengths of school days, teaching load, class sizes, and required classes. Lots of it sounded familiar/similar to what we see in the U.S. I did leave the session with questions: How has the school experience changed over the past 20 years? Is there an active reform movement? To what degree are teachers involved in the planning of curriculum? (Does the ministry of Education ask for teacher input?)
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Later that morning, we headed to the U.S. Embassy and spoke with Emily Abraham, the Assistant Cultural Attache.
She provided us with information about educational initiatives that are taking place between the U.S. and Indonesia. She also introduced several other speakers who gave us the skinny on staying healthy and safe while in Indonesia. For more info: id.usembassy.gov
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Our afternoon was spent trying our hands at batik making. The process reminded me of dying Ukranian Easter eggs. A layer of wax is applied to both sides of a white cloth that has had designs drawn on it with pencil. The cloth is then soaked in a color bath before being boiled to both set the color and to melt the wax. Upon completion, the white lines that had been covered by the wax are exposed and voila, you've made batik.
Food Break
This is jamu. Each morning at the hotel in Jakarta, Kartini would wheel her jamu cart up to our table and serve tonics that were guaranteed to start our days right. The blends were different for men and women and each had properties that would address any ailments one might have. The taste? Sort of coconut-y, cinnamon-y, and a bunch of other spicy goodness that my palette did not recognize.
Day 3 - Atma Jaya University -
Comparing U.S. and Indonesian teacher training and job expectations
Our morning was spent at Atma Jaya Catholic University learning more about the Indonesian education world. After a tour of the facility, we found ourselves in a conference room where we listened to one of the professors talk about the teacher preparation programs in Indonesia. It sounds like the program is quite selective - candidates are assessed in 4 areas of competence (professional, pedagogical, social, and personality.) Upon completion of a bachelors degree in education, one still cannot teach until they have passed 2 national exams - one written and one practical.
For more info about Atma Jaya University: www.atmajaya.ac.id/web/Index.aspx
These are the rock star teachers of the future in Indonesia.
Day 4 - Vocational school visit; AMINEF; National Gallery
We embarked on our first school visit today - BUNDA MULIA Vocational High School. We were treated to songs and snacks by the students. The best part of the morning was engaging in conversations with the students. They ranged in age from 14 -17 and were enrolled as either accounting or hospitality students.
We continued touring the school with student guides. The music room was a big hit!
Some things are just universal: cafeterias, snacks, lunch ladies, gym class, and, of course, selfies. (One thing that was very different from a U.S. high school were all of the motorcycles/scooters parked outside - that's how the older kids get to school each day.)
Our lunch time and early afternoon were spent with the nice folks at AMINEF (American Indonesian Exchange Foundation.) The organization administers Fulbright programming and other US/Indonesian educational exchanges. We heard from 2 recent American participants who had done some short-term teaching stints in Indonesia. For more info: https://www.aminef.or.id/
During the late afternoon, we spent a bit of time at the National Gallery. The exhibits were thought provoking...
Food Break
On the left is calamari Indonesian style. Don't fret about all the dead soldiers on the right...that was the work of about 8 of us.
Bintang is the Indonesian word for star. The beer is brewed by a subsidiary of Heineken Asia. Bintang truly is the star in Indonesia - it makes up 60% of the total beer sold.
Day 5 - Primary School visit
Visiting primary schools is always fun. The little ones are full of smiles and cheerful greetings. However, on this occasion, we were unprepared for the VIP hoopla that we received at JOHOR BARU 10.
Classroom teachers were kind enough to let the bules (foreigners) interrupt their lessons.
More music and a martial arts performance.
At each school that we went to, we presented a certificate to the head of school. I was chosen as the official presenter this day. In return, we received a pair of ondel-ondel dolls. The legend behind the dolls dates back hundreds of years. Originally they were meant to represent protective spirits. Over the years, the tradition stuck, but the ondel-ondel (human sized, with an actor inside the costume) are mainly present to liven up parties or special events. We were told that the pair should not be separated...hence, the pair of them were my companions for the rest of the trip, got many comments as the 3 of us passed through 4 airports on the flights home, and now are my protective spirits here in my classroom Belfast, Maine.
Food Break
Being guests at a school, of course means more food! I really don't know what most of the following foods were, but everything was delicious.
There's no way the kids were going to let us leave without getting our autographs - and a selfie.
Day 6 - Travel to host community - Palembang, South Sumatra
This is the day when our group of 13 broke into pairs and headed out to other parts of Indonesia for more in-depth looks at schools. My travel partner, Brent Zinkel, and I took a one hour flight from Jakarta to Palembang where we were met by our host teacher Mr. Arpani Komarudin.
Palembang is a working, industrial port city of about 1.2 million people. It sits on the Musi River, which is busy with both commercial shipping and local business activity.
The iconic feature of the city is the Ampera Bridge.
Hosting the 18th Asian Games is a big deal in Palembang (even though they are actually only hosting about 1/3 of the events - the other 2/3 will be held in Jakarta.) There are posters everywhere and a new sporting complex called Jakabaring Sports City was still under construction during our visit.
For more info: https://en.asiangames2018.id/
After Arpani had us dropped off at our hotel, Brent and I decided to hop in a taxi to go in search of local snacks (and beer.) The one and only time that it rained during our 16 days in Indonesia was that afternoon. It came down quick and heavy. Our cab ride was an adventure.
At one of the malls we found plenty of snacks (but no beer.)
Day 7 - A wedding party? Really? Cool!
On our first full day in Palembang, Brent and I had the good fortune to be invited (as guests of Arpani) to a wedding party. The groom and bride (Yuda and Elba) had been married officially earlier that morning, so the part we attended was more like a reception. There were well over 1,000 people there. The colors and sounds were overwhelming. I'll let the photos do the talking...
Brent and I were treated like celebrities. Sat up front, got to go on stage and get photos taken with the wedding party, and at the end were whisked into a room with a sign on the door that read V.I.P. (we even got to eat first!) All wedding guests got a nice gift - see glass at right.
One interesting observation: The whole spectacle was emceed by a man and woman (like DJs) at the front corner of the hall. It was a like a play-by-play of every facet of the event.
Many thanks to Arpani and his family (see below) for adding us to the guest list.
One thing that I neglected to mention is that Arpani did not escort us to the wedding party. One of his former students, newly returned from a year at a U.S high school in Iowa, named Alif, was our guide and translator for most of the ceremony. We couldn't have asked for a better young man to show us around.
Alif and his classmates who have been overseas for a year of high school are very well respected by both staff and students at the SMA Plus Negeri 17 school.
After the wedding party, we had some time to kill, so we headed to the school for a quick tour with Alif. (Our official first day would not be until the next day, Monday the 23rd.)
SMA Plus Negeri 17 has a compact and beautiful campus that caters to students in grades 10-12. All 10th grade students must stay on campus (dormitory) for the year.
There is a mosque on campus. Wash feet before entering. Males and females pray on separate sides of the mosque (notice the green separating curtain.)
Prayers are always directed the same way - facing Mecca.
Day 8 - First day at SMA Plus Negeri 17 school
Monday mornings are reserved for flag ceremonies. This seems to be true of all schools across Indonesia. Students and staff gather outside and conduct a flag raising - there are also announcements, prayers, and in our case, some singing and a recognition of the 21st anniversary of the school being open.
After the ceremony, Arpani took us to the teacher's room to chat with staff members. We swapped questions - many of theirs had to do with U.S. politics and gun laws. Mine were about how curriculum is developed in Indonesia. The answer, as I guessed, was that the curriculum is nationalized and therefore teachers feels as if they do not have much input.
After our meeting with teachers, Brent and I got to observe a few classes. We also got to do some Q & A with one of the 10th grade classes. Their questions were, again, mostly about U.S. politics, but there were also the expected questions about how schools are similar/different from the U.S. The most intriguing question came from a young man who asked, "What's the status of LGBT rights in America?" It was interesting to see their reactions to my (very liberal) explanation. I turned the tables and said, "Considering that the national motto in Indonesia is 'Unity in Diversity', you would think that people here would embrace the LGBT community as adding to the diversity." Student reactions were strongly mixed.
Day 9 - Arpani's lesson; Kemaro Island
Arpani is a candidate for Indonesian Teacher of the Year. One of the requirements for his application is that he submit a video recorded lesson. Brent and I were honored to be a part of this.
The lesson began with Arpani explaining the lesson and then showing the class a short news video about how landslides in Indonesia had claimed dozens of lives. In groups, students were to devise a solution for the landslide dilemma. They were given an envelope with various "building materials" with which they were to make a model that demonstrated their solution. Each of the 5 groups had an teacher "observer" (Brent and I and other teachers did this) and our task was to watch for and write down what we saw for group dynamics - leadership, listening, collaboration, encouragement, patience (or lack of it,) etc. At the end of 30 minutes, student groups presented their creation to the whole class and took questions.
I enjoyed the lesson for its creativity, but the best part was the debrief where Arpani spoke more about learning styles and group dynamics than he did about landslides. Well done sir, and best of luck with your candidacy for Teacher of the Year.
The school won a grant from Samsung to equip this classroom with smart technology. Impressive!
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Check out the video of Arpani's lesson above.
Food Break
This is bakso. Noodles, meatballs, and broth. So simple, but so delicious. Mix in some of the condiments from the green bowls - ketchup, soy sauce, chili sambal, etc.
Our afternoon was spent with Sri Maryati Erwinsyah and two other TGC teachers (Pam and Bonnie) who were also assigned to Palembang. Sri works for the local Department of Education and was kind enough to take us on a tour to Kemaro Island in the Musi River.
Kemaro Island is unique in that it is home to a nine story pagoda and many structures that are of Buddhist origin. (All this right in the middle of a very Islamic city.) During times of the year when Chinese holidays are celebrated, the island is abuzz with activity. For us tourists, it made for some great photo ops and a river trip that was an assault on all the senses.
The belido fish (see photo of the statue at upper left) used to be the preferred river fish for folks in Palembang. Due to overfishing, the availability of belido in the Musi has dropped to almost none.
Notice in the upper right photo that the island is relatively close to shore. During certain festivals, a floating bridge is stretched across the span to accommodate all of the visitors, especially from Singapore.
This video gives you an idea of the sights and sounds from the water taxi. (My only regret is that you, the viewer, cannot experience the multitude of smells that met us along the way - fumes from the engine, cigarette smoke from the driver, fish, burning trash, river water, sewage.)
Food Break
Above: This is a lidah kucing cookie or "cat's tongue" cookie. Pam felt obliged to demonstrate.
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Below: Chatime is a tea franchise across Indonesia. I felt like one of the cool kids ordering a hazelnut milk tea with pearls. However, when you order it "with pearls," that means you get the nasty little gummy balls at the bottom.
Day 10 - Getting to teach a lesson; a tour of the school library; on the town with Marwiyah and Fikha
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This day was a whirlwind of activity. Two of the female English teachers, Marwiyah and Fikha, took Brent and I under their wings for the day. Marwiyah took me to her class and left me to spend an hour with her grade 12 students. After some initial Q & A, I delved into a lesson about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.) I had brought printed posters from home (in both English and Bahasa) to be left at the school. I started the lesson by writing the Bahasa word berkelanjutan (sustainable) on the white board. We talked about what it meant and why it's important. I asked students to take a look at the posters to determine if the translations between the two languages held up accurately. Then I asked them to choose 3 of the goals that they felt were most important and to report out to the class. At this point, things got quiet, and volunteers, beyond a few very vocal boys, were hard to find. The answers that I did get were thoughtful, but the best answer came as a result of a follow-up question. I asked, "If you could add a 'Goal 18' to the list what would it be?" The best answer? "No lies."
For more info about the SDGs: www.teachsdgs.org or http://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/
When it seemed like the SDGs lesson had run out of steam (volunteers,) I asked the students if they would like to be in touch with students from the U.S. Things got livelier after I started handing out postcards from Belfast that my students had written messages on. The Indonesian kids instantly whipped out their cellphones and were making social media connections with kids in Maine in a matter of seconds.
We ended our time together with me handing out some classic New England candy (Necco wafers) for them to try.
**UPDATE** Before I left the 12th graders, I asked for a volunteer who would agree to approach one of the teachers and ask for permission to hang the SDGs posters in a classroom on campus. (The fellow with the green surgical mask, Samuel, agreed.)
Exactly 2 weeks later, I received the following email and photo:
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"Hello again sir! This is samuel from the class that you give this poster. I already done my word by pinned the poster and all teachers responses are very well. Thank you for this gift and thankyou for all advices you give hope we can meet again in other wonderful condition.
See ya!"
After the lesson, Marwiyah took me for a tour of the school library. It was interesting in that the library not only serves as a place to do research and study; it also has a small area where little bits of Palembang history are archived. Some are actual artifacts and others are projects that students have made. Here are a few random pictures:
Marwiyah wouldn't take no for an answer concerning my modeling some of the local fashions.
Next on our action packed agenda was a trip into the city with Marwiyah and Fikha. It was getting close to mid-day, so it was time for a...
Food Break
Palembang is famous for it's signature dish pempek. I don't want to offend anyone from Palembang, but pempek (also known as empek-empek,) to me, is like a fishy rubber ball disguised to look like a Chinese dumpling or a cube of fried fish. The best part is the spicy dipping sauce, called cuko (pronounced choo-koh.)
We also were treated to various dessert specialties and my new best friend...avocado juice.
In fairness to the good people of Palembang, pempek is an ingenious culinary invention. It provides a way to stretch the value of freshly caught fish. Even though pempek can be gotten throughout Indonesia, Palembang pempek is the most sought after. (We saw this when we left Palembang for Jakarta at the end of our stay...people were boarding the plane with box after box of freshly minted pempek.)
Our next stop was to a small, hole-in-the-wall establishment where two very nice ladies were weaving songket cloth. The cloth is well known throughout Southeast Asia and is used more often for special occasion clothing as it is shimmery and fancy due to threads that are woven in that have a gold or metallic sheen.
Weaving songket is complicated stuff. It takes about a month to complete one section.
Getting my large frame buckled in to the apparatus was quite a feat.
Of course, after the weaving demo, we made the obligatory trip across the street to a shop where one could purchase any number of clothing items made from songket cloth. It was all very beautiful and it would have been helpful to have my wife with me to pick something out. However, sizing for big fellas like me is tricky in Indonesia. The XXL shirts that I tried on left very little breathing room across the shoulders and middle.
Our final stop with Fikha and Marwiyah was at a roadside stall that sold durian fruit. From day one in Indonesia, we (all of the TGC fellows) had all been joking about the "stinky" fruit and taking bets about who would dare to try it.
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It's hard to describe. As you can see from the photos, it's very spiny on the outside and fleshy with large pits on the inside. The smell is beyond my ability to articulate. There's nothing to compare it to - suffice it to say that the smell is not pleasant and the taste is equally unappealing. I'm glad I tried it, but there's no need to venture down this path ever again.
Of course, our hosts all love it and rave about putting it in coffee and having durian flavored ice cream. I suppose if you've grown up with it...
***A note about the next 12 hours...
Several weeks before we arrived in Palembang, Brent had asked Arpani if it would be possible to see a coffee or tea plantation on the island of Sumatra. Arpani responded that it was a long trip, but it was doable. Seven of us (2 American teachers and 5 Indonesian teachers) ended up leaving Palembang at 9:30pm, driving through the night on some of the curviest, bumpiest roads known to man, and arriving at Pagar Alam at 4am. We were welcomed by a former student of Arpani's and went to his house for a few hours of sleep. The day that unfolded at 6:30am was unforgettable.
Day 11 - Pagar Alam
Pagar Alam is a city of about 150,000 in the western mountains of South Sumatra. The landscape is dominated by Mount Dempo, a 10,000+ foot volcano that has not erupted since 2009. On the slopes of the mountain are vast tea fields that stretch for miles.
Other farming occurs on the slopes of Mt. Dempo.
None of the Indonesian teachers had heard of dill (above.)
At right: Strawberries.
Top right: Bags full of chicken manure. Not sure where the driver sits...
About half way up the mountain is as far as cars can go. The rest of the way can be accessed by hikers. There are toilets at this halfway point and some rustic food stands. The most impressive part is the Hollywood-esque letters that jut out of the mountainside. (Note that a storm ripped through the last 2 letters recently...)
The most interesting part of the day was touring the tea processing plant at the base of the mountain. As I've said previously, I wish I could bottle up the smell from inside the plant to share with you...
We were shown how to brew and properly taste tea. The grading of the tea was also explained.
The 3 teas we tasted were all steeped for 6 minutes.
Proper tasting technique requires that the tea isn't swallowed. You slurp the tea from the spoon in one big, loud, puckered intake. Then you swish it around in your mouth before spitting it out.
The "best" teas are made from the younger leaves.
Quality control samples are packaged up periodically. Our last stop was to the very hands-on retail packaging area.
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Terima Kasih = Thank You in Bahasa
Food Break
After our tea adventure, we stopped at a restaurant that specializes in fish. In fact the fish were swimming right underneath where we dined.
We sat on the floor. Eating with one's hands is perfectly acceptable in Indonesia. Rice is served with most meals. Soup, especially spicy ones, are common. The crispy looking chips above are fried fish skins. No one left hungry...
Day 12 - Presenting a workshop to teachers from Palembang; farewell party
Arpani asked Brent and I to present a workshop for visiting teachers. This proved to be a fun experience. Brent spoke about inquiry based learning and I presented about incorporating global competencies into classrooms (I also made a big plug for the SDGs as a content option for teachers wanting to globalize their lessons.)
We signed lots of certificates for professional development credit for teachers in attendance.
For our last afternoon in Palembang, we were treated to a farewell party at the school. It was a nice ceremony, led by students, with a few performance and lots of positive vibes. We were given some thoughtful gifts, too.
Days 13 - 16 - Back to Jakarta; debriefings; a few more excursions; departure
It was great to see everyone back in Jakarta. We all had stories to tell and photos to share. Our main objective during the remaining days in Indonesia was to figure out best strategies to share what we learned with audiences back in the U.S. and how to maintain meaningful contacts with our counterpart teachers and students in Indonesia.
(I'll reflect more on that at the end.) For now, here are some photos from our last days in Jakarta.
In the Kota Tua area of Jakarta (the old Dutch section) there is a Javan puppet museum and theater. The performance of the Ramayana goes on for 9 hours. We stayed for about 1 hour. Notice the Tree of Life in the photo above. They are intricately made from leather and when light is shined directly on them, the pattern is projected on whatever surface is behind. This proved to be very dramatic on the screen during the puppet show.
For more info about the Wayang Tree of Life: http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/artwork/tree-life-puppet-kayon-or-gunungan-approx-1970
In 2017, former President Barack Obama and wife, Michelle, visited this school that "Barry" attended in 1968.
The photos below are from our visit inside the school.
-As with all of our school visits, we had a very musical welcome.
-The girl who looks like she is telling a story is doing exactly that! She won the school story telling contest (in English.)
-The toilet photo is added for Bob Frye, our resident master of all things potty related. Overall there are probably more of the squatter type toilets in Indonesia than the Western style. In fact, we found several diagrams in bathrooms indicating that one should not stand on the rim of the Western style toilet.
-Who knew there were so many ways to describe Allah?
Final, over-the-top Food Break
Our last dinner was at a traditional Indonesian restaurant, Lara Djongrang. Yes, all of this food (and much more) was on the table at the same time.
Everybody in Indonesia wears batik. On the day of departure, we were taken to the Thamrin City Market to do some last minute shopping. It was a bit overwhelming...I'm not exaggerating when I say that there were hundreds of stalls with racks of clothing similar to the one below. (I pride myself on having an uncanny sense of direction, but I was grateful that Mr. Wyatt showed me the compass feature on my smartphone - that's how maze-like this place was.)
Finding bule (foreigner) sizes was a bit easier here, but this guy did have to dig a little.
The one's I did buy probably should not go in the dryer...
Saying goodbye to Dewi and Rizqi. They were the best!!
Reflecting on 16 days in Indonesia
Travel gives us unique opportunities to consider perspectives that otherwise elude us during our everyday lives. Change the context, the angle of approach, or one’s comfort level and you have the makings for some meaningful, deep, and potentially long-lasting learning situations. To illustrate, as I was flying from Bangor, Maine to Newark, New Jersey on the first leg of my International Field Experience to Indonesia with Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC,) I had the chance to view some of the most interesting cloud formations I’ve ever seen. From above the clouds things looked incredibly surreal as compared to being on the ground where we take clouds for granted. From the window seat of that tiny plane I started to wonder how the clouds could possibly hang there the way they do. How is this possible? They look so heavy and yet there they are suspended in cauliflower-y awesomeness.
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Minutes later, I thought...shouldn’t I know how clouds are formed? Didn’t I learn this in 7th grade in Mr. Lopez’s science class?
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For a moment, I felt inadequate due to my inability to explain the inner workings of clouds. Upon further reflection, however, I asked myself, “Do I need to know this?” It seems that my musings about the atmosphere serve as a perfect analogy for my guiding question about Indonesian education - What is important to know? How do Indonesians (or Americans or anyone) decide what to teach their children?
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Lately, in American education circles, there has been an ongoing debate about the importance of teaching content vs. skills. Is it more beneficial for students to know things (generally classified as being able to recall from memory) or to have the requisite skills to find answers along their educational journeys (their lives?)
During the course of my Field Experience in Indonesia, I had the chance to pursue answers to my questions. What I found was both intriguing and frustrating. The following reflection is an attempt to appreciate multiple perspectives, to find clarity through the clouds, and will, at times, generate more questions than answers.
Our Field Experience in Indonesia was designed to offer a mix of school visits, engagement with education professionals, and cultural experiences. With a whirlwind schedule, part of the challenge for fellows was to find the appropriate times/opportunities to ask questions and to consciously focus on our guiding questions. Our first chance to dive into the details of the Indonesian education system came at our briefing by Dewi Susilawati, teacher and former participant in the International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP.) In reference to my particular query about the way curriculum is developed in Indonesia, the answer offered by Dewi was simple - the government (Ministry of Education in Jakarta) creates a course of study that all schools are expected to implement. There was no indication that input was requested by teachers or parents in the process. The idea that the national government would be the purveyor of curriculum was, of course, quite foreign to a U.S. teacher accustomed to state by state differences in curricular priorities. After the session, I approached Dewi and asked if she had seen many changes in the delivery of instruction since she went through school (assuming that it was about 20 years ago.) She said that the curriculum now was very similar to what she was taught in school. At this point, it appeared that my question was answered already - Indonesia has a top-down, nationalized instructional set that has been in place for many years and there are no signs of that changing. Being the consummate skeptic, I decided to continue to pursue more insights into the nature of Indonesian curriculum development.
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A few days later, our cohort toured Atma Jaya University and met with veteran teachers and newly graduated education students aspiring to become teachers. Most of the presentation by the professor dealt with the university level process of preparing teacher candidates. During the open Q & A session, I had my chance to ask about curriculum development. The professor gave a very similar answer to what Dewi gave - we’re told by the Ministry what to teach. I pushed a bit and followed up by asking if there was a desire for educational reform amongst educational professionals who are out there in the trenches as teachers. She said (and there were nods from all of the Indonesian teachers in the room) that yes, there was a certain amount of frustration stemming from the fact that, in light of current worldwide reforms in education, job readiness, and global competitiveness, the Indonesian system seemed somewhat rigid and perhaps antiquated. At this moment, I had a glimmer of hope that I was getting somewhere with my quest for answers to my guiding question. However, in the next breath, the professor said (and I wrote it down exactly as she said it,) “As good citizens, we need to support the government.” This also elicited nods from the crowd.
After the session, I approached the 20-somethings who were the recent graduates of the education college at Atma Jaya. In blunt American fashion, I asked what they thought about the need for reform in the way curriculum was developed in Indonesia. Their responses were guarded, but honest. They felt that changes were needed, but that their generation would have to “wait their turn.” At the end of my few minutes with these young people, I had an upsurge of confidence that the future of education in Indonesia was in good hands, but at the same time, I felt frustrated that everyone’s hands appeared to be tied in the present.
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As I moved on from Jakarta to my remote field placement in Palembang, I had a suspicion that I would run into similar answers to my guiding question. At our one and only large group meeting with teachers at SMA Plus Negeri 17 school, my partner teacher, Brent Zinkel, and I were plied with questions mostly about U.S. politics and gun laws. My question about curriculum development was deftly handled as I expected - we do what we’re told by the Ministry.
Not to be discouraged, I spent the next few days at the school observing and asking questions. I sat in on a physics class where the teacher pulled all of his information directly from his laptop, wrote it on the board, and expected the kids to record it all in their notebooks. The lesson was about scientific notation and significant figures. At one point, a student raised her hand and asked, “How will we use this? How will this be helpful to us?” (This was ironic to me because I was wondering the same thing…) The teacher did his best to explain how all of this would become clear to them as they delved deeper into their study of physics.
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I had another chance to chat with a geography teacher. His English was good enough that we could get our points across (my Indonesian was limited to words like “delicious” and “beautiful” and “adventure.”) He indicated that he very much followed the prescribed national curriculum. When I asked if he used different parts of the world to demonstrate geographic principles, he said that he did not - Indonesian examples were always used. Again, being the bold American with my questions, I asked him if it was more important to cultivate students who were good Indonesians or good citizens of the world. This is where our translation broke down. I got the impression that he wanted to say the latter, but his words indicated that the former was the better option to relay to me.
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Back in Jakarta, after roughly two weeks in Indonesia, our cohort was asked to begin the reflection process. Our group leader, Wyatt Pedigo, asked us to sum up our thoughts in terms of emotions, memories, and lessons learned. For me, this process ended up being very circular - I kept coming back to the same questions. See below:
-Am I casting a wide net of judgement on the Indonesian education system based on my Western notions of what education should/could be?
-Do differences in communication styles between Indonesians and Americans hinder conversations so that they never get beyond surface levels?
-Am I being too keen on “getting answers” when I should focus more on observing processes? (Maybe the best answers are more questions?)
-Are there truly cultural differences between West and East (individual vs. collective mentalities) that define our ways of thinking and interacting or is this a gross generalization?
Can I answer the four questions above? Maybe, maybe not. As I’ve said before, perhaps generating more questions is more important and ultimately more beneficial than answers.
One of the recent grads from Atma Jaya University commented to me through a Facebook chat that communicating as an Indonesian is all about context. There are layers of nuance that an American (unless they had lived in Indonesia for years) could not grasp. Could this phenomenon have something to do with my lack of answers for my guiding question?
Having lived and worked in Korea during the 2011-12 school year, I’ve already been exposed to the Western vs. Eastern ways of thinking. Group mentality, family bonds (filial piety,) and social harmony are all tenets of broader Confucian roots in the East. Could it be that one reason that more educational reform is not happening in Indonesia is because there is a sense that the elders (and government officials) know best and to upset that apple cart would sow discord?
If you, the reader, have been paying attention thus far, you’ll notice that my reflection has moved beyond my original guiding question regarding curriculum development. I’d like to think that the Teachers for Global Classrooms program is designed to send us in with a general idea of a topic to investigate, knowing that that original question is simply a guide. The real lessons, impressions, and lingering inquiries come as a result of living in the moment, having unplanned and spontaneous adventures, and seizing/recognizing those “learning moments” as they occur.
As a final observation, I’d like to comment on the very nature of international fellowships and short term field experiences such as what TGC offers. At our first debrief session with Wyatt, the word “surface” kept coming to my mind - I’ve only scratched the surface here in Indonesia. Realistically, that’s the point. The field experience is meant to be a jumping in point rather than a culminating experience. Now that we’ve had all of these fantastic opportunities to talk with, eat with, play with, and “talk shop” with our Indonesian counterparts, what will we do next? For me, that’s where the real value of the TGC experience will show itself. Through ongoing collaborations with our counterpart teachers, we, the TGC fellows, have unique opportunities to make impactful and long-lasting impressions on the next generation of teachers and students. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey, embracing and learning from the perspectives of my Indonesian colleagues, and always striving for a clear path forward through the clouds.