Education
for Everyone
In this 21st century education for young
people becomes the main concern almost all of country in the world. United States
of America as a developed country also put education to the top priority. The
education for children is compulsory and it is supported by funding from
government both from federal and states. U.S government spends much funding for
supporting the educational institution. Many plans and policies has been made
related to field of education. The most enormous plan is No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that is initiate by president Bush in
2001 and legalized by the U.S Congress in 2002 (U.S Department of Education,
2012). Similar to what happen in U.S,
Indonesia also puts education in the top priority. Indonesian government has
allocated 20% of national budget for education sector. Policies that support
the education also has been made such as Wajib
Belajar 9 Tahun (compulsory education for nine years) and Bantuan Operasional Sekolah (BOS) to
support the funding of primary and junior high school. However, both country
still facing the same problem which is unequal chance to get good education. In
this essay I would like to compare and criticize how the educational policies
in U.S and Indonesia and its effect to help each child to pursue their
education and some issues that related to education in U.S and Indonesia such
as school opportunity equality, racism, and discrimination.
Education
development in U.S has passed long history and many changes has been made to
make a better education for the nation. The milestones of education development
in U.S was started with the case of Brown
vs Board of Education. The case was
started because of segregation law that prohibited the black and white children
to go to the same school. Oliver Brown was the figure of the plaintiff that
raised the case up to Supreme Court. Oliver’s daughter
had to walk more than seven blocks to go the bus station and 2 more miles to go
the school because of the segregation law. Fourteenth Amendment of U.S
Constitution (1968) as cited in U.S Courts (2013), “the law strengthened the
legal rights of newly freed slaves by stating, among other things, that no
state is allowed deprive anyone of either “due process of law” or of the “equal
protection of the law”. However, in fact the amendments did not give the equal
chance for all children. According to McBride (2006) in 1954 there were many of
the United States had racially segregated schools, made legal by Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896), which held that segregated public facilities were
constitutional as long as the black and white facilities were equal to each
other. The African American children like Linda could not go to the white
public school although it is only six blocks from her house. That case was
leading the civil right movement in which resulting the decision from U.S
Supreme Court that banned the segregation in public school.
The
case above shows that in U.S to get the equal opportunity in education was
really hard in the past. The main factor that make the inequality in the past
was discrimination because of race. Actually it is a continuous effect of
hundreds year of slavery that put the black people in low position. The
policies and law in which segregate the school gives many inequality to black
people. The segregation make inferior education for black people since the area
or district where they schooled in had less budget and funding. The
discrimination to get equal education is not only happen to black people but
also other minority groups in U.S such as Asian, Latino, and Hispanics. Data
based on research by Cordes and Miller (2006) showed that Hispanics are the
fastest growing ethnic group in American schools, increasing from 10% of the
enrollment in public schools in 1986 to 16% in 1999. However, they are not
accommodated to get the education maximally. The number of dropout students in
academic year 1999-2000 from Hispanics group was 7, 4%, while the white
students was only 4, 1% (Cordes & Miller, 2006).
The
other factor that make inequality to get education in U.S are the unfair
distribution of education funding. The U.S federal government does have priority
in education field as high as state government. The federal government only
supports small portion from national budget for education. According to Cordes
and Miller (2006) the responsibility of federal government are provide safety
and set the minimum requirements. Data from research that is conducted by
Cordes and Miller (2006) recorded that the funding for elementary and secondary
school in 1940 was 68% from local taxes, 305 from state government, and only 2%
from federal government. Almost five decades later the support from federal
still have not improved significantly. In 1999 the funding for elementary and
secondary was only 7 from federal government, the rest 48% was supported by
state government and 44% by local taxes (Cordes & Miller, 2006). The data
shows that the education quality are not really guaranteed by the federal
government, it depends more on policy and support from local district and
state. The state that has less income and taxes will give less funding support,
as a consequence the education quality also will be lower. It is mostly happen
in southern state which has lower income and has more non-white citizens, as
result the black and minority group will have less chance to get the education.
The
most recent and controversial policy in education is No Child Left Behind Act 2001. The act was signed to the law by the
President Bush in January 8th, 2002 (Villavicencio, 2005). It is the
reform act after the Education Act in 1965. This law has four main pillars as a
foundation which are Stronger
Accountability for Results, More Freedom for States and Communities, Proven
Education Methods, and More Choices
for Parents (U.S Department of Education, 2004). Each pillar aims to direct
the program to achieve specific goals. However, in fact there are so many
problem and obstacles in implementing those pillars. For the first pillar, Stronger Accountability for results aims
to make states able to close the achievement gap between ethnic group or race
and make sure that all students, included
they that come from low-income economy can achieve academic proficiency. In
order to that the states and school district must report the annual report that
shows the states and school progress. The report is based on the test result of
proficiency and mathematics. The realization was not as good as the plan. Since
the states and school district are given the authority to make the achievement
standard, they make only single standard that applied in entire part of the
state regardless the students’ ability level, ethnics, and first language. It
means that the aim to provide education for all students cannot be achieved
because actually it is kind of discrimination by treating different students
with same method instead of equal. The
students with particular differences will not equal opportunity to pass the
standard since the standard does not match with their ability. The assessment
is also not valid since the students’ achievement only measured by multiple
choice reading and mathematics test (Carleton, 2008). The rest of the pillars
also failed to achieve the purpose, for example the second pillar, More Freedom for States and Communities
which means the states and local school district have the authority in
allocating the federal funding for
education based on their needs to develop the school. In fact the federal
government consistently failed to provide adequate funding to support the
program (Carleton, 2008). In certain states and sub-urban area the school even
does not have enough budget to provide the stationary and some others needs to
run the school activity.
Due
to many problems and arguments that against No
Child Left Behind the current government of President Obama has tried to
reform and redesign the NCLB. The
proposed blue print of reformation and new design of NCLB has been sent to Congress in March 2010, but there is no
response on it (White House, 2013). It shows that U.S Congress does not pay attention
to make the public education system better. It is contradict with the situation
when NCLB is signed into law with
overwhelming support from both party Democrat and Republic ((Villavicencio,
2005). This situation imply that even an important sector such as education can
become the political commodity with insincere attention from House of
Representatives.
Education
in Indonesia also has quite same problem with what happen in the U.S. Here, the
equality to get good education for all children also still can be achieved.
Every Indonesian children has the right to get the education according to
Indonesian Constitution (UUD 1945) that stated in preamble and verse 31 article
1. Those mandates from Constitution tried to be implemented by holding various
program in education. The most important program is Wajib Belajar (Wajar) 9 Tahun. It is a program that gives
opportunity for all Indonesian children to get compulsory education for 9 years
(6 years of elementary and 3 years in junior high) (Kemdikbud, 2012). According
to Director General for Primary Education, Suyanto (2012), as cited in
Kemdikbud (2012) Ministry of Education and Culture Republic of Indonesia claims
that Wajar 9 Tahun has been achieved
in 2008 with 99% of completion. However,
in the implementation this program has not been fully successful and faces many
problems. In the remote there are still many schools that has minimum
infrastructure such as school building. It is contrary to what happen in the
big cities where the students can enjoy the god facilities such as AC, internet
connection, and some others facilities. It shows the inequality of education
distribution. The children in the remote area must struggle to go to school
with quite far location from their house and learn with minimum facilities.
Meanwhile, in the big city not all children also can afford the good education.
Government supports the Wajar 9 Tahun
by giving funding support trough Bantuan
Operasional Sekolah (BOS) only for operating budget to run the school, so
they must pay more for the supplementary needs such as book, uniform, school
activity and etc. In Indonesia the inequality to get education is mostly caused
by the economicand social status.
Education
is the root of nation development. The good and equal opportunity to get
education is a must to make a better nation. The policies and laws that are
made by the government should concern on how the education can be achieved by
all citizens in the country. The individual differences such as background
culture, ethnics, and socioeconomic status should not be the burden to get
equal education.
Resources:
Carleton. (2008). Carleton College. Retrieved from Come and Vote:
http://www.carleton.edu/departments/educ/vote/pages/Pros_and-Cons.html
Cordes, B., & Miller, G. (2006). Rockhurst University.
Retrieved from
http://cte.rockhurst.edu/s/945/images/editor_documents/content/PROJECT%20INEQUALITY%20STUDENT%20PAPERS(Listed%20Alphabetically%20by%20P/cordes.pdf
Court, U. (2013, July 11). United States Courts. Retrieved from
History of Brown vs Board of Edcation:
http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/federal-court-activities/brown-board-education-re-enactment/history.aspx
Education, U. D. (2012, December 26). U.S Department of Education .
Retrieved from Elementary and Secondary Education Act:
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/stateletters/index.html
McBride, A. (2006, December 16). Public Broadcasting Service.
Retrieved from Supreme Court History Expanding Civil Rights: Lanmark Cases: www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html
Kemdikbud.
(2012). Wajib Belajar 9 Tahun Sudah Tuntas. Kementrian
Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indoensia. Retrived from
http://www.kemdiknas.go.id/kemdikbud/node/653
Villavicencio, M. (2005, August
21). Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from PBS Newshour:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/education/no_child/basics.html
