Looking into Two Sides of International Schools
Education in Indonesia has big
improvement in last few years. As the effect of globalization, education in
Indonesia also gets some international flavor. It is proven by the increasing
number of international schools
in Indonesia. Before we talk more about that, what is the international school
actually? An international school is a school that provides the students
international standard education with different curriculum from national
curriculum where it’s located. According to data from Dinas Pendidikan DKI
Jakarta Province there are 95 international schools in Jakarta until 2010 and
now it is more than 100. The trend of international schools is not only in
Jakarta, but also spread across Indonesia especially in big cities. There are
several supporting and opposing
argumentations towards the trend and existence of international schools in Indonesia.
Towards the trend of international
schools in Indonesia, especially in big cities, there are some argumentations
that support the trend and existence of international schools. There are several
reasons why the existence of international schools should be supported. First,
the most important thing why international schools should be supported is the
academic factors that are education qualities. Some elements that are included
to qualities of education are teaching staff quality and standardized
curriculum. International schools have some criteria for teaching staff. The
teaching staffs who teach in international schools have to fulfill some
qualifications such as speaking at least in two languages, and have good teaching skills and methodology. It is needed because good
teaching staff will educate the students with good teaching-learning methods,
and the students will be assessed by various kinds of assignment and assessment
tools. With good teaching staff the students will get more knowledge, and they
will get more experiences. The next element included in education quality is
curriculum. International schools use standardized curriculum internationally
such as International Baccalaureate
or Cambridge International Examinations,
with this curriculum the students are prepared to continue their education in
higher international schools or international college overseas. Besides with
this curriculum the students are taught with different method. They are encouraged
to construct knowledge by themselves. The teachers are only as the facilitator,
but the main subject in the class are the students. Now the learning system
like that is popular as ‘student-centered learning’.
The second supporting argumentation
why international schools should be supported is based non academic factors in
international schools such as good educational environment, supporting
facilities, and life skills that can be learnt.
First, one of good things in non academic factors from international schools is
no discrimination for
the student’s ethnics and body diversity. It will make the students feel
comfortable to study and enjoy
their learning process. It is little bit different from regular schools that most of them come from same ethnic background.
The schools and teachers
might have different treatment to students who are different from the others.
Second, non academic factor is the facilities in international schools. The facilities in
international schools
are very good and supporting the learning process. Most of classes in international
schools are equipped by computer, LCD projector, and internet connection.
Beside equipments in classroom
another facilities in international schools such as computer lab, language lab,
scientific lab, sport center, and
library also support learning process.
With all facilities provided by international schools, the student can get more
knowledge and apply it. Third, life skills that can be learned in international
schools are very useful. Some parents who send their children into
international schools, they were influenced by their own experiences (Leks,
2011). They feel skills that they get from international schools are useful for their
work and life. For example students from international schools are more confident to
show their ability. It is caused by learning process in schools
that encourage them to speak up and perform
what they can do. It is also followed by
good attitude. So, the students do not only know how to
express their ability,
but they also know how to
respect other people especially people from different backgrounds. Moreover international
schools also change student’s
mindset to be world citizens with global perspectives. It will prepare them to
compete with all people around the world in this globalization era. It is similar
to the mission of one international school in Jakarta that wants to prepare their
students to become the world citizens with global perspectives.
On the other hand, there are some
argumentations that disagree with the existence of international schools. They
have some reasons why international schools
are not suitable in
Indonesia. First, with all of facilities that should be provided in
international schools,
it needs much money. It can be a problem for some people who might want to get
good education but they do not have much money. It can make the wide gap
between students especially in state schools
which have international class and regular class. The students who study in
regular schools do not get facilities as same as international schools
students. Second, there are some international schools that fully adopt western
culture. It is not good for student’s especially Indonesian students. The
international environment in international schools can make students lose their sense of
nationalism, culture, and religion. The international schools should be aware of
social issues, religious rituals, and the culture of the country (Leks, 2011).
Here parents have the big role to create identity, so that their children will
not lose it during their study.
From all explanation above we can
conclude that there are some argumentation that supporting and opposing toward the existence and
trend of international schools. Argumentations that supporting to the existence of
international schools
have some reasons.
The reasons are included academic and non academic factors. Academic factors
are education quality that consist the quality of teaching staff and
curriculum. The non academic factors that support international schools are
safe education environment to study, good facilities, and life skills that we
can get from international schools. Meanwhile there are also opposing
argumentations about international schools. The reasons are international
schools can make the students
lose their identity especially their love towards their own culture. So,
international schools can be very good place for learning and preparing us to
face globalization era but we have to still keep our nationalism and identity.
References :
Jakarta, D. P. (2011, May 20). disdik.jakarta.go.id.
Retrieved December 12, 2011, from Data Perkembangan Statistik Pendidikan:
http://disdikdki.net/news.php?tgl=2011-05-30&cat=9&id=426
Leks, S. (2011, August 168). The
Jakarta Post. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from Weekender:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/08/18/going-international.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment