The Kind of Education I Wish I Had

Hello everyone! How’s everything? Hopefully, everything is okay and you guys stay safe and healthy. Wow, it’s been awhile since my last post about covid-19. I feel bad for not updating anything here. In the beginning of 2020 I already promised myself to keep updating a post each week. But here I am. I couldn’t keep that promise because life got in the way. I was too busy with my routine as a teacher in a cram school until I couldn’t spare time for my hobby even myself! That was definitely insane. Thank God everything has changed. Now, I could manage my time better so yeah I get back up again to one of my 2020 resolutions, writing blog posts.

Working in education field makes me realize there are lots of challenges we need to tackle if we want to have better human resources for the future. I honestly think the education system in Indonesia hasn’t had significant changes in quality since the day I became a student. Now that I’m thinking about those days I spent at formal schools, I sigh heavily. I’m currently imagining the kind of education I wish I had and I wish I didn’t have. I know I wouldn’t have been here, to where I am now, if I hadn’t had that education. However, wouldn’t it be great if we had better education just like other developed countries such as Finland and Switzerland?

Image taken from https://images.app.goo.gl/hy3RBCYcSGfSAYLv5

Back in those days when I still wore school uniforms and went to school, I was considered as a quiet but clever and diligent student. I’m sorry I don’t mean to be boastful. I enjoy learning and reading so much. Therefore, people think of me that way. People might think I can cope with studying and school activities because my report cards always show good scores. Teachers also never said something bad about me. They assumed I was doing just fine. However, that isn’t true. I was having a lot of difficulties every time I had subjects dealing with numbers. There were times when I didn’t enjoy schools at all because they always and always tortured me with counting imaginary numbers and symbols. Every time I asked my teacher why I had to study subjects I didn’t like, they never gave me any relatable answers or worst they just pushed me away, left me hanging.

I just don’t understand. Why do they always force us to excel at math and science? Why are math and science subjects having the biggest portion for our scores and studying time? How about languages, music, arts, sports, social, culture, and religions? Why are they so underrated? I’m better at languages and social but why am I not appreciated? Is education all about our intelligence? If yes, why do I feel so stressful having intelligent friends with bad manners and who always think of me as a competitor? And why do I feel happier around my friends who aren’t that bright at schools but kindhearted, friendly, empathetic, patient, and chill? Do teachers know lots of their students cheat because they have no other choice? Schools demand everyone to pass the impossible passing grade. That’s why they cheat. It’s way too hard to excel at everything. Stop pushing us to the same output!

Those questions above are things I used to ask myself when I was still a student. Even until now, I’m still questioning them. I understand, as I’m a teacher, that to change this condition takes a lot of effort and time. It’s a very complicated thing to be done with all those politicians and government having their own scenarios. But I deeply and really want a big change in our education system. I’m sick of formal school implausible standards, depressing standardized tests, and inhumane competitions.

I wish I didn’t go to schools that only measure students’ ability, intelligence, and skills based on their performance on solving math problems or other science subjects. Instead, I wish I went to schools that facilitated and promoted students’ multiple intelligence, initiative, perseverance, sense of responsibility, sense of humor, ability to be sensitive to the needs of others, ecological awareness, mental health, sexual education, critical thinking, problem solving, and mindfulness. I wish I went to schools that appreciated every student’s interests, passions, characters, traits, specialties, and uniqueness. I wish I had education that prepared me for the real life with its ups and downs. I wish my teachers didn’t ask me to memorize theories I didn’t even understand. I didn’t even know why I should learn it. I wish they gave me more freedom and options to learn what I wanted to learn instead of learning what they obliged me to. I wish my teachers were more engaging and fun in teaching. Oh come on, who wants to memorize grammar formula every time we learn English? That sucks!

Knowing what kind of education I wish I had has helped me a lot to become what kind of teacher I want to be for my students. My value in teaching is ‘Education should be liberating’. It should give students opportunity and freedom to learn what they want, to be what they wish, and to pursue what they desire. It should facilitate students to love and enjoy the learning process instead of focusing on the results only. Based on that value I always think of myself as a facilitator not a dictator. I’m a bridge that helps my students to go and explore things they want or need to learn. I give them freedom to speak up or ask questions when it’s needed. That allows us to spark discussion and sometimes hot debate. I’m not a perfect teacher, not at all. Well, perfection has never been my goal. All I want in my whole career is enjoying the teaching and learning process. As long as I love what I’m doing and stay true to myself and my value, everything is perfectly fine. My students enjoy their sessions with me and it’s proven by their heartwarming messages they write special for me. I’m so thankful for that.

I know I make a lot of mistakes and I admit it in front of them. They surprisingly appreciate it and enthusiastically help me to make it right. See I do learn a lot from my students. Not all students like me of course. Some of them resent the way I teach, dress, or speak. At some points that hurts. A lot. But again, I can always change my reactions. If I take it as an insult, I will probably yell at them or try to kill them. Why bother? I honestly prioritize my students to be more caring and empathetic to each other. Intelligence is important. However, what’s the point of being smart in school subjects without kindness? I know not all students like this idea. Parents too! Actually the ones who usually stress me out is parents’ expectations. They want their kids to get the highest score without really knowing their kids’ ability. A lot of them prefer their kids to be the best no matter what. So please parents, before you ask teachers to make your kids’ excel at school, you need to take a closer look and understand your kids better. I don’t know how on earth education has become such an unhealthy competition. That saddens me for real. Being the best is good but being good is the best.

I see not everyone would agree with my kind of ideal education. I’m sure there are lots of people out there who still think what we have now is the best for us. That’s fine. I don’t expect everyone to have the same perspective with me. One things for sure ‘educate yourself better if you aren’t satisfied with what formal education gives you’. Ya, I’m extremely serious about it. Thanks to the internet, now we have numerous sources for self-learning. Just find something you want to learn, type it on google or youtube, and voila dinner is served. You can also learn a lot from books. Reading is still the best method to gain new knowledge for me.

Alright that’s all I want to share in this blog post. Hopefully, it’s helpful for you in every possible way. See you in the next post with another interesting topic. Feel free to leave any digital footprint in the comment section below!