Model Education

Designing new model of education needs collaboration of students, teachers, schools, and government. Lets start with basic question, what kind of output that we really want from education system? I always imagine if schools can be place where students can come excitingly, full of self-directed knowledge, so much more passion and information about they want to do. It is the real learning process, they learn something when they have reason to learn it.

First, we should waking them up to what is inside of themselves! If we are interested in the model of learning, we should not start from production line mentality. We have to change our direction from conformity-standardised testing and curriculum to divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is an essential capacity for creativity-the process of having original ideas that have value. It is ability to see lots of possible answers to a question, lots of ways to interpret a question, and to think laterally, not just in linear or convergent ways. We might not judge this subject is superior and this is not. We teach them how to believe their self interest, appreciate it, and facilitate that. It also crucial to change the culture of our institutions that treat academic students as the potentials product and non-academic students as the residuals.

Second, we have to cut the disengaged chain between school and the reality. We must revised our goal: score oriented become exploration oriented. Students are not teached how to answer questions on the exam, but how one problem in the real word can be connected and answered by theory they learned in the class. They must not forced to forget their favourite games or television channels, but we lead combine them with education. The point is, we do not limit their imagination. They may come with unique questions or even unanswerable, but it is the way they can start thinking critically.Students will understand how their school linked to their life, and they used to see things from science perspective.

Third, focusing on the reading comprehension and critical skill. Actually, it based on Indonesia condition. Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment revealed that the reading ability of Indonesian children is low. Whereas, reading ability is the fundamental of science learning. Why it can happen? One of the reason is, we do not have reading comprehension curriculum, we only have language curriculum. I also have just learned that reading to understanding is by making annotation beside the important paragraph and rewrite it on our own words through essay, not the multiple choice. The multiple choice-we used to use, is not stimulate students to love literacy and read, causing the open-minded is not formed. Finally, they do not know how to solve a problem-things they will face in reality.

As I said before, this education reform also need teacher collaboration. We know, sometimes teacher treats their students as how they were treated by their teacher. It is totally different. Today generation is immune from such rigid school and strict rules are not effective anymore. Teachers have to know how to make them go to school voluntarily and fully motivated. The classroom has to be designed to provide enough space for improving students imagination and exploration. However, teachers are the executor of curriculum in the class. Go through country with the best education system, Finland, teachers there are well educated and trained. Better education system need better human resource to deliver it.

Finally, what I hope to be in the new model of school and high school for 21st century are the students that full of learning enthusiasm and the teachers that focuses on exploration rather than how to prepare students passing the exam. I want reading-writing culture and curiosity colored the school. I do not want modern institution dumped critical thinking just because there is not any argument facilitator. Education is not knowledge transfer that remake students as a blueprint of their teacher. Students must have ability to transform the knowledge, so the final goal of education to put out generations who can answer the era threat can be achieved. As the Malcolm Forbes quotes “Education’s purpose to replace an empty mind with an open one”