The Roles of Parents in Preparing Tomorrow’s Education System for Their Children

“Pendampingan Orang Tua, Kunci Sukses bagi Masa Depan Remaja”

dipresentasikan oleh Dr. Richardus Eko Indrajit indrajit@post.harvard.edu

dalam Education Fair 2004

BPK Penabur, 27 November 2004

Providing the environment so that their children can have continuous opportunities for the purpose of:

1.  Learning to Know 2.  Learning to Do

3.  LLeeaarrnniinngg ttoo LLiivvee TTooggeetthheerr

4.  LLeeaarrnniinngg ttoo BBee

Parents NEED TO UNDERSTAND what’s going on in the world…

Agenda for Parents

Learning to Know

Role #1

  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer –  Not only in Wealth –  but in Technology –  and most importantly, in Knowledge.

Trend in 21st Century

  The irreversible trend towards –  globalization –  increased interdependence –  increased communication

  is pushing all communities –  at varying stages –  at varying speeds

  towards a new and unpredictable future.

The Future Ahead

Three Questions to Answer

  What one needs to know ? (The content of learning will be different)

  How one gets to know ? (The process of learning will be different)

  Who does the knowing of learning ? (The learner will be different)

What one needs to know?

The Content of Learning will be Different

The Content of Learning

  As knowledge and discovery go ever faster forward, it can be said that –  Half of what students learn today will be obsolete in the

next five years or so, and –  half of what students need to know to succeed in the

future has not been invented or developed yet.

What one needs to know

  Is not only changing rapidly   but also expanding exponentially.

Difference in Way of Learning

  Before –  Learners were gatherers and classifiers of information.

  Now –  with multiple accessible sources of vast information

already surrounding, the learner have to be the guide and sorters of information already gathered and classified.

The Learner in the 21st century

  No longer in the desert of ignorance looking for an oasis of knowledge somewhere

  Rather, he is in an ocean of information

The Teacher in the 21st Century

  He is no longer –  a source of information –  an oasis in the desert

  but rather, he is –  a fellow passenger in the same boat, –  helping the student sort out and make sense of the

information around him or her.

Education in the 21st Century

  Education must, as it were, simultaneously provide maps of a complex world in constant turmoil and the compass that will enable people to find their way in it

  So that the learner is not overwhelmed by the information but that the learner can keep the development of individuals and communities at its end always in view.

Learner’s work in the past

  Students has to scrounge around and seek every bit of relevant information he could found for his thesis.

  Searching is a major part of learning.

Learner’s work in 21st Century

  Anybody in anywhere can –  access the greatest databases and libraries in the world –  engage in chat rooms and discussion groups with the

greatest minds.   Learner’s task would not be an effort of searching,

but an effort of filtering, choosing and selecting.

Learner’s New Environment

  The learner can no longer absorb most of the available knowledge on general matters.

  Omni-disciplinary is a receding target, no longer reachable in an information age.

Learner’s Limitation

  If a person is too narrow a specialist, it cuts him or her off from necessary wider communication and other specific knowledge areas, at the intersection of which the best advances in knowledge and research take place

Learner in need

  Today a really well-trained mind needs –  a broad background –  the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in

depth   Both need to be encouraged during the whole of a

person’s education.

Foundation skills

  Broad background enabling one to participate meaningfully in the community and in world society include –  literacy –  numeracy –  basic reasoning skills

Beyond the foundation skills

  What should we teach?   We tell children to go to school because it will be

useful to prepare them for the future.   But what if we have a wrong idea of the future?   So, the most important thing to know is

–  How to Know (Learning to Learn).

Skills for Lifelong Learning

  Basic Skills –  skills to acquire knowledge –  skills to acquire literacy, numeracy, analysis

  Additional Skills –  skills to analyse and organise the knowledge –  skills to manage the knowledge and put it to good use.

Challenge into the 21st Century

  Whether we will acquire the understanding and wisdom necessary to come to grips with the scientific revelations and progress of the 20th century will be the most important challenge of the 21st century.

Karl Sagan

How One Gets to Know?

The Process of Learning Will Be Different

New Learning Path

  Before: Linear Pattern –  Study, Work, Retire.

  Now: Cyclical Pattern –  One studies, works –  then goes back to study, or do other things –  then changes jobs –  repeat interchanging study, work and rest periods

several times.

New Learning Model

  There is too much knowledge to learn all the time.   Children still have to go to school and get degrees

first - Assembly Line Style.   Then, learn what is needed from the open shelf of

learning opportunities available at any time throughout life: Supermarket Style.

Paradigm Shift

  School is no longer the only knowledge store.   Students can get information from internet easily.   Teachers change to be learning facilitators.

Danger to the Learners

  Students encountering too much knowledge results in –  reducing learning to information absorption –  forgetting learning social skills, ethical considerations,

judgement and mental discipline

New Pedagogy

  Concentrate less on –  rote memory –  discipline in classroom

  Concentrate more on –  interactive social skills –  cultural skills

Who Does the Knowing ?

The Learner Will Be Different

The Learner Will Be Different

  If future generations are raised in an environment substantially different from ours

  It must be assumed that they will think, act and be motivated in ways that are substantially different from us.

Generation X

  The generation of teachers facing students in the classroom today should have recognized that they have been raised in an atmosphere that is different from the atmosphere and environment which their students (Generation X) were raised.

Understanding Generation X

  Generation X is raised in an atmosphere of –  McDonald –  Cable TV –  Satellite TV

  Generation X think differently from their teachers.

The ‘Nintendo’ Generation

  The teachers of tomorrow (Generation X) will face another generation (say, the ‘Nintendo’ Generation) quite different from theirs: –  instant response video games –  virtual reality –  fading of geographical limitations.

  The ‘Nintendo’ generation thinks differently

Environment of Tomorrow   Information overload   instant gratification, quick response is the norm   global competitiveness engenders a ‘‘me first’’ mentality   messages are packaged in 30-second sound bites or video

clips   sustained attention is replaced by successive MTV-type

bombardment of images   printed word, indeed the logical thought process is replaced

by colourful images.

Effective Teaching in Tomorrow

  Unless the teachers of the future (Generation X) understand how the ‘Nintendo’ Generation thinks and learns and is motivated, they will not be effective teachers.

Learning to Do

Role #2

What is Learning to Do?

  Learning to do is to acquire the ability to –  convert knowledge to work –  face difficulty –  resolve conflict –  shoulder risk

Nature of Doing

  Doing is –  combining theory and reality –  converting knowledge into daily life activities

Objective of Learning to Do

  Educational Objective –  cater for individual needs, abilities and potentialities

  Economic Objective –  cater for societal needs and employment requirements

Learning to do activity in school

  should be in harmony with –  relevant work ethics and codes of conduct

  should promote traits such as –  teamwork, attainment of communication skills, creativity,

critical thinking, precision, waste control, adherence to safety standards and regulations, and appreciation of environmental issues.

Learning to Do, Doing to Learn

  Doing results in experience, which becomes part of our knowledge

  Experience raises the problem solving ability, and build up confidence in dealing with adverse conditions.

  Solving new problems will lead to adaptation to new environment.

The Challenge ahead

  Educate the students so that they can –  do what they learned. –  learn to do, and do to learn by themselves

  Turn them into an adaptive worker –  eager to learn, eager to solve existing problems and

eager to solve new problems. –  eager to raise their ability, and their academic and

professional standard throughout their life.

Learning to Live Together

Role #3

Learning to Live Together implies learning to know yourself and others   Learning to live together implies learning to know

himself / herself, to know others, to discover others and to understand others.

  To live together in a peaceful way, as nations, peoples, organisations, institutions and individuals, we have to know others’ histories, geographies, religions, cultural values and, one must first know oneself.

Learning to live together implies respecting others on the basis of equity

  Equal rights should be assured regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, age, economic status, religious beliefs, and physical disabilities.

  ‘Do not impose on others what you yourself do not want to be imposed on.’ Confucius.

Learning to live together implies tolerance of differences and resolution of conflicts through dialogues

  ‘‘Seeking commonalties while retaining differences.’ Chinese philosophy.

Learning to live together implies learning to effectively express oneself and to effectively communicate with others.

  Communication means expressing and conveying one’s thought to others and doing things together with others.

‘‘Living together’ is also ‘Learning together’

  Living experience in a different cultural setting is also a cross-cultural learning experience.

Learning to live together refers to

  Not only social relationships   but also to relationship between man and nature   between human being and his/her environment.   Mankind is not to ‘combat’ and ‘conquer’ nature but

has to learn to live with nature.

Learning to live together means

  Learning to care and to share –  caring not only for oneself, but for the family, friends,

and peers; for other people. –  caring for socioeconomic and ecological welfare of the

society –  care for other living species –  care for the livability of our common planet –  care for the pursuit of truth, good and beauty –  care for learning throughout life

Learning to live together implies learning to cooperate with others   A common concept of people learn occupational

skill for higher productivity to earn a better living is ‘Increasing competitiveness in the market’

  However, in the climate of market-driven economy, characterised by competition, or even relentless competition, there is really a need to encourage a spirit of cooperation.

How to facilitate and implement Learning to live together   We have to reconcile the value of :

–  Competition - to provide incentives and assure efficiency.

–  Cooperation - to give strength. –  Solidarity - to unite forces.

Broader view of Education

  Education could no longer be interpreted as a transmission of factual knowledge, specific skills, or capacity development for economic potential

  Education should be interpreted as a total experience, encompassing affective, aesthetic and cultural aspects.

Use of IT tool in learning to live together   Full and creative use of the Internet and intranet as

powerful tools of learning and communication   Discussion groups, ICQ, chat rooms, email can be

encouraged for students to live with others in a ‘Global Village’ and becoming ‘World citizens’.

LLeeaarrnniinngg ttoo BBee

Role #4

Learning to Be the last but far from the least

  Learning to Be implies everyone will need to exercise independence and judgement combined with a stronger sense of personal responsibility for the attainment of common goals.

From Learning to Knowledge

  Learning is said to take place when the learner acquires something of value which would enable him or her to function outside his/her personal limits.

  Culmination of learning involve the acquisition of knowledge.

From Knowledge to Wisdom

  Through a lifelong process of acquiring knowledge and skills of different levels, a person acquires Wisdom, the highest level of knowing, implying the proper and beneficial use of knowledge including the ability to conserve and diligently use resources.

Teaching Learning to Be

  Our education should be preparing people to have strong cultural identities, who know who they are, what they need to do and do it well.

  Teachers should be educated to ensure that they will become good role models for learners and not just facilitators of learning.

Learning and Being

–  Education teaches everybody To Be the specific identity: know who he/she is, what he/she need to do and do it well.

–  A student being a good student, a teacher being a good teacher, a parent being a good parent ...

–  Everybody repeatedly upgrade his/her Being identity through continuous learning, finally become holders of Wisdom, a treasure of the family, the society and mankind.

The Four Pillars of Education

–  If we are to build an edifice of both material and spiritual civilizations, the Four Learning are indispensably the foundation.   Learning to Know to acquire tools of understanding others;   Learning to Do to act responsibly with others in caring ways; and   Learning to Be a truly human being in   Living Together in harmony with oneself, with others, with nature,

and with the outside world.

Conclusion

In Selecting the Education System

Principles of Intelligence

  Intelligence is not singular, but multiple   Each individual is a unique blend of intelligences   Multiple intelligences can be identified and

described   Use of one intelligence can enhance another   A pure intelligence is rarely seen   Any list of intelligences is subject to change as we

learn more about multiple intelligences

Things to Discuss: 8 Multiple Intelligences

1.  Linguistic intelligence 2.  Spatial Intelligence 3.  Bodily Kinesthetic 4.  Logical/Mathematical intelligence 5.  Musical intelligence 6.  Interpersonal intelligence 7.  Intrapersonal Intelligence 8.  Naturalist Intelligence

Howard Gardner, 1983

Verbal/Linguistic

Use of language and words, whether spoken or written

Logical/Mathematical

Uses numbers, sequencing and patterns to solve problems

Visual/Spatial

Pertains to the use of shape, color, and form and relationships among objects

Bodily/Kinesthetic

  Uses the body or self-expression.

  Coordination, dexterity, flexibility, and strength are important

Musical/Rhythmic

Deals with pitch, tone and rhythm

Interpersonal

  Ability to deal with other people.

  Involves one’’s ability to perceive what another person is thinking and feeling through body language and gestures.

Intrapersonal

  Involves a self-knowledge, being able to identify one’’s own feelings and moods.

  Self-esteem and self-discipline are both a part of this intelligence.

Naturalist

Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world.

About the Multiple Intelligence

““The theory of multiple intelligences, in and of itself, is not going to solve anything in our society, but linking the multiple intelligences with a curriculum focused on understanding is an extremely powerful intellectual undertaking…the bottom line is a deep interest in children and how their minds are different from one another, and in helping them use their minds well.”” Howard Gardner

Thank You