Learning New Things

I have learned SO much over the last several days. For example, Indonesia is a smorgosboard of cultures and language. Spanning the width of the US Indonesia is made up of 17,000 islands and more communities and cultures than I can count.

Over the centuries, Indonesia has been dominated and used by different world powers in order to control the area's natural resources. Banding together the once independent islands and kingdoms banded together to gain independence and self govern. This necessitated the need for tolerance and cooperation. As a result, Indonesia is a country that is very tolerant of differences and that truly understands the meaning of and need for cooperation. Just a "simple" drive through rush hour traffic in downtown Jakarta demonstrates the people's cooperative nature! Not once have I witnessed an incident of road-rage or frustration as people swarm from one place to the next! It is like watching a well orchestrated dance!

I also learned learned that even though Indonesia and the US are very different, many of the educational issues each face are very similar. Like the US, Indonesia has difficulty attracting quality teacher candidates, training and post training issues, societal esteem issues, and parental involvement issues. Teachers are asked to do more than they are capable, to be responsible for more than is reasonable, and continue to do it because they have a need to make a difference even though they are under-valued and under-payed.

And just like the US, Indonesia has some great things going for it! Today I had a wonderful talk with Matt Poissant, a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant who has signed on for another year here.

We talked about some of the teacher training and mentoring issues but also how Indonesia is poised for a real breakthrough in these areas. I see a similarity between the US shift to common core and Indonesia's infrastructure growth. Everywhere you look, there are new buildings, roads, etc going up. People are working at a feverish pace to transform from a developing nation to a developed one. This brings people in for work which leads to new ideas and ways of thinking. With the right support, education can easily be transformed! Like the CCSS shifts, the shifts that need to happen now in Indonesia to spur the necessary growth will be difficult to manage in the beginning, but so worth it! With a good PR campaign, public opinion of teaching as a legitimate profession can be made. This will spur recruitment efforts that can become more selective which will produce better results for student achievement.

Which in turn will make the programs that Nisa and Risqz are implementing invaluable and productive! My mind boggles at all the possibilities!

I also had the opportunity to learn from some great people at MAN 4! I enjoyed meeting the dedicated students! I was a bit apprehensive about going to an Islamic school. I was not sure how our female dominated, American group would be received. What I found was a group of people that were welcoming and excited to show off their heritage, talents, school and country! Our reception could not have been more warm or the interactions more genuine! These students performed for us!

Just as I was apprehensive, so we're these humble people! They were SO eager to share and promote their country. Both sides were eager to dispel any misconceptions and I learned that, as a rule, this country is far more tolerant of others and differences than our Western stereotypes give credit for. We could sure could learn a LOT about acceptance from these people.

To learn more about our visit, check out the photos on my Facebook page!

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