Let us not 'educationalize' political and social problems

Note: This is an abridged version of an article I co-wrote with an Indonesian friend and colleague,  Freddy Kalidjernih. The article is entitled "Good Knowledge Gone Bad: The Politics of Blame in Education Discourses in Indonesia" and it was published in Education in Indonesia: Perspectives, Politics and Practices, a volume I co-edited with Frank Dhont. It came out in 2012 as book No. 4 in the Yale Indonesia Forum Book Series. Here we take a close look at two influential no-nonsense critics of education issues in Indonesia, Mochtar Buchori and Winarno Surakhmad, to demonstrate the unintended, and often unrecognized, risks that go with well-meaning expert critiques. The issues raised in this article reinforce the points put forward in my previous post on MTB-MLE

by Rommel A. Curaming

Indonesia is not alone for nurturing spirited national discourses on educational problems. The Philippines and Malaysia show similar tendencies, as evident in press coverage, both mainstream and alternative. Perhaps, the strident critiques of education sector are an inherent feature of every Third World society that pretends, claims, or aspires to be democratic. Be that as it may, Indonesia seems a standout for making a comparatively sizable publication ‘industry’ out of the weaknesses of education sector. This is evident in numerous books on education published in the past several years, as well as in the generous space allotted by newspapers and magazines for education-related issues. Other media outlets such as television, radio, and of course the internet exhibit the same tendency. Furthermore, the presence of ‘superstar’ critics or commentators whose specialty is in education issues, such as Mochtar Buchori and Winarno Surakhmad, is also indicative of this situation.

What are some of the features of this discourse?  First, the propensity among critics or commentators to blame education—or certain stakeholders such as teachers, or pedagogical practices or educational policies—more than it deserves for moral, political, economic, social and cultural woes of the country. 

Second, the tendency to socialize responsibility for problems that otherwise ought to be shouldered heavily by certain groups who, incidentally, cannot but be happy to be absolved of the full weight of such a responsibility.  Responsibility becomes ‘socialized’ when more and more people are being convinced that “It is our fault! Everyone has a role in it” neglecting the fact that access to power and resources is grossly lopsided in favor of certain groups (e.g. government officials, politician etc.). Easily forgotten is the principle that  those who have the greater power ought to be held more accountable.

Equally pernicious, and this is the third, is the tendency at scapegoating. Whereas socialization of blame distributes responsibility across a wide range of stakeholders,  thus diluting if not really sidelining the question of accountability, escape-goating puts wrongly the weight of accountability on certain individuals or groups (teachers, usually) who by virtue of being marginalized do not deserve to be held fully responsible. 

These features emanate from the inclination among observers and practitioners to ascribe greater autonomy, power and capability to education sector than it actually has. The underlying idea is that education sector has the power to effect the changes needed to prevent or achieve something. Easily forgotten is that education is just a part of the bigger socio-economic-political-cultural systems and it depends considerably on forces outside of itself. Many of those that are regarded as educational problems are not really educational in origin, or in nature, but merely symptoms of deep seated political, social, economic and cultural maladies.

The tendency to exaggerate the role of education sector in general and of teachers in particular may be explained by a number of factors. First, many critics or commentators, such as Buchori and Surakhmad, genuinely believe in the enormous potentials of teachers and educational system in general to effect change. The fact that there are some teachers, dedicated and competent as they are, who managed to live up to this expectation drives the point: that it’s just a matter of a steadfast commitment to the calling of being a ‘true teacher,’ in addition to the correct knowhow of teaching. In their apparently mistaken view many in the current generation of teachers simply refuse, for one reason or another, to commit themselves to it and/or they don’t have enough capability or training to teach properly. It is in the critics’ forceful way of exhorting them to ‘do their job properly’ that they have found in exaggerating the role of educators a rhetorical ally.

Second, being the front-liners, the executor or implementor of educational programs, and ones who are in contact with students and parents or the community in general on a regular basis, it is easy for the public to equate the students’ failings to those of teachers'. Their visible presence puts them on the first line of blame whenever things go wrong—teen-age pregnancy, drug addiction, laggard school performance, all sorts of students' misbehaviors.

Third, among stakeholders in education enterprise, the teachers occupy among the weakest or lowest positions. The constancy of blame on them reflects this, and the low-ness of their position  invites further blame. Those who have greater power wish to continue feeling good about themselves by quickly claiming credits for successes and by passing the responsibility for failures to anyone or anything they could, such as education and educators. It is convenient for instance for parents to pass the blame on to education system whenever something bad is committed by their children—bullying, teen-age pregnancy, drug addiction, low scholastic achievement. And for politicians, it is also convenient for them to claim that low economic productivity, growth and competitiveness and hence widespread poverty in the country lies in the inadequacies of education. This is not to deny that education has important role to play in all this, but we should not lose sight of the proportionate role of other factors such as governance, media, family, religious institutions, and of course politics. In addition, we should not forget that the extent to which education sector can successfully carry out its mandate depends significantly on the resources the government or politicians allow it to use. 

Fourth, the educators themselves tend to accept and propagate the view of the exaggerated role of education in solving societal problems, thus reinforcing the myth of its paramount role. Partly owing to their weak position in the scheme of things, educators tend to overcompensate by finding comfort in, and by promoting, the supposed importance or elevated position of education. Nurturing the discourse on the importance of education helps them feel good about themselves. It is a salve that helps them cope with the difficult and marginalized position they are in. For critics like Buchori and Surakhmad, who themselves are educators, what goes with the emphasis they give on education factors in analyzing national problem is the privileging of their field of expertise, and of themselves vis-à-vis others critics in a competitive field of opinion-making in Indonesia. For lowly positioned classroom teachers who toil day in and out, receiving meager salaries while carrying out heavy responsibilities and receiving the brunt of blame, the myth provides a psychological cushion that makes the otherwise unbearable situations appear better than they actually are.

Finally, the very nature of education—as a collective enterprise, a process, an institution, a tool for training, as social and culture-capital generating mechanism—makes it a perfect candidate for being the ultimate scapegoat. It offers practically everyone an excuse for practically everything. Just as it is often treated as a panacea for all kinds of problems, it can also be made an excuse for failing to address these problems. Its usefulness for practically everyone ensures that its importance will tend to be exaggerated.

Mass public education is probably one of the most politically astute inventions of modern democratic tradition. Politicians of all ideological persuasions—be they liberal, conservative, socialist, etc.—have found it useful for their political purposes. By offering educational opportunities for everyone, they appear true to the claim of being a promoter of public welfare;  they also provide a subtle mechanism for everyone to own the responsibility for their progress (or lack thereof), easing off much pressure from the political establishment. At the same time, by ensuring through lack of material support and political will, that public education will always be seriously problem-laden, they have an effective smokescreen for many of the nation’s failings for which leaders, as a collective, should be held largely responsible—low productivity and competitiveness, poverty,  moral degeneration, lack of nationalism, rise in delinquency, etc. In Third World democracies such as Indonesia and the Philippines, the education sector has served as a convenient whipping boy.

So what can educators do? I do not wish to perpetuate the problem my co-author and I have analyzed in this article by saying that the key to solving this problem lies in their hand. The truth is, they can only do so much. Their awareness of the problem, however, will be a step towards easing, if not really neutralizing, the pernicious multiplier effects of the 'mass education myth'. What well-meaning influential educators, scholars, intellectuals and opinion makers can do to help is to bring back the sense of proportion in analyzing issues. Let us not 'educationalize' and 'socialize' what are otherwise fundamentally political problems.