When the Educational System Fails

After a few years of teaching, I began this semester with a little excitement: I had a Japanese Indonesian in my studio. The first one I had. But apart from this identity, he would probably not had attracted my attention further was it not for what he said during the first lecture I gave.

I was talking about the importance of being creative, of having ideas rather than simply knowledge. Right after I said that, he raised his hand and said something along this line: “I disagree with you. In my opinion, there are no more new ideas.” And he mentioned the development of telephone technology, which to him was a matter of adding (new) and/or combining (old) features. I said that he was indeed right. I quoted James Webb Young who said that ideas are no more than combination of old elements.

I found his comment unusual because most of my students would not start a statement with the words “menurut saya” (in my opinion), they would not say they disagree with me (it’s almost sacrilegious in this culture), and very few of them would have made critical observations about the world.

As the semester went however, he rarely showed up in class. When he did, he brought projects which, although very interesting in their ideas, were not finished. By the mid term he had used up all allowable absences he could take in the whole semester. When he showed up again after a prolonged absence, I told him that he could no longer follow the studio because of his absences. He understood, apologized, and asked if I would still allow him to present what he had made for the day. I did, and I was impressed by what he thought about and explored and how he made and presented his ideas.

What I realized then was that he probably lacked organizational skill with his time, and would have benefit from flexibility to work on a project with self-directed schedule, so he could develop fully what he had in mind. So I asked to meet with him the following week, which was yesterday, to offer him another chance. An independent study would probably be the best setting for a student like him, but unfortunately such an option was not available at the university. And he had decided to drop out of the university, which was not the first time either, so he could go to Japan and pursue a more practical training there.

I told him that his decision might suit him better, as a person like him would fare much better learning from real life, rather than from school. He admitted he didn’t learn much from school, which was probably because he already had his own ideas and was very specific about what he wanted to learn. He would be better off conducting self-directed studies, and discuss them with people who could help him push his thinking. I wish he would eventually find his path in life, through what Greg Mankiw suggested in Education beyond the Classroom.

Meanwhile, here are some quotes about how many great people see schools. Not too happy about them obviously. And here I am in a dilemma of losing belief in the educational system when I myself am looking into further education.

Boxes: 1.1.

Three dimensional forms can be created out of flat planes. Packaging boxes are examples of such attempts. Other than creating the boxes they are intended for, what other forms can they create? These sets of explorations will fall under the simple heading 'boxes'.

A bus shelter.
A girl with ponytails, sitting on the floor, playing.
A dog running, waggling its tail.

A life guard post.
A child jumping.
His hands going up and down. His legs curling behind.

A specialized drawer.
An open box of chocolate. Tempting.

A new Atom trigonal clips No. 303 box.
Attempt #1.

Navigating Space with Poor Signs (2 of 2)

The city is redundant: it repeats itself so that something will stick in the mind. …
Memory is redundant: it repeats signs so that the city can begin to exist.
Italo Calvino, “Invisible Cities”, Harvest Book, 1974: 19.

Take a look at these series of pictures below. They are taken from the point of view of a passenger car running at 20-30 kilometer per hour. Can you see where RCTI is?

It’s on picture #3, with entrance after the tree.

If you can’t see it, it’s because the building is indistinguishable and the signage is hidden by the tree. If you are driving alone, and you don’t particularly looking for it, slow down considerably, turn your attention from the traffic in front of you, and have 20/20 vision, you will definitely miss it.

And this explains why, after passing the same route from home to the university every week for the past two years, only recently I know exactly where RCTI is.

I have encountered similar problems when looking for particular buildings I’ve never been in Jakarta. Perhaps the advertising agencies got it better than architects. In this immense city maneuverable only by cars, architectural design will have to take into account the speed of the car, the signage system of the building, and the angle of vision of the drivers.

Spending Time

My colleague Undi has an interesting hobby, if you can call it that. I have teased him as a person who has prioritas tidak jelas (unclear priority), with a peculiar inkling towards books especially in their handling.

Like most people who love books, he can’t resist from buying books. Yet unlike most people who love books, he worships books to the extent that he would copy his own books and read the copies instead. For treasured books, he would scan them, save them in his external hard drive, print copies of the scan, and read the copies.

I asked him this morning why he would bother doing that, considering the time and effort it takes. He said it’s mainly for safekeeping. In case all his books burn down, he still have multiple copies, both soft and hard. Hard core obsession if you ask me.

But then this remind me of a comment another friend made after reading my blog recently. He said that I should be spending the time instead to read journals to extend my own learning, which is what he would do in his spare time.

Same finite spare time, different choices. I guess we all have some obsessions which others would find peculiar, or simply a waste of time. Does it mean some people value their time more than others? Or is the way we spend our time reflect our values in life?

Bottomless Pit

Flood in Bandung. More ferry and plane accidents. Sigh.

Had lunch with Head of Outreach from a well-known educational foundation that conducted teacher trainings, distributed scholarships, etc. Asked him how they go about selecting the schools to target their teacher training programs, and how the responses are.

It hasn’t been easy. Most teachers and headmasters would rather not get any programs running in their schools. Extra programs mean extra work. There is no need to further their own knowledge. As is, they are content. Have a nice, easy life. Why bother?

Sigh.

How long can one go before they hit absolute bottom and realize that it’s time to change? Or is it a bottomless pit?