Humanising Human

Published on by Izza DinillahLeave a comment

As education means to nourish (Gingell & Winch, 2008), one question comes into my mind: Who does it nourish? The players in education are people, human beings. And human beings, at least in my opinion, should be treated as human. However, as education nowadays is seen as a tool in globalised world – mostly seen from the economic point of view (Ball, 2006), people are regarded to be economic-, instead of human-being in education. Look at the statements mentioned by government officials, such as Indonesian vice president, Boediono (2012) who wrote that the purpose of education is to produce people who are competent in the workplace so that the national income can be increased.

In order to meet the demand from the government as a response of globalisation in economic sense, schools as the most common educational institution act as human factories. In a movie called Waiting for Superman (2010), I saw a clear description of students, categorised and directed towards different path of education in order to meet the workforce and business demand based on their test scores and intelligence. It seems like students, human beings, are treated as objects that can be controlled and moved around.

In another explanation, Freire (2008) proposed the concept of banking education which treats students as containers of knowledge. Education in this perspective seems to act as bank that deposits knowledge. How weird is that? Education which supposed to be controlled by human in general acts as if it is human and students – the human beings – are treated as if they are some kind of jars – non living things. Of course education in reality is controlled by human but only those who have power but nonetheless those people hide behind the ‘innocence’ of education. Then again, one can conclude from this point of view that education is used by people in power to oppress young people as what Freire (1996) suggested. It is a tool for the government to oppress citizens in order to achieve better economic performance which again benefits certain groups of people.

In my opinion, education should be used to humanise human. Education can be used as a tool to liberate people from globalised world’s ‘slavery’ to be fully capable human beings. Students, young people, or people in general should be the owner of globalised world, not the workers in it. I believe that it is the ideal condition as it is explained in the Koran that humans are the ones who inherit the world. The word inherit contains a sense of ownership, control, and power over the object. In order to do this – humanising human – Freire (1973) suggested that education should make people aware that they have the power to face challenges of the world.

One can see a sense of human empowerment in the process of humanising human. People need not to be passive which dehumanising, the lowest form of defence mechanism believed in critical psychology. Instead, they need to be reflective, a restless act to pursue knowledge through invention (Freire, 1973) so that they can act appropriately. Education should be able to empower people or students maybe, and make them capable of being truly humans in the era of globalisation now. Education need to humanise human if not re-humanise human at this point.

May 28, 2013

What is this feeling?

Published on by Izza DinillahLeave a comment

This is NOT an affectionate text. If you know me well then you might have guessed. Haha!

I talked to my friend, Chysa, a few weeks ago. We were basically in the same situation and we felt the same thing. WE WERE BORED! Yes, we live in a small city in Yorkshire area and for city girls like us, it is different from the life we lived before. But still… we shouldn’t feel that bored.

It was not that we were bored because we have nothing to do. Believe me, we have loads to do. It was more emotional. We both felt like we didn’t feel enough emotion (if there is such a thing). See, if we are happy then we’re not that happy. If we are sad then we’re not that sad. If we’re angry then we’re not that angry. Why??

I suppose balance is the key for everything, right? And what I described before suppose to be balance, am I correct? Happy but not that happy; sad but not that sad… But is there such a thing called balance in terms of emotion? Can we be partially stimulated in our limbic system? Any neuropsychologist?? I wonder… (*brb reading neuro books)

Well, then a few days ago I read this article in the guardian. The writer described differences of the situation in the tube in London and New York. And guess what, the writer found that it is busier, louder, and I suppose more dynamic in New York. The tube is quiet, people are more self-absorbed with their own activities, and there were only a little human interaction in London.

Maybe it is a cultural thing, then? I mean, here in the UK people are more self-conscious, quiet, mannered (?) and therefore those who live in UK may not feel extreme emotion. It is my assumption, really. But hey, which one would you choose? Would you rather feel more extreme emotion even though it may not be always pleasant OR would you choose the so so situation?

I will definitely choose the one where I wouldn’t get bored.

May 21, 2013

“The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. the more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.”

Learning

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“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.”

–

John Dewey

My take: People are learning creatures. We are learning all the time, in everything that we do and experience. Problems only arise if what surrounds us is negative, and if we haven’t been equipped (by others, by past experiences) to deal with that in a positive way. If the things we are adapting to, learning from and learning about are problematic, then we will develop problematic ideas and habits.

So if we’re interested in trying to ensure that learners have certain skills and understandings, we need to think about creating environments and activities that compel learners to make certain connections and develop certain skills over others. Instead of enumerating what we want them to know and trying to teach those things directly (rarely as effective as most people think), we should be designing learning environments where they can do things that will demand the kind of thinking (and eventually, learning) we want.

 

 

Easter Travel Cool Fact #5

Published on by Izza Dinillah2 Comments

As there are so many Indonesian people in Germany, it is easy to find tempe (soy bean cake) in stores. You can find ANY Asian store and you will FIND it there! What a nice life. I saw a big Asian store in Heidelberg which has everything. From Indomie, sambel bajak, up to tempe. I’m kind of jealous… While in here, well, Alhamdulillah I have a friend who can make tempe, Mbak Tina. If she’s not here… Oh, I don’t know what I’m gonna do as it is soooo rare.

Apr 07, 2013

Easter Travel Cool Fact #6

Published on by Izza Dinillah1 Comment

They still use blackboards in Germany universities.

Wow! I don’t know whether it’s cool or not but from where I come from, Indonesia, well… at least we don’t use blackboards anymore. Not even the whiteboards if you have computer and the LCD projector. It is also not the case in the UK. They use smart board in here. Well, mostly the computer though. I don’t know if it’s the case in other countries, but WOW! They still use the blackboard with chalks in Germany. They even still use the manual projector where you need to write on mica papers! Even though it seems to be an old school way, their blackboards are sophisticated. They can move and do stuffs. Haha! I think it’s so cool – as in unique. I didn’t know people still use that!

Apr 08, 2013

Easter Travel Cool Fact #3

Published on by Izza DinillahLeave a comment

You won’t be lost taking the train inside Germany. Literally!

The train connection in Germany is sooooo good that you won’t be confused even if you are traveling alone for the first time as in my case. When you purchase the ticket, you will find which train you will need to take – with the number, from which platform you will get on the train, what time the train will depart and what time the train will arrive. If you need connecting train, you will also find the same information in your ticket. What a nice life! Hah! Comparing to the system in the UK. WOW! You will be confused if you have to change your train. Oh! And all the trains are rarely late, and the connecting time between trains is planned very carefully so that you won’t have to wait more than an hour. Well, this can be good or bad as I had to run to catch my next train because the previous one was delayed for 5 minutes. See, 5 minutes delay and I almost missed my next train. So cool, right?

Apr 05, 2013