Specializing System of Majors in the Indonesia Education System
BY ADE RINALDI, October 26th, 2020
Based on a study ability survey that was released by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Indonesia is in 72nd position from 77th countries. It means, we can say that Indonesia has the worst quality of education. One of the reasons why this could happen is the bad education system. Students are asked to master all of the subjects in school. Not all of the students have talents and interests in mathematics, but they must master it. This the wrong thing. Indonesia must apply a specialization system of majors, and it can be started since junior high school.
A major specialization system should be implemented to make students focus only on the subjects they are interested in. This system can be started from elementary school, the six years of education that students take can be used as evaluation material. Which one is more dominant in the students’ talents and interests? After that, when they enter junior high school, they will start to deepen their favorite field. Things like this are considered more effective because it don't burden students by making them have to study all subjects. In this way, students will find it easier to study the subject of their choice, because they already like it.
With the freedom to choose, they will explore more, and get maximum results. For example, the education system in America gives you the freedom to choose the subjects you want in junior high school. Entering high school, there are only seven main subjects studied for one year. The result is that the United States has one of the best education systems in the world. Different from the United States, Switzerland will separate students into sections according to the capacity of these students at the end of elementary school. After passing lower secondary education, the government gives students the option to choose the Senior High School (Gymnasium) then college or getting a theory about work in school and entering the world of work simultaneously in a Vocational School. This education system makes the country have an illiteracy rate of 0% and is one of the best education systems in the world.
Maybe it is not easy to change the education system in a country, but Indonesia must change. For the next few years, it seems impossible to replace this system with a better system. Because changing a system that has been running for decades is not as easy as it seems. However, we have to start now. In the beginning, fix this education system for the better one. The government has a big responsibility to do this. Besides that, there are many factors why the system we use is so different from the modern countries out there. One of them is the low awareness of the importance of education of the Indonesian citizens themselves. Seeing this, we must be able to raise awareness of the importance of education and change our lazy attitude.
As a result, Indonesia needs to change the education system, one of the possible answers is with a specialization system of majors. We can take the example from the United States which does not impose many subjects on its students. In addition, there is a Swiss country that has divided its students into several sections according to the capacity of the students themselves. Indonesia needs to look at such education systems and adapt them to make this country change.
Editor : VINNI NASRUL
