What Makes Indonesian Students Less Competitive Compared to Foreign Students?

   What is the meaning of 'competitiveness' in education? Competitiveness is when students are successful in education without doing any bad things to achieve the success. 
According to www.nasional.tempo.com, in 2015 there are some frauds in Indonesia national examination, such as leakage of questions and worse, there is teacher cooperation in this case, and many others. According to www.delsisamsumar.heck.in, brawls between junior high school students, high school and vocational school take place quite often, signifying the failure of implementation of the characteristics by the school. It is also the failure of community supervision. The failure of cultivation of religious values ​​at home. The failure of the government in managing education in Indonesia. There are three major causes why Indonesian students are less competitive comparing to foreign students, such as Indonesian parent’s parenting style, education system, and social system.

    The first cause is Indonesian parent’s parenting styles that are mostly wrong, such as spoiling children. A type of Indonesian parents who spoil their children with a good amount of money and let them manage the money usually done by affluent parents. That will make the spoiled child think they can do anything with the money without trying. Spoiling clearly is not a competitive mental. Spoiling can lead to the slowing the development of child’s potential. Another type of parents is the ones who think that their child can do anything without actually know what their child needs, child or teenager still need guidance from parents and parents have to develop their child’s potential to actually know what ability that the child has and support them. Child who has this type of parents may feel not facilitated and insecure to show their potential. Insecure is an uncompetitive mentality. One of the reasons why parents are not developing child's potential is because parents push their child based on parent’s ambition, this case is often happen. Pushed child feel they have no choice and take shortcuts which are usually bad, such as cheating, plagiarism, etc. Cheating and plagiarism are uncompetitive mental. Some types of Indonesian parents tend to not realize an uncompetitive individual comes from uncompetitive mental that they formed.

    The second cause is Indonesian education system that makes uncompetitive students. Indonesian curriculum seems to be one of the worst curriculum, especially the newest one. It can be categorized as bad curriculum because for example, it has the longest study hours, gives too much homework and students as if expected to be perfect in every school subject. Students will be stressed out and does anything to get a good final score, here, cheating is commonly found. Students expected to get good scores in every school subject, even though there are some subjects that they don’t like or even master. Indonesian schools expect the students to be perfect in every aspect even though actually 3 of 5 Indonesian teachers still are not qualified. Take a look at some public schools in Jakarta; it pushes the students to get good scores and worse, the unqualified teacher usually only care about the final result without knowing the process of learning. That means Indonesian education is still messed because it only pushes the students but don’t think about other aspects such as teacher’s quality and curriculum that may help the students to be competitive individual.

    The third cause is Indonesian social system that affects Indonesian students’ competitiveness. In Indonesia, especially in Java Island, where 58% of the populations live, social collaboration is common to be found. Social collaboration has become a culture and identity of Indonesia. Indonesian people accustomed to social collaboration that some of them are also accustomed to rely on other people. For example, some of Indonesian people usually ask other people to do obligation that they don’t like. People who accustomed to relying on other people, will be not independent to do something, this is uncompetitive mental. This social collaboration can be happened because sense of kinship.  In Indonesia, kinship can facilitate all the affairs. For example, in some cases, if Indonesian people want to apply for a job, they have to be familiar with the insider so they can easily get a job. Again, this formed a not independent and not want to take effort individual that is also an uncompetitive individual. Another social system is money talks. In Indonesia, money can also facilitate all the affairs, which have become a public secret. For example, if Indonesian people want to make a driver’s license and passport, they can pay other people to make the process quick and easy. This social system makes people want an instant process without doing an effort, this is uncompetitive mental. All of social system can lead to uncompetitive mental from generation to generation if Indonesian people can’t apply it properly.

    In summary, some aspects in Indonesian people’s daily life can take part of making uncompetitive student’s mentality. Those aspects need to be fixed to achieve Indonesian student’s competitive mentality that can also take part in the  country development.


By : Athaya Nadjla