Essay Sample on School Marks in Indonesia

In Indonesia, school marks are so deified. Art is graded by numbers and is one of the main requirements for a child in primary school to advance. As a result, children are under pressure and always try to get "perfect" results even in art schools. Fear of making mistakes makes the child unable to think creatively and an education system like kills children's creativity. Art is an integral part of the curriculum in Indonesia. However, its marking system is wrong, and grading arts is not an inclusive way of responding to differences between learners relating to art subjects. In this sense, the importance of curricular adjustments for implementing inclusive pedagogy is emphasized. A learner-centered ideology should be adopted in terms of art assessment rather than just grades. The Scotland curriculum, where students are not assessed formally until they are passed the S3 level, should be adopted in Indonesia as well.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Exclusivity of Arts Assessments in Indonesia Primary Education

IntroductionOne of the most legendary paintings known by most people in Indonesia is that of a pair of mountains with the sun in the middle, complete with rice fields and winding roads that lie beneath (Pakar 2013). According to Pakar (2013), when children are asked to draw any art, they mostly draw the same picture. Although the natural scenery portrayed in the famous painting is real, even children who live in big city environments, where there are no rice fields or mountains, tend to draw the same picture (Pakar 2013). They do not draw buildings, highways, or houses and yet these are the things they often see every day. There are hundreds of possibilities of images and imaginations produced by children after being given instructions for drawing scenes but the picture is still common, especially when in art lessons in elementary schools or kindergartens (Pakar 2013). There are interesting things that can be learnt from the phenomenon of the image of these two mountains. In Indonesia, school marks are highly valued and they determine whether a child will move up a grade or not (Pakar, 2013). Parents also sometimes take part in adding mental burdens to their children by telling them to get perfect grades. As a result, children are under pressure and always try to get "perfect" results (Pakar, 2013). It is ironic that children are always required to be perfect, but have never been guided to learn from mistakes.

Einstein once said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid" (Richard, 2017). This quote shows everything that is wrong about valuing perfect scores so much. Children become afraid to issue ideas because they are worried that things will go wrong and get bad grades (Pakar 2013). Fear of making mistakes makes the child unable to think creatively that there are other alternative solutions that he can do, besides being similar to other students (Pakar, 2013). There is a shame that would be obtained if the results obtained are different from other children. Children have been educated in such a way that they are finally accustomed to accepting this situation, that teachers give grades, so the teacher is always right. Unwittingly, an education system like this has killed children's creativity.

Everyone is born with their creativity and uniqueness (Pakar 2013). However, the Indonesian education system often forgets that. Some standards must be achieved to get the title "perfect" in the eyes of society, and these standards are mostly based on grades (Pakar 2013). Assessing whether or not a good work based on grades, especially to children who have not received much knowledge, will hamper their creativity and brain development. All students cannot achieve perfect scores. It takes effort that requires hard work, practice, and of course learning from mistakes (Pakar 2013). This is done so that they can develop and innovate to produce new works that are better than previous works. Therefore, a child's value in the arts is most likely not related to his or her creativity only. Many factors influence outside values, such as the way of learning and thinking of each child that is unique and needs to be developed according to their character.

The current essay will analyze the problem with the art assessment method in Indonesia primary education and provide recommendations on the best system that should be adopted. The importance of curricular adjustments for implementing inclusive pedagogy is emphasized. A learner-centered ideology should be adopted in terms of art assessment rather than just grades. Principles of good assessment and feedback should be used in establishing the principles of assessment such as reliability, validity, fairness, and flexibility. Theories of learning relating to curriculum, learning, and pedagogy will be discussed and their relation to best assessment practices.

Theories of Learning Relating to Curriculum, and Pedagogy

The curriculum refers to the goal of national education, which is to educate all students. The 2013 Indonesian Education curriculum aligned the competency standards of education students in Indonesia with the education competency standards of other developed countries that integrate 21st-century skills of pedagogic learning in their education. In the 2013 curriculum objectives, students are required to think more creatively, innovatively, quickly, and responsively. Students are also trained to foster courage in themselves and express themselves (Gunawan 2017). Pedagogic is useful in providing instructions about what should be done so that it can help educators avoid mistakes in the practice of educating and assessment of children. The 2013 curriculum has three main aspects of assessment, namely aspects of knowledge, skills, and attitude, and behavior (Gunawan 2017). The 2013 curriculum also has four core competencies that include; core competencies of spiritual attitude, core competencies of social attitudes, knowledge core competencies, and core competency skills.

Indonesian Curriculum (2013) aims to promote productivity, creativity, and innovation, through strengthening affective attitudes, skills, and integrated knowledge for Indonesians (Gunawan 2017). The 2013 Curriculum advocates the learners with the quality of contributing to the advancement of the lives of the society where they live, the life of the nation in political, social, economic, culture, arts, technology. As can be observed, art is an integral part of the curriculum in Indonesia. However, its marking system is wrong, and grading arts is not an inclusive way of responding to differences between learners relating to art subjects.

Schiro's Curricula Ideologies

Professor Schiro (2012) states that educators have been trying to establish the best kind of curriculum that should be used in schools. According to Schiro (2012), there are four different ideologies: academic-scholar, social efficiency, student-centered learning, and social construction. Each curriculum vision or ideology has its value system, educational purposes, and their definitions and concepts.

The Scholar Academic Ideology

Proponents of the academic-scholar curricular ideology believe that throughout centuries, humanity has accumulated an enormous amount of knowledge that has been organized and turned in disciplines whose best example is in universities. Proponents of this type of education assume that academy, discipline, intellect, and knowledge are equivalent (Schiro 2012). The purpose of academic education is to extend the scope of discipline by introducing more people to a field of application (Schiro 2012). This implies introducing a student, for example, to the basic notions of statistics in primary education, improving their knowledge of the subject in secondary education, specialized in university education and finally becoming a scholar in the subject by becoming a professor or teacher and from there continue to progress by creating new knowledge of that discipline through research.

The Social Efficiency Ideology

The proponents of the curricular ideology of social efficiency believe that the purpose of education is to efficiently meet the needs of society by instructing young people to function as mature individuals who build society (Schiro 2012). Its main objective is to enable young people to acquire skills and knowledge that they will need in the workplace or at home or in their productive life in the future (Schiro 2012). These people believe that the essence of the student or their main job is to acquire skills to perform in their adult life actively. Young people are educated by learning to perform the necessary functions to generate social productivity.

The Student-Centred Learning Ideology

Regarding the ideology of student-centered learning, the proponents of this ideology do not focus on disciplines or needs of society; they are committed to the need of each individual (Schiro 2012). They believe that schools should be fun places, places where students develop naturally according to their abilities and talents. The goal of student-centered education is the growth of each student, each in harmony with their own emotions, intellect, and physical attributes. Educators in a student-centered learning system believe that each person contains within themselves their abilities to grow, agents (teachers) are seen as the source of content for the curriculum; and the goals of this type of curriculum can go well beyond those prescribed because they will depend on the aspirations of each student. Student-centered learning scholars defend the concept of individual growth as the central theme of their educational task (Schiro 2012). Students progress as they develop their skills and are themselves the primary goal of the educator (Brush & Saye 2000). As a result of this idea, education involves the discovery of the inherent abilities of each person. It is a kind of facilitation of good virtues and growth drawn from people's skills.

The Social Reconstruction Ideology

Regarding the curricular ideology of social reconstruction, people who defend this ideology are aware of society problems and the injustices done to people, for example, injustices caused by reasons of race, gender, and social or economic situation among others (Schiro 2012). They assume that the purpose of education is to facilitate the construction of a more just model of society that satisfies all its members. Social reconstruction curricula see the curriculum from a social perspective and since society is going through a crisis, this also affects people to education and knowledge (Schiro 2012). The mission of a curriculum in this type of society is to rectify the situation by eliminating or changing the current culture or aspects of that society that they deem undesirable and replacing them with values they deem appropriate and that way they will rebuild their culture so that their members acquire maximum satisfaction that finally solves or provides for your material.