Instilling honesty through education

I. Christianto ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/02/2008 1:46 PM

Good character means much more than good grades in becoming good citizens of Indonesia. Many senior high schools across the country are nowadays implementing character education, but to become a part of a student's life, the education must be lived.

Senior high school is only three years. The period, however, is regarded as the most memorable, valuable and, for some, important experience in life, as it can greatly influence someone's future.

SMA Kanisius, a senior high school in Jakarta better known as Canisius College or CC, is among the schools striving to instill students with good values and character.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, a Kanisius graduate, says he gained much during his time at Kanisius beyond the lessons. The experiences helped form much of his discipline and other values he carries today, he says.

"I want to emphasize the education, not only the lessons, during my high school experience. What has affected me, and what I still feel now, is about discipline. For me it's about improving and developing through discipline, how you face the world, the community and the challenges in life. That's what I experienced. It made me more prepared," says Fauzi.

True, it's only three years, but it's also one of the pivotal phases for character building which can affect someone's future, says CC principal Father Emmanuel Baskoro Poedjinoegroho SJ.

He says high school is a "strategic time" for most people in life. "Students in this phase are struggling with themselves as they are looking for their identities, as part of their character building process. Values will instill and stay in them when they are able to integrate them into themselves in the character building process."

That's why CC focuses on character education to prepare people with good character for the sake of the nation.

Baskoro says CC follows a "3C" system that stresses competence, conscience and compassion and generally tries to still faith and honesty in the students. In addition to the lessons, the character education is hoped to help them be successful not only in school but later in life, he says.

"CC is only a high school, but we want to build good characters for the students. We focus on honesty. We teach them how to be honest. By gaining honesty, they don't even think about cheating."

For about a decade, CC has been well-known, and also criticized, for its strict policy of instantly expelling any students found cheating.

"We also extend the value of hard work and togetherness as well as tolerance.... But there's no tolerance in cheating. When you tolerate someone who is cheating, it breaks the other values you teach in character education. Cheating is only a shortcut to reach something, and it's not good," Baskoro says.

With honesty, he adds, students will learn and study harder to get good marks or pass tests or examinations. "This is the subject which is not 'taught' in most schools. We often talk about good marks, best grade point averages and best students. But the essential thing, which is about how to reach the good marks, how to get best grade point averages and how to become the best students, is neglected."

Baskoro says academic lessons and intelligence are more easily taught, but honesty is particularly something to create the students "to be men for and with others", which follows in the spirit of perseverance of St. Peter Canisius, after whom the school was named.

CC, established in 1927 by a group of Jesuit Catholic priests, accepts only male students. The school complex, which also consists of a junior high school, is located on Jl. Menteng Raya, Central Jakarta, and admits about 230-240 new students every year. Totally some 670 students study at SMA Kanisius annually.

Baskoro says academically and extracurricular-wise, the school has a long list of offerings.

"We apply the official curricula, but we also emphasize things that represent Kanisius character. For example, this is the era of IT, so we extend programming lessons. Kanisius students have been selected in recent years as members of the Indonesian team for the International Olympiad in Informatics."

He adds that in art and culture activities, CC has a biennial theatrical performance involving professional directors and choreographers.

Baskoro calls Kanisius a conventional school where students study six days a week, from Monday to Saturday.

"First, continuity in studying for not-so-long six days a week is much better. Second, we have to adapt our schedule to the structure of the school building, which was designed for six studying days in term of supporting facilities like the canteen and lockers."

In terms of criticism levied against CC, high tuition is among the most common. In the cyber millennium, everyone can post their opinions in blogs or mailing lists so it's not hard to find people complaining about the high tuition and submission fees they have to pay if they want their boys studying at Kanisius.

Other criticism concerns the boy-only policy. Former principal late Father J.I.G.M. Drost SJ was among those who wanted to see CC admits girls, saying the period of high school is also a time for boys to interact and compete with the opposite sex.

Regarding its location and the worsening traffic in Jakarta, there has also been suggestions from several alumni to set up a branch in a place closer to a residential complex in greater Jakarta.

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