Universal Children's Day: Children need to learn about clear thinking

Universal Children's Day is celebrated every Nov. 20. Declared by the UN General Assembly in 1954, Children's Day is observed to promote international togetherness and awareness among children all over the world and to actively improve their welfare. In conjunction with the celebration of Universal Children's Day, The Jakarta Post is running a two-page report on children themed the "Importance of Early Years Education". The article below is part of several stories prepared for the special report.

A Hollywood movie based on an ancient Mayan prophecy has created controversy, with a number of branches of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) calling for a ban on the movie.

The MUI branches claim that Muslims should not watch 2012 for fear that they get the wrong idea about doomsday.

They should not believe the prediction in the movie or its depiction of doomsday, according to the council.

People with clear thinking do not need such a call. According to the movie, the Mayans predicted doomsday would occur in 2012. But it is only a movie and should not be taken seriously. People should logically be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

Unfortunately, many people can not think clearly and logically. This might affect every aspect of their life and could lead to chaos when no effort is taken to fix the condition.

Education has much to do with this. But even well-educated people are not necessarily able to use logic as they never mastered the art of reasoning.

All levels of education need to emphasize the importance of logic, and this is also crucial for the early childhood education.

Children can start learning about logic when they are very young. Logic allows children to live with the consequences of their choices, according to experts.

When it comes to education, parents will surely pay serious attention in choosing the best schools for their children.

This is not an easy thing to do, especially when they live in big cities like Jakarta, where there are numerous schools claiming to offer quality education.

It is necessary for parents to find out about the curriculum and teaching methods before they can make up their minds about which schools are suitable for their kids.

The government has created a curriculum as a guideline for education in the country. This national curriculum has changed several times to meet the growing demand in the growing world.

In the past, there was little communication between students and teachers. It was the teacher who was mostly active in class while the students were usually passive, lacked creativity and were not expressive. They might just memorize things without really understanding them.

Such a condition still prevails in certain schools even though as time goes by, the curriculum has been improved with better teaching and learning methods.

The current curriculum is called Competency Based Education, which is defined as education geared toward preparing individuals to perform identified competencies.

The curriculum applies for all levels, from basic to higher education, emphasizing learning outcomes and diversity. Teachers can use different methods and approaches.

In addition, the curriculum acknowledges that teachers are not the only source of knowledge. Surely, children can learn a lot from books, newspapers and magazines, the Internet and other media, not to mention from nature.

Schools have the freedom to develop their own education plans based on the given standards.

Taking into account that the children's world has much to do with playing, many schools teach students in a fun way. Learning by playing also sharpens both the social and academic competence.

Since they are young, children need to learn about logic and critical thinking. They should be encouraged to ask questions and express themselves, to exercise their reasoning.

Teachers play a great role in instilling the art of reasoning in children. If a toddler knocks her things to the floor, the teacher should not just say, "No!" and put on an angry face. He or she should explain what the child did was wrong and explain the consequences.

The child, who at first might think that dropping things on the floor is funny, might then realize that she or he has just made a mess and needs to clean it up.

The early years are the most important phase to lay a strong foundation for children because it is a crucial period of brain development.

Therefore, parents need to choose the right school for their children, be it a national, national plus or international one.

Maintaining Indonesian cultural values, national plus schools adopt the national curriculum but also develop international learning outcomes. Some call them bilingual schools because the teachers teach not only in Indonesian, but also in English, or even Chinese or Arabic.

National plus and international schools usually have better facilities like modern libraries and sports facilities that often include swimming pools.

They have small classes with an adequate ratio between students and teachers, which allow teachers to pay attention to each individual.

The schools also expect parents to play an active part in the education of their children, to monitor their development and discuss any potential problem related to individual students.

Today there are about 300 national plus and international schools in the country, while in Jakarta alone there are more than 1,800 preschools, including national plus and international ones.

Choose the one that is suitable for your children's needs. Or at least a school that allows them to grow as creative and productive adults with clear, logical and critical thinking, who are able to cope with the challenges of this highly competitive society and globally connected world.