T

hese two letters refer to '€œTeachers struggle to write scientific papers,'€ (The Jakarta Post, June 29).

When teachers are able to teach their students, they must be able to write papers. When they teach they have to write what they teach on the whiteboard.

As far as I know, initially, it'€™s very difficult to write research and academic papers but in the end when we give it heart, we as teachers will be able to write papers in order to become qualified teachers to get promotions.

The policy is right in order to encourage teachers to write and do research. There is not much difference between a teacher and a lecturer in terms of educating. A teacher'€™s role is to teach students to become beginner scientists.

Scientists begin at school although the law on teachers does not mention anything about it. These activities are useful to encourage teachers to be scientists. Who says that teachers are not scientists?

Any policy issued by the government is meant to improve teachers'€™ quality for those who desire a promotion. It is all in line with the government'€™s efforts to boost teacher quality, especially in the new generation.

Teachers, regarded as agents of change, must change their mindset to not only teach students but also to write academic papers to actualize themselves as qualified teachers in the hope that they will improve their academic skills.  

All students usually are assigned to write reports on field trips, etc. So, why are teachers allergic to writing papers when they are required to? Can'€™t they be accustomed to writing instead of only assigning their students to carry out something that they cannot do?

H. Saut
Jakarta

What incentive is there for teachers to write scientific papers anyway? A promotion? It'€™s fine to give teachers a promotion, but if they are not getting paid at the current award rate, what difference will a promotion make?

This is just one example of the large-scale problems inside the country'€™s education system. In another article the annual budget for education was stated to be US$23.3 billion, or roughly $2 billion per month.

However, once a significant portion is siphoned off to family-owned printers and distributors, the national, provincial and district level ministries, headmasters and so on, the budget starts to look pretty small. Especially for a nation of 17,688 islands with as many as 50 million school children by my estimation.

Each school course has a set of targets to achieve and the courses can be tailored to suit the approach of each individual teacher.  After teaching many courses, if a teacher is in a position academically and mentally to actually present an academic paper, then the rewards should be high enough to make presenting one worthwhile.

This would not be difficult to organize. Private companies do it all the time. These are only courses that must be completed, and tests that only evaluate how much has been taken in and can be repeated until the answers are all correct. It doesn'€™t matter if a student cheats, because in order to cheat, the student has to read the material anyway.  

Something of this nature would surely be more appropriate for the vast number of people involved in children'€™s education. Imagine the effect it would have on kids if they had a teacher that tried out the syllabus material themselves, or one who asked the kids to help them get through the course. A sort of joint effort built into courses where the teacher progresses through student participation and learning to get the kids involved in learning.

Remember the vast majority of the teachers who work outside the big cities and towns. If you go and have a look at rural schools you will get an idea of what a ludicrous idea it is to expect these poor people to submit an academic paper.