Pidato Wisudawan Terbaik dan Sistem Pendidikan di Indonesia

Kemarin ketika saya sedang membuka laman facebook, saya menemukan sebuah link yang di share oleh seorang kawan saya, judul link tersebut sangat menarik “Pidato Wisudawan Terbaik, Memukau namun sekaligus “menakutkan”” awalnya saya pikir pidato seorang lulusan sebuah sekolah di Indonesia dan berisi kata menakutkan dalam arti sebenarnya, namun setelah saya baca... Ternyata pidato tersebut adalah pidato Erica Goldson (siswi SMA) pada acara wisuda di Coxsackie-Athens High School, New York, tahun 2010. Erica Goldson adalah wisudawan dengan nilai terbaik pada than itu dan menakutkan disini adalah sebuah makna tersirat yang pada akhirnya saya juga sadar bahwa saya sedang merasakan apa yang di rasakan sang pembaca pidato. Berikut cuplikan pidato siswi tersebut

“Saya lulus. Seharusnya saya menganggapnya sebagai sebuah pengalaman yang menyenangkan, terutama karena saya adalah lulusan terbaik di kelas saya. Namun, setelah direnungkan, saya tidak bisa mengatakan kalau saya memang lebih pintar dibandingkan dengan teman-teman saya. Yang bisa saya katakan adalah kalau saya memang adalah yang terbaik dalam melakukan apa yang diperintahkan kepada saya dan juga dalam hal mengikuti sistem yang ada.
Di sini saya berdiri, dan seharusnya bangga bahwa saya telah selesai mengikuti periode indoktrinasi ini. Saya akan pergi musim dingin ini dan menuju tahap berikut yang diharapkan kepada saya, setelah mendapatkan sebuah dokumen kertas yang mensertifikasikan bahwa saya telah sanggup bekerja.

Tetapi saya adalah seorang manusia, seorang pemikir, pencari pengalaman hidup – bukan pekerja. Pekerja adalah orang yang terjebak dalam pengulangan, seorang budak di dalam sistem yang mengurung dirinya. Sekarang, saya telah berhasil menunjukkan kalau saya adalah budak terpintar. Saya melakukan apa yang disuruh kepadaku secara ekstrim baik. Di saat orang lain duduk melamun di kelas dan kemudian menjadi seniman yang hebat, saya duduk di dalam kelas rajin membuat catatan dan menjadi pengikut ujian yang terhebat.

Saat anak-anak lain masuk ke kelas lupa mengerjakan PR mereka karena asyik membaca hobi-hobi mereka, saya sendiri tidak pernah lalai mengerjakan PR saya. Saat yang lain menciptakan musik dan lirik, saya justru mengambil ekstra SKS, walaupun saya tidak membutuhkan itu. Jadi, saya penasaran, apakah benar saya ingin menjadi lulusan terbaik? Tentu, saya pantas menerimanya, saya telah bekerja keras untuk mendapatkannya, tetapi apa yang akan saya terima nantinya? Saat saya meninggalkan institusi pendidikan, akankah saya menjadi sukses atau saya akan tersesat dalam kehidupan saya?
Saya tidak tahu apa yang saya inginkan dalam hidup ini. Saya tidak memiliki hobi, karena semua mata pelajaran hanyalah sebuah pekerjaan untuk belajar, dan saya lulus dengan nilai terbaik di setiap subjek hanya demi untuk lulus, bukan untuk belajar. Dan jujur saja, sekarang saya mulai ketakutan…….”

Ketika saya membaca pidato dalam teks asli berbahasa inggris, saya menemukan sebuah cuplikan yang menarik 

“This is the dilemma I’ve faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.” 

Sebelum membaca ini, saya pikir sistem pendidikan di Amerika jauh lebih baik dari Indonesia, namun ternyata seorang mahasiswinya pun merasakan apa yang dirasakan oleh mungkin sebagian pelajar di Indonesia. 
Sistem pendidikan di Indonesia pun tidak jauh berbeda dengan apa yang dikatakan oleh Erica. Disini saya sebagai pelajar yang dituntut untuk mengikuti sistem ingin sedikit berkeluh kesah dan beropini mengenai sistem pendidikan di Indonesia. Karena  selama hampir 12 tahun saya menempuh pendidikan, saya merasakan bahwa pendidikan di Indonesia memang menuntut seseorang untuk mendapat nilai tinggi dan itu didukung oleh pandangan masyarakat, bahwa siapa mendapat ranking 1-10 pasti dia anak pintar. Dan, jujur saya bukan termasuk siwa yang masuk dalam kategori “pintar” dimata masyarakat, karena saya tidak pernah masuk 10 besar dan proses labelling seperti itu terkadang membuat saya menjadi sedikit “tersisih” dan “minder”. 

Untuk melanjutkan sekolah ke jenjang yang lebih tinggi dan supaya masuk ke sekolah favorit pun selain uang juga dibutuhkan nilai yang bagus. Meskipun ada beberapa sekolah yang menerima siswanya melalui jalur prestasi non akademik, tapi pada proses belajar si siswa tetap diharuskan mendapat nilai bagus. Bahkan, terkadang siswa yang ikut lomba non akademik dan meninggalkan pelajaran sehingga nilainya turun bisa dapat teguran dari guru dan orangtua. Karena semua penilaian kembali kepada nilai yang diperoleh si siswa. 

Sebagai siswa kelas 12, saya sangat merasakan bagaimana dampak dari sistem pendidikan Indonesia yang mendewakan nilai. Mulai tahun kemarin dan sepertinya hingga tahun depan, pemerintah membuat sistem baru untuk masuk PTN, yaitu melalui jalur SNMPTN, dimana seorang siswa dapat masuk ke PTN yang diinginkan dengan menggunakan nilai rapor dari semester 3-5 (kelas XI-XII sem 1). SNMPTN disebut juga dengan jalur undangan, jika pada tahun sebelumnya SNMPTN hanya diberikan kepada siswa yang memiliki rangking 10 besar, kini semua siswa bisa mendaftar melalui SNMPTN tanpa tes. Hanya perlu nilai rapor yang bagus. Lagi-lagi mengutamakan nilai. Karena kebijakan tersebut, banyak siswa kelas 12 yang berambisi untuk mendapatkan kesempatan masuk melalui SNMPTN karena mereka takut untuk mengahadapi tes tulis, termasuk saya dan teman-teman saya. Selain itu, apabila seseorang bisa keterima melalui jalur SNMPTN masyarakat akan memberi predikat bahwa dia-anak-pintar-karena-masuk-lewat-undangan. Karena ambisi untuk mendapatkan nilai rapor yang tinggi,saya merasa teman-teman saya menjadi “menakutkan” mereka berlomba-lomba mendapatkan nilai tinggi. Baiklah, jika dipikir mungkin ke-ambisi-an teman-teman saya berdampak bagus untuk memacu saya mengejar mereka, namun untuk mendapatkan nilai yang tinggi mereka menghalalkan segala cara.Itu yang menakutkan. Demi mengisi kertas rapor dengan angka 9. Lalu akhirnya beberapa anak yang pada awalnya berusaha jujur akhirnya tergoda untuk berbuat curang demi mengejar teman-temannya. Bagian paling menyedihkan adalah saat seseorang jujur namun nilainya malah jauh dibawah teman-teman yang menghalalkan berbagai cara.

Mungkin kebijakan pemerintah bagus, memberikan kesempatan kepada seluruh anak bangsa yang berprestasi akademik tinggi untuk memperoleh pendidikan tinggi dan mendapatkan calon mahasiswa baru terbaik melalui seleksi siswa yang mempunyai prestasi akademik tinggi di SMA/SMK/MA/MAK. Lalu bagaimana dengan siswa-siswa yang berusaha masuk kategori mempunyai prestasi akademik tinggi dengan menghalalkan segala cara agar memenuhi syarat? Dan bagaimana dengan siswa yang lebih unggul dibidang non-akademik?
 
Seharusnya Indonesia berkaca pada Finlandia, karena pola pendidikan di Finlandia tidak menggunakan nilai akademis sebagai tolak ukur, namun mengakomodasi minat dan bakat siswanya sehingga semua bisa memaksimalkan kemampuannya tanpa dikekang oleh nilai, dan hasilnya Finlandia dinobatkan sebagai Negara dengan sistem pendidikan terbaik.

Mungkin, ada beberapa yang  berpendapat bahwa “mengagungkan nilai” hanyalah opini pribadi. Namun, jika dirasakan kembali, pribadi seseorang sudah terbentuk oleh system karena sebuah “proses indoktrinasi” seperti yang diungkapkan Erica. Pada akhirnya, secara sadar atau tidak sadar kita sudah terjebak oleh sistem yang diciptakan oleh penguasa dan mau tidaak mau kita diharuskan untuk mengikuti sitem tersebut.

Berikut saya lampirkan pidato dalam teks asli bahasa Inggris 


Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
by Erica Goldson

Here I stand
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years.” The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?” Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.” “But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” replied the Master. “But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?” Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”

This is the dilemma I’ve faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn’t you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contend that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.

John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don’t do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not “to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. … Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim … is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States.”

To illustrate this idea, doesn’t it perturb you to learn about the idea of “critical thinking?” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn’t for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.

And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren’t we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.

The saddest part is that the majority of students don’t have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can’t run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, “You have to learn this for the test” is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn’t have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.

I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a “see you later” when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let’s go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we’re smart enough to do so!

Sumber:  http://rinaldimunir.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/pidato-wisudawan-terbaik-memukau-tetapi-sekaligus-menakutkan/