Discussion Essay

New Curriculum 2013/2014 in Indonesia:

 Deleting English as a Subject in Elementary School

English is international language that is used in many aspects, such as: International commerce and International competition. Because Indonesia is not a country that has English as the mother language, the people should learn English to communicate with other people in the world. The people of Indonesia can learn English in school eventhought many education institutes provide english courses. To support learning english for the people, Indonesia government, and education department, should consider in composing curriculum about english as a subject. Based on Decree of Education and Culture Cabinet Minister No.060/U/1993 : english can exist as a subject in Elementary school and it begins on the fourth grade. In fact, curriculum always changes every education year. Now, there is a new curriculum 2013/2014 in Indonesia that deletes english as a subject in Elementary school. This event makes a commotion in Education aspect, especially in the school. Furthermore, there are pro and contra in Indonesia that disscus about deleting english as a subject in Elementary school.

The first reason the government deletes english as a subject in Elementary school is to make the students focus on learning Bahasa and their mother language. Rohmani, the member of legislative commission X, said “ It is a right decission, so the education department can focus on cultivation of Bahasa in Elementary school.” The decission is done because the student should focus on learning Bahasa before they learn English. The Elementary school students are in the good age for learning how to communicate by using their own language corectly. They should understand their own language first before learning another languages ; it can also increase the nasionalism of youth generation.

The second reason is learning english for Elementary school is not based on the clear refference and the preparation of english teachers yet. The teachers are not given a good training for teaching english in elementary school. Most of english teachers are not majoring in engish. Studying english in some areas just follows the lessons based on the book that are provided, so the rules of teaching english are ignored. Itje chodijah, english teachers training guide in Jakarta, said “ Nowadays, english in elementary school is evaluated wrong. The teachers are not trained seriously to teach english. As a result, the teachers are trapped for using english book. As a sequence, the purpose of studying english is not appropriate; learning english in elementary school is reputed as a burden for students.”

On the other hand, deleting english as a subject will retard the advancement of Indonesia. Because to compete with other country in the world, we should use English as International language. If the youth generation of Indonesia can not speak english well, Indonesia will be colonized by the advance country. Prof.Dr.Badaruddin, sosiology lecturer in Universitas Sumatera Utara, said “ To know and learn technology today, we should understand English well. Unless we understand English, we are left so far.” Because every people in the world use technology for their advancement, the people who cannot speak english well will be slaveries of the advance country in the future.

Beside that, if the students learn english in Junior High School, it will be too late. English should be learned and known by the students in elementary school, so it will be easy to learn it ; it is the good time for introducing English as a foreign language. Prof.Dr.Badaruddin said,“ English is International language, so it must be learned in Elementary school. It must be learned widely, so it will be easy to understand.” Based on Basic International Communicative Skill/ BICS riset: the government decision to begin learning english in Junior High School will decrease the time allocation that is needed for english learning process, even for basic communicative skill in daily life.

The effect of deleting english as a subject is not only felt by the students, but it will affect the english teachers of elementary school. The teachers will teach other subjects that do not agree with their skill. One of the english contract teacher in Sukmaja, Depok, Ida said that she will get the effects of curriculum 2013/2014. Eventhough she still gets a job, she thinks that she has gotten the chemistry of teaching english for 15 year and she argues the new curriculum 2013/2014.There will be many unemployments of the english contract teachers in Elementary school.Beside that, the college students who are majoring in english will be hard to find a job because one of the job vacancy is deleted.

In conclusion, government has decided to delete english as a subject in Elementary school because in fact, it does not agree with the purpose of learning english. Meanwhile, many genre of people argue this decision. As a college student who is majoring in english, I do not agree with the education department’s decision. Unless learning english is begun from Elementary school, we lost one of important step in understanding english as a foreign language. I recommend that english should be learned in Elementary school, but it should be designed with methodology and the right value system; it is started from fourth grade. As a result, learning english will be easy and fun. The students will get the purpose of learning english that is hoped by our government.

REFFERENCES

Hermawan Doris.2013.DPRD Sesalkan Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris Dihapus.http://lampost.co/berita/dprd-sesalkan-pelajaran-bahasa-inggris-dihapus.(Retrieved on Sept 16,2013)

Virdhani Marieska Harya.2013.Kurikulum 2013 terus mendapat kritikan.http://international.sindonews.com/read/2013/06/17/15/750640/kurikulum-2013-terus-mendapat-kritikan.(Retrieved on Sept 16,2013)

SDN Mardelas.2013.Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris pada Tingkat SD Perlu Perbaikan. http://www.beritakaget.com.(Retrieved on Sept 16,2013)