My mom asked me earlier about whether I regret my decision of enrolling to SMA 8. And it got me thinking.
I did, and still do.
These past two years have been the most excruciating years of my teenage life. But I guess us youngsters tend to view every current moment as the lowest points of our lives.
But it really is.
Then why the hell did I even chose this school in the first place?
Well, duh, the same reason each SMA 8 student has: its prestige. I mean, if you live in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta, you definitely would have heard of the school's reputation. 98% of the class of 2011 are now enrolled in top public and private universities all over the nation, mostly in UI and ITB. Some of them also went abroad; one of my upperclassmen got into MIT, several others are now enrolled in NUS and NTU.
The thing is, the school doesn't exactly produce top graduates. The only reason why a lot of our students and alumni got accepted into top-notch schools are because they are already smart in the first place~ I'm sure that's not really a shocker as well, since most top public high schools have the same problem.
What happens behind the green-painted walls of SMA 8 is not any different from any other high school in Jakarta. Teachers who are teaching for the sake of becoming pegawai negeri, horrible facilities, you name it.
The thing that I cannot put up with most is its academic curriculum. I am a student of the (only) social class in my school, and we learn most of our subjects by memorizing rather than understanding. If you don't answer by the book, then writing anything down is a waste of time, because they're not gonna give a mark for it anyways.
And we only study by reading text books and answering questions. The most innovative learning method they came up with is Power-Point presentations. Even in English, my class in particular, we only finish worksheets and work on this crappy online project. They never even assigned us to read books or make an essay, or that sorta stuff. I mean, I know that lots of Indonesian students have a (sorry) poor level of understanding in English, but it's not like we're going to improve by answering a few problems, we need practice. And now when I have decide to take the SATs, I realize how my English actually sucks. I lack of vocabulary, an now I have to throw in some extra effort to study for it because most Indonesian schools doesn't really accommodate students who intend to apply abroad.
The students aren't much better as well. I'm not saying all of them are horrible, but most are. There's something inside them that's vaguely screaming out loud, "I'm a student in a very competitive school, so, yes, I am smarter than you" academically speaking, there is no denial that all of my friends are intellectually gifted, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they excel in everything. They think they're THAT good in every single thing they do, and they brag about how well the system works here, well, news flash, my mom's friend happens to also have a child who attended the school, and he said, "ngomong sama anak-anak ini kebanyakan wacana" and that's exactly how I felt about almost everyone. They could only yap endlessly about their plans, instead to putting them into action.
The teachers aren't much help, either. Most don't even give a damn about our activities. Some do, though, like the counselor for my sub-section, but most don't. They hand everything to the students; although it is true that at some point we would have to stand on our own two feet, we still need some guidance, we can't really make good judgments.
And what I regret most about attending this school is that I didn't have time to do anything else outside it. I dropped softball. Basically, by choosing this school, you have signed a 3-year contract of torture. Even on holidays all you can think about is school. My life revolves around Bukit Duri. There was even a time when I went there even on weekends. The academics are pretty demanding, so you might have to sacrifice either your scores, or any other activities that are unrelated to school. That really hurts my resume.
I know that complaining probably makes me no different than my other NATO-friends. I've consulted my counselor about it but she's helpless. It's not like anyone could help me get my word to the principal, because it's very bureaucratic here. I'm thinking about dropping a letter in a small post box in front of my vice principal's office, it's worth a shot, although I am uncertain that he'd pass my word.
Lesson learned: Always choose a school that fits your personality, do research before deciding on which one you want to attend. Prestige doesn't always reflect quality.
Sent from BlackBerry® on 3
buzet :o
RépondreSupprimerYou know what, even though I'm really proud of being a student of this school, I agree with this post.
RépondreSupprimerI have to say, there's some part of me that also regret going to this school. But then again, our school is the (so-called) best public school in Jakarta, so there's really not much choice. I have to admit though, the way they teach social subjects is not very good (from what I've experienced in 10th grade). I attended a school in another province (Riau) which are more into those kind of subjects. When I moved to Jakarta I was totally shocked of how the teachers just gave off the questions for the tests (pas mau ulangan IPS). Then I realized that the best public schools aren't called the best schools because of the quality of the schools itself, but rather, (90%) the quality of the students who are already smart in the first place (as you said here). You practically learn by yourself at school! It's quite unbelievable. I guess the only thing that improves the students is the studying environment with the competition and everything.
Surprisingly, some people might not protest about this at all, either because they haven't experienced education in other places or because Indonesian people's patrimonial nature (Asal Bapak Senang? hahhaa).