Talking about Education with a Friend of Mine

J:       assalamu’alaikum apa kbrnya bang (Assalamu’alaikum. How are you bro?)

M:    Wa’alaikum salam. Alhamdulillah, biasa Jo. (Wa’alaikum salam. Alhamdulillah, as usual Jo.)

J:       ada berita apa bang cherbon (Any news from Cirebon?)

M:     berita? biasa aja. yang bukan berita, itu yg luar biasa. (News? It’s usual. Not news, that’s extraordinary)

J:       apa tuh bang contohnya (What is the example?)

M:     renovasi rumdin walikota, nasib sekolah swasta, dll. (the renovation of the mayor’s official house, the fate of private schools, etc.)

J:       ada apa dengan sekolah swasta di cherbon bang  (What’s up with the private schools in cirebon, bro?)

M:     begitulah, terpinggirkan. sekolah negerinya pada nerima siswa berlebihan melebihi ketentuan, bahkan yang tidak memenuhi syarat asal ada dana. (So so, step aside. The state schools accept students more than the provision. They even accept students who don’t fulfil the prerequisite as long as there is enough fund.)

J:       ya bang, padahal kalau yg diurus banyak blm tentu mutunya bagus.tingkat kelulusan siswanya bagus tah bang di cherbon (Yeah bro. Actually more students doesn’t mean better quality. Is the graduation rate of the students good in Cirebon?)

M:     itulah hebatnya cirebon. jakarta dan bandung aja ada yg gak lulus, eh... cirebon lulus semua. (That’s the great thing of Cirebon. Even Jakarta and Bandung have students who didn’t pass the exam. Eh … Cirebon got them all passed)

J:       kalau RSBI di cherbon banyak bang. About RSBI in Cirebon, are there many?)

M:     wahhh ... banyak. Rintisan Sekolah Bertarif Internasional kan? (Wow … many. Rintisan Sekolah Bertarif Internasional, isn’t?)

J:       ya mutunya bagus ya bang di cherbon. (Yeah. The quality is good in Cirebon bro, right?)

M:     hehehe... mintanya bagus. mutu??? (hehehe … the asking is good. The quality …???)

J:       apa pakai bahasa pengantar b. inggris bang? Do they use English as the introductory language?)

M:     katanya sih bgt. (I heard so)

J:       bagus dong bang.gurunya uda pada siap blm tuh bang (Then it’s good, bro. Are the teachers ready, bro?)

M:     nah ... itu tuh yg jadi pertanyaan. kalau guru bahasa Inggris sih tdk masalah. Guru lainnya? (That’s the question. For the English teacher, no problem. The other teachers?)

J:       ya english sains khan agak beda dengan komunikasi sehari-hari ya bang (Yeah, science English is rather different with daily conversation. Right bro?)

M:     masalahnya bahasa pengantarnya kan seharusnya bahasa Inggris. kalau buku sudah tersedia buku dwi bahasa. tapi gurunya mampu gak menggunakan bahasa pengantar bahasa Inggris utk pelajaran selain Inggris? (The problem is the introductory language should be English. About the books, they are available in two languages books. But are the teachers able to use the English as the introductory language for other lessons besides English?)

J:       ya, mungkin klau sma 1 dan 2 mah uda siap xl bang. kalau guru blm mampu siswanya kayaknya pada mampu ya bang (Yeah, maybe for the ninth and tenth grades, they are ready bro. but if the teachers havent got the capability will the students be able bro?)

M:     Pendidikan sebenarnya masalah yg sangat membingungkan. idealnya kita ingin semua lulus dan minimal mendapat nilai sesuai standar kelulusan minimal. tetapi sistem terkadang membuat harapan itu jadi keterpaksaan. (Education is actually a really confusing problem. The ideal, we want all students got score at least as the minimum passing standard, but the system sometimes makes the hope becomes a force.)

J:       ya bang masalahnya ada istilah LS dan TDK LS.coba kalau kayak Ebtanas kayak jaman kita SD/SMP. biarlah yang menentukan peserta itu layak diterima di jenjang berikutnya adalah sekolah pengguna. (Yeah bro. the problem is because there are terms Passed and not passed. How if it’s like Ebtanas as when we were in Elementary and Junior High School. Let the next schools decide whether the participants deserve to be accepted.)

M:     begitulah pemimpin kita. mereka terlalu tinggi kedudukan dan kursinya, jadi yang ada di bawah tidak kelihatan. jadi kebijakan (hehehe... bijak apanya ya?) mereka memang cocok ... untuk kalangan atas yang kelihatan oleh dia. kalangan bawah harus nurut yang atas. gimana bisa kalau sumber daya dan failitas tidak sama? (That’s the way our leaders behave. They are too high in position and chairs. So people below cannot be seen. So their policies (hehehe … what’s the wisdom hah?) are really suitable … for the high status communities which are seen by them. The lower must follow the high status. How could it be if the source and facility are not equivalent?)

J:       ya itu dia bang, standar Sekolah yang lain tdk diperhatikan. tp standar penilaian sama. (That is the problem, bro. Other schools don’t catch their attention, but the scoring standard are the same.)