Filipus Sumiyarsono: Building students’ characters

Setiono Sugiharto, Contributor, Jakarta | People | Mon, October 29 2012, 11:39 AM

Paper Edition | Page: 28

(JP/Setiono Sugiharto)The recent student brawls that claimed two lives of students from different schools have often been ascribed to juvenile delinquency. That’s what the education agency has asserted and what many people have opinioned.

Yet, for Filipus Sumiyarsono attributing the causes of violent behavior among students to delinquency is too simplistic and overlooks the root of the problem.

“The cause of brawling that frequently leads to the tragic deaths of students goes beyond what many people and educational pundits have thought. If we want to be reflective, violent student behavior has constituted a vicious cycle, the solution of which needs to involve all related stakeholders”, Filipus said.

He is of the opinion that sending brawling students to jail does not solve the problem and does not at all guarantee that the students will refrain from committing violent acts again in the future.

“There’s no guarantee whatsoever that a similar criminal incident will not recur if the students are put behind bars”, Filipus said recently.

Despite his background in child psychology, Filipus contends that fluctuating teenagers’ behaviors cannot sufficiently be accounted for from a solely psychological vantage point. He instead urges all concerned parties to view the frequent infamous street fracas among students from broader perspectives rather than reducing it to a psychological reality.

Although not denying the psychological variable that might come into play in students’ brutal conducts, Filipus expounds this variable by contextualizing it to what students witness in their daily lives mainly through the exposure to both print and electronic media.

“Take television programs, which our students watch every day, as an example. They broadcast news that regrettably shows the decadent demeanor of our national figures. Several of our respected members in the House of Representative physically fight each other and enjoy watching viewing pornographic pictures while holding the assembly. Several of them were displayed on television standing trial on allegations of corruption. Many of the members also inhabited penitentiaries. Thus, the criminal acts our students commit, albeit in a different form, reflect what our national figures and leaders have done”.

“The recurrence of street fighting indicates that our young and educated generations want to show off that they too are immune to laws, just as many politicians who are often acquitted by the court rulings, despite their wrongdoings”.

Filipus said that blaming the students alone and their schools will certainly not do justice to solve the protracted problems of brawling.

Now, the principal of Sang-Timur private junior high school in Tangerang, Filipus is planning to make a joint anti-brawl communiqué with some 43 schools in the Tangerang area. This communiqué will be signed and then declared by all related parties including school principals, teachers, students, school alumni, parents, police forces and the community at large.

“The communiqué reads that schools located in Tangerang districts pledge their allegiance to stay away from activity that can lead to brawls”, Filipus added.

As a school principal, Filipus has been actively involved in the Indonesian Teacher Union (PGRI), contributing his ideas to the prevention of student brawls particularly in Tangerang municipality.

His achievement has been noted as the school principal that passed the nation-wide teacher competence test with flying colors, thus attesting his professionalism and credibility in his career.

Filipus, however, admits that while schools cannot fully control students’ behaviors due to the strong influence of the environment outside of schools, it can nevertheless help nurture long-lasting
positive values to the students.

In fact, apart from his views on the relevance of school subjects like religion and civics to the inculcation of positive values to students, he believes that positive character building can begin from simple actions such as greeting, respecting, valuing and treating the students equally.

“I’m optimistic that brawls won’t happen if we treat students as our partners, show our love to them, acknowledge and laud their achievements and support their efforts to realize their academic goals”
Filipus said.

Yet, he is saddened by the fact that such treatment of students seemed to have faded away among teachers, especially when the latter favors the students’ academic achievements more than their emotional growth.

Filipus added that other way to prevent brawling is by inviting school alumni who could be asked to share their success stories during their education. This, as he said, could inspire students to take similar positive steps to realize their dreams or to achieve success.

No less important, he says that extracurricular activities such as joining ensembles, participating in classical dances, and sport tournaments among schools, are crucial.

“Not many people are aware that, for example, teaching students to play traditional musical instruments also has benefits for the inculcation of positive characters. Traditional music performance actually offers rich philosophies such as patience, self-control, self-restrain and collaboration, all of which are also important to character building, Filipus explained.