THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN CULTIVATING
CHARACTER OF PROFESSIONAL LEADERS IN 21ST CENTURY
By Muchlas Samani
State University of
Surabaya
Paper Presented on
International Cadet Seminar at Indonesian Navy Academy,
Surabaya-Indonesia, July
19, 2017
Introduction
Many experts say the problem that often becomes an
obstacle in the development of a nation is a bad character. Therefore it was
very precise, when in the early independence of Indonesia, Bung Karno as the President
of Republic of Indonesia launched the character and nation building. He believed
to build the Indonesian nation that had been colonized for a very long time it
needs to build its character first as the foundation of nation building
(https://historia66.wordpress.com/bung-karnocharacter-and-nation-building).
Paralelly,
in composing the national anthem Indonesia Raya WR Supratman put the phrase
"build up his soul" earlier than the phrase "build up his
body". Some experts interpret the sequence is intentional with the belief
that building the soul (character) must be done in advance, so that the
development of the physical field can run smoothly (https://jenahudin.wordpress.com/makna-lagu-kebangsaan).
Based
on the above principles, Indonesia deliberately put character education as an
important part in preparing the future generations. Law on National Education
System (Law no. 20/2003), article no.3 mentions that the aims of education is
to develop the potential of learners to become human beings who believe and
fear Allah Almighty, have noble character, healthy, knowledgeable, skilled,
creative , Independent, and become a democratic and responsible citizens. Five
of the eight learning outcomes to be achieved in education are character
values.
Character
education is very important for
preparing the future leaders, since a leader must be a role model for
others and for his/her society. A leader must have a strong character, because
only with a strong character that one is able to influence and move others
(Northouse, 2016). With a strong character the leader can influence and can be
an inspiration for his subordinates as well, so the principle of guiding not
rowing can be applied smoothly (Sarma, 2009). With a strong character, a leader
is not easily influenced by the precarious situation faced by, so that they can
think clearly and make the right decisions (Rietsema & Watkins, 2012).
Therefore, character education should be one of the main components in
preparing leaders. In leadership, character and competence are like two sides
of a coin that can not be separated and mutually reinforcing. (Samani and
Haryanto, 2012). How to prepare leaders to have a strong character in a highly
open era and pervasive digital age?
Character Education Must be up to Moral
Action
Lickona
(1991) mentions that the formation of characters through three stages, namely
moral knowing, moral feeling and moral action. Someone who understands a
character value (moral knowing) does not automatically feel obliged to carry
out (moral feeling). Someone who feels obliged to carry out a character value,
does not automatically implement it in everyday life (moral action). Character
education must be up to moral action, in the form of everyday behavior, when
people apply the values of the character without coercion. Thus, using
Bloom's taxonomy, character education includes three domains comprehensively,
namely cognitive, affective and psychomotor. According to Ki Hajar Dewantara, the three domains must be a unity and should
not be separated, so that education can cultivate a perfect human behaviors (Taman
Siswa, 1977). The application of character values should become a habit of
everyday life, so that they are spontaneously practiced without having to think
about the profit-losses (Rubin, 2015)
How
the character developed, Soedarsono (2000) explains that one's character is the
interaction between identity (nature) with the environment. This opinion is in
line with the theory of convergence in education, which states that the
learning outcome (in the form of character) is a blend between talent (nature)
with the learning environment. The basic nature is an innate that can not be
changed, the function of education is to provide a learning environment so that
the basic nature will interact with the good environment, so when transformed
into characters, it becomes noble characters expected. This is the importance
of education in shaping the character, including character for future leaders
(Samani and Haryanto, 2011).
In
that context, the environment is everything that meets and interacts with
someone. The environment can be people, things, events and anything which
become the source of information for someone. That information is what in
Lickona's theory becomes a matter of moral knowing. Moral knowing can be
positive if it becomes a positive stimulus for character growth on the
contrary, it can be negative if it turns out to be a stimulus for negative
characters. Character education function is to design a conducive environment
so that students will obtain information to cultivate a certain noble character
(Samani & Haryanto, 2011).
Related
to this, Samani et al (2012) study found social media (newspapers, television,
internet and so on) has a very strong and even stronger effect than school /
campus. Many children do things because they imitate what they read and or see
in social media. Young people who are seeking self-existence prefer to imitate
new things compared to things that have been standardized. Parents and teachers
usually deliver more normative stuff, while social media show new things and
that's what young people then imitate. Therefore an effort is needed to arrange
for social media to play an active role in character education, by presenting
articles, pictures and impressions that can help to develop noble character for
readers and viewers.
Self-identification
is very strong in the process of character building (Samani et al, 2015). Young
people tend to imitate and identify themselves with the figures idolized.
Therefore, the existence of exemplary figures becomes very important in
character education. It should be noted, however, that the characters can not
be proffered or invoked by force. Young people often have their own judgment
whether a person or a fictitious figure is worthy of being an idol or not.
Young people often have their own criteria in choosing an idol, thus causing
the figures presented by teachers and parents are not accepted and instead they
choose their own idolized figure. Parents and teachers/lecturers must
understand the criteria used by young people, in order to choose a figure that
can be accepted as a model by the children or students.
The Challenge of Digital Era
In
21st century era supported by digital technology, human mobility is very
dynamic. We can see more and more foreigners who work and do other activities
in Indonesia. On the contrary, more and more Indonesian people work and do
activities in other countries. Gradually but definitely, Indonesia will be part
of what Ohmae (1999) calls the global village. Thus, our society will come from
different cultural backgrounds and characters.
Digital
technology causes a change in work pattern, so that the growing competence in
the community also changes. The Economist (2015) study found that the five most
important competencies in the digital age are critical thinking, problem
solving, communication, team working, and creativity. If such competencies
continue to grow in society, then gradually we will become an educated society
who always think critically and creatively.
Digital
technology also has a strong influence on communication patterns and social
interactions. In the digital era, we have a very wide of open information. With
smartphone people can easily get any information as desired. With smartphone
people can communicate with their counterparts in the other hemisphere. With
the google translate facility, people can communicate with their colleagues
even though they use different languages.
According
to Schmidt & Cohen (2013) more than half the earth's population is
connected to the internet and that number will continue to increase. In
war-torn regions, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, people even use the internet to
connect with the outside world. It is estimated that by 2020, two-thirds of the
earth's population will be connected to the internet. There is no data
mentioning how many percent of Indonesians have internet access. But with the
information that most Indonesians have mobile phones, it is very likely that
more than half of Indonesia's population has internet access.
In
the digital era as mentioned above, then the information that contributes to
shaping the character of society becomes unlimited. In the digital era,
friendship is also very open, one can be friends with other people who only meet
in cyberspace. Even such friendships can continue to be cooperation. Someone
can work with colleagues who only meet in cyberspace. Many students do a
research or other activities with colleagues through cyberspace. Trilling &
Fadel (2009) even encourages and teaches how students can work internationally
for joint research projects.
The
consequences of friendship and organization as mentioned above, causes mutual
influencing among them. In such social interaction, the more advanced societies
will influence the less advanced. People who are less developed or less
confident often imitate the behavior of people who are considered more
advanced. We can witness such influence in our daily lives around us. The
easiest example is the diet and dress patterns. It is so easy for us,
especially children to imitate the style of eating and other types of food from
other countries. They imitate the style of eating, dress style and social
styles of other societies, because such behavior is applied by people who are
considered more advanced.
In
the digital age there is also emerging organizations developed through
cyberspace. The members of the organization did not meet face-to-face, so all
communication was done through cyberspace. People may become members or
sympathizers of organizations located in other places or countries. As a member
of an organization, a person will follow the vision mission of the
organization. Thus it can be understood if there is someone who persistently
runs the organization's policy in another country because it feels to be part
of the organization.
The
three impacts of the digital era mentioned above need attention, especially in
preparing future leaders. Leaders who guide and manage people who are critical
thinker, creative, diverse cultural backgrounds and have extensive national and
even international networks, so they must have strong character, open-minded, able
to communicate well, and able to learn quickly to solve problems.
Leaders
in the digital age must have a very strong character, so they can maintain the
identity of nation of Indonesia and not easily influenced by other cultures
that do not fit with Indonesian culture. Leaders in the digital age must be
open-minded, so they can understand the differences of thought and culture,
because heterogenity will be one of the characteristics in the global era. They
must be able to learn quickly, thus filtering incoming information, adopting the
good and filtering out the bad. They must be flexible, so they can interact
with people with diverse backgrounds, so as to maintain harmony. They never
give up in solving problems encountered.
In
preparing the leaders, we can not rely on talent or to let leaders learn from
field experience. Education should deliberately prepare prospective leaders in
the digital era. Education and training should be able to strengthen the
character of leaders in various institutions, to be more competent in
addressing problems in the 21st century.
Character Education Strategy
The
question is how can education play a role in preparing leaders to have the
noble character? What strategy should be taken so that the character education
runs effectively to produce leaders with strong character, open minded,
flexible, fast learner and tough in facing problems?.
Samani,
Warsono, Rahayu and Supardjo (2015) propose four basic strategies in character
education. First, to develop an
agreement on the essential character values
to be developed. There are many good character values. There are many
sources and references that discuss character values associated with a
particular topic. Especially in the information age, such a reference is very
easy to obtain, so we have to choose which one suits the purpose of education
designed.
Indonesia
is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural nation, so
that we must be wise in choosing the values of characters believed to be
appropriate for preparing future leaders in the digital age. One alternative is
to explore character values based on local wisdom. When we find local wisdom
which match to the leader's charateritics in the digital era, then it can be
assured that the values can be easily implemented, because it comes from the
treasures itself. Are the four values proposed above, that are strong
character, open minded, flexible in associating with others, learning quickly
and resilient to face challenges, fit with local wisdom? Of course it needs a further
study, even though nationally the four values are universal.
Second, the
selected values are integrated into subjects/courses, so that there is
integration between the substance with the character values that want to be
developed. It is believed that every scientific topic studied will eventually
be implemented in life and at that time it will be related to the character's
values.
When
this strategy is implemented, every teacher/lecturer/instructor should understand
what the character values to be developed are and then they should design how
to relate with the topics to be discussed. At the same time, this strategy can encourage teachers/lecturers/instructors
understand the essence of the topic discussed and how the wisdom can be applied
in life. Indonesia has successfully implemented such a pattern when developing
life skill education (Samani, 2003).
Third, character
values are used as the objective of extra-curricular activities.
Extra-curricular activities, such as sports, arts, scouts, and other activities
are very effective in generating character values. Therefore what character
values to be grown through these activities should be agreed and designed from
the beginning. Moreover, the development of the character's values should be
measured in assessing the success of the extra-curricular activities concerned.
For
example, if an open-minded character becomes one of the objectives of
extra-curricular activities, then a basketball club in a school/university
should make it as one of measure of success. Thus, the achievement of the club
is not only measured by the championship achieved, or the cohesiveness of the
team in every game, but also the openness of club members to accept differences
of opinion.
Fourth, the
character values become school culture, so it becomes the behavior of both the
leaders, teacher/lecturer/instructor and students. Learning from the experience
of Islamic boarding school (pesantren)
and other boarding school affiliated to certain institutions, this pattern is
very effective in developing character values (Kemdikbud, 2009). Everyone has a tendency to adjust himself to the
environment in where he is available. Especially if the person is a new person
or a guest. Therefore, new students will try to adjust themselves to the
culture in their new school/campus. If the values of characters that want to be
developed have become school culture, automatically new students will adopt
them.
In
addition to these four strategies, role model and consistency become the key success
of the character education implementation (Samani and Haryanto, 2011). School
leaders/ universities, officials, and teachers/lecturers should be the role
models of how to apply the values of character in everyday life. Students
believe more in the behavior of leaders and teachers/lecturers than those
lectured or written down. If using the theory of Lickona (1991), leaders and
teachers/lecturers must prove that the character taught has become a moral
action for themselves.
Consistency
is also one key to the success of character education (Kemdikbud, 2009). Schools
that successfully carry out character education have long been started and done
consistently. They are lucky, because the values of the characters grown in
accordance with the religious values held by the school, so that it is consistently
applied in everyday life in school.
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