Indonesia’s Education Collapse

I think we have two main problems in the Indonesian education system:

1. Every kid progresses to the next grade automatically and unconditionally.

2. The normalization of the belief that ‘good schools and university education are a right for everyone’.

The first problem concerns the destruction of the core incentives of studying, especially in the Indonesian setting. Why would Indonesian kids put effort, do homework, and actually learn something in school, if they will automatically pass and go to the next grade. Zero incentives. None. I’ve seen with my own eyes that some of my family members possess disturbingly subpar abilities in math, reasoning, and reading. This is irreparable damage done by the people at the top, and those people never apologize. A betrayal of duty.

The same mechanics also apply to the teachers. You would probably have seen that the teaching quality is decreasing. And if I were a teacher, watching students breeze through the system no matter what, I’d ask myself: why am I here, hello? Teachers would not have appropriate incentives to improve their skills. So, you have this rapid depreciation and deterioration of human capital among teachers.

It is just broken.

The second one is a typical concern raised and, frankly, promoted by faculty and activists, often educated in Western institutions and steeped in left-leaning idealism. But, it feels good! Yes, we can feel good about it. Sure. But reality slaps us. Schools and universities have minimum budgets that rely mostly on government funding. Government budgets are scarce and stagnant in real terms, so schools must chase funding however they can. You and I both agree that the Indonesian government is just a collection of bandits, pirates, and warlords; they wouldn’t care about the social welfare or any of these craps. Do not easily blame schools or universities that try to raise funding by other means.

Some of this policy madness stems from trying to universalize a moral ideal without regard for local realities. Think of the zoning school system. Look closely, compare it to a decade ago, and tell me you don’t see the death of public schools.