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School of Papua
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I need to know everything about the world I've been living in. I know everything about my environment
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the sea, the fish, how to catch the fish.
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I followed my mother to our agricultural land. I know what to grow, how to nurture the plants.
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I followed her and I was happy.
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So what was so hard? I came back from school. I didn't have to do homework
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Teachers who lived in colonial times, we had a different approach to teaching.
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How to teach kids to write and read – it's quite different from how they do it now.
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Now they mostly do it by forcing the pupils
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Why do we have to give homework to the children?
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We have to provide them time to play. So they have time to play and sleep well,
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without heavy burdens on their shoulders.
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Otherwise, even when they want to play, they remember that they have this homework.
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They ask their mothers but they don't understand
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They ask their brothers, and it's nearly dark and tomorrow the homework must be handed in.
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So, there's a limitation to the world they need to build because of homework
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Too much fear results in stupidity. Too much fear results in weak thinking
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Because some kids can only see to understand. Others hear to understand. And other kids do it and understand.
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There are many things that we need to understand in this case
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They may be looking outside but they are still listening
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Now, they trap students inside buildings; then, the teachers become the slaughterers,
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shouting, "What are you looking at?"
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We are just wasting time by giving advice. In class we have very limited time
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Now we have this ‘superior class'
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so we separate kids by those who learn fast and those who don’t.
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The ones who already know a bit – let other teachers teach them.
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So, we don't simply teach, but consider all aspects
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And for coaching, the teacher needs to really get close to the kids. hold their hands.
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We can come and write something down and ask students to repeat this by themselves
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In several meetings with parents, I said, “You are limiting these kids just because of an issue with uniforms”.
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“If their uniforms are still wet, they can get just come in T-shirts. If their shoes get stolen or broken, send them in sandals or even barefoot.”
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“The important thing is that the child has the eagerness to study.”
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If we compare the era of Dutch colonisation to today, there is a big difference
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The colonialists didn't just build schools; they started by doing research
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in the coastal areas, mountains, valleys, upstream.
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After that, they decided on the kind of education model to use.
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They created readings where the stories were all based on local stories,
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so the readings for children were based on the places where they've been living from youth to maturity.
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The children understood these stories because they knew them. They have pigs.
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They have fire on their farmland and in their houses. On the beach they usually use it to cook fish.
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If you look at how they build schools now,
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it's too restrictive and traps kids so they can't freely enjoy the scenery,
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the environment, which was created by God
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In the old days, they built school walls only as high as a small child's shoulders
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So we can see birds fly, clouds, rain, so it reduces the boredom of this learning activity
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In my school years, a day must be filled with singing and drawing. Usually in the late hours we will sing.
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So this learning was based on stimulating ideas; we discussed things by drawing them
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The reason I say this is a Papuan school built in Indonesia is because the majority of students here are Papuans.
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There are some differences in the way that Papuans and non-Papuans respond to lessons
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If we teach one plus one, immediately the non-Papuan kids will have the answer two.
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But the Papuan will examine this lesson carefully.
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One plus one, why does it become two? That's not because they are stupid.
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No. But because they are very thorough.
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That's why the Dutch teachers would not mix the Papuan kids with non-Papuans in one classroom.
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It's not discrimination, no.
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But if you put the Papuan kids with Indonesian kids in one class, the Indonesians will surpass them.
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Indonesian parents will support their kids to learn at home,
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but the Papuans, even if their parents are high-ranking officials, they are not used to teaching their kids at home
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So, for the teachers this is a big burden.
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That's why the Papuan kids need more time and a slower pace. It's not because they are stupid.
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But it's like clapping with one hand; it doesn't make a sound
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But if parents and teachers are committed together, it will become clapping with two hands.
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It will work and benefit the children.