INDONESIA EDUCATION

A few months ago I guided students or you may say that children from playgroup school who studied in one of “International School” in Macassar for field trip to Puntundo to learn about sea ecosystem went for. Some of the students were local people. Their parents had decided to sent children to study at there because the school has excellent qualification for their children to got a good education.
They studied in International school in Indonesia but what about other Indonesia’s students who went to abroad for study?
A good education is an important thing to have if we care about the future. Since 90's, there are so many students from Indonesia who have gone to a big country like United States, Australia, or England to study at a university. Not only Indonesia's students but other countries' students too. Most of the other countries are developing countries like Indonesia. The question is should we go to a big country just to get a better education? How bad is the education in our own country? The latest trend happened in Indonesia is many schools in Indonesia established and put "international school" in its name, or existing schools which use an international standard. In this essay, I will write about the advantages and disadvantages of international schools, and also kinds of standard used in Indonesia.
The first benefit is they use English as primary language at school. I don't actually know whether they always teach in English or not. The second benefit is the school has complete facilities. Science lab, language lab, gym, computer lab with full internet music hall, theatre, and many other facilities. The third advantage is it has fewer students in a class so the teacher can monitor each student progress easily. The next benefit students will get is they can enter universities abroad easier than ordinary students. The school is admitted by the university because it is using international standards. The last benefit according to my opinion is they can choose programs that they like. It is not like IPA or IPS at Indonesian school, quite different. By choosing program that they like, they can enjoy studying at school more and achieve better results. After talking over its advantages, now I will explain about the disadvantages. The cost is extremely expensive. For example, to enter Ciputra High School in Surabaya, parents have to pay about 30 millions rupiahs. That's only for the entrance cost. For monthly cost, parents have to pay more than 2 millions. Only very rich people can afford the cost so the students only mix with other rich students. Actually, nothing's wrong with that but it will give the students a limited social life. They only know how to spend money easily while many poor people out there are struggling and working hard for feed their family only for one day. Besides that, I am curious if they really follow the standards consistently. Since the cost of an international school is very expensive, it can deliver a lot of profit for the owner. Some businessman who establish an international school, don't really care about education. It will affect the education quality.
Studying at an international school is not a guarantee that the student will be smarter. There are several private schools which also have good quality even they don't get the certificate. Government schools are also good e.g. SMUN 5 Surabaya. Thus, the main factor to be a successful student is not the school and its facilities or the curriculum but the motivation of the student themselves.

We don't have to internationalize Indonesia because Indonesia's curriculum is good enough to produce qualified students. The only problem of education in Indonesia and in other developing countries is the quality of the teachers and lack of government's attention.