A Highschool Guidebook: Social studies and Science studies

Basic Education in High School

People may ask why education is important for you. Try asking that question to yourself. You see, it was proven that education increases the level of your determination, adaptation, social skills, reasoning and logic, and most of all your brain development. Education will teach you how to set goals and how to achieve them. It will help you challenge yourself and will ensure you yourself succeed and try your best. Your adaptation increases the more you step outside your comfort zone. Education helps to open up our eyes to various new ways of learning and thus to adapt to changes. It helps us to improve our social skills, since we will be working in pairs and trying to work together to solve problems. Education educates us in ways to encounter problems and deal with them in a calm and collected way, using logical reasoning. It is important to get an education so you can grow independently. Therefore, you need education and seek an education so you can develop as a human being.

In Indonesia, Grade 9 students have to choose their stream to follow in Grade 10. The School itself presents two choices, which are Social Studies and Science Studies. Streams present a choice for us so we can "determine" our future. Since each of these streams has a different topic, we cannot pick them both, and we do not even try to pick both because it is easier and much more efficient not to. Since the year 1960 – yes, it was that long ago that the system of streams was set in motion in Indonesia. It was officially declared by the government that we must choose our streams, as a help or a guide for us to look at; it is a sort of cheat or hints for us to look into the future. It is like cheating in a test or having a friend at school accompany you, but the difference is that it doesn't talk.

In the 1960s, the streams were categorized as "Bahasa Indonesia", "Social Studies" and "Science Studies". Bahasa Indonesia or literature is basically a stream where you learn all about literature, and the actual Bahasa Indonesia is not only about literature, but also the culture in Indonesia or other countries. You also learn your first language which is mostly Bahasa Indonesia, but you can also augment your course of study with several different languages such as German, English, or Mandarin. Well, just like Social and Science Studies, but Social is more directed at society, geography, and economics. Science included Biology, Physics, and Chemistry.

It was removed not long after since not many people wanted it or had any interest in it. In 1980, the streams were changed into Physics and Chemistry. But that didn't last long, because it was too detailed and not many people like Science Studies, and students wanted a stream more towards Social. Therefore, the government simplified the streams into Science Studies, Social Studies and Bahasa in the late 2000s. But as you can see, the choice of Bahasa is not too popular and not too many people chose Bahasa, and schools prefer not to include Bahasa in their streaming test.

Most Indonesian schools choose Social Studies and Science Studies for their streams. There is no specific reason why a given school picks only 2 out of 3 studies. Some schools (mostly national schools) have a specific curriculum that high school students can take, which is called SMK (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan). It is basically studies regarding your interests and leans towards universities. It is more effective than going to a regular high school because at a regular school, the purpose is to learn about the main subjects, such as Social Studies and Science Studies and lessons that come with them, such as Mathematics, Integrated Science for Social students, languages, literature, Language Arts, Physical Education, Design Technology, Information

and Communication Technology, Religion, Biology, Physics and Chemistry for Science Studies, Bahasa Indonesia literature, Economics for Social students, Business Studies, Music or Visual Arts, Sociology for Social students: these are the lessons offered by international baccalaureate schools.

In an SMK, you can directly work and get a job after graduating. It is a school based on a university curriculum. It has several different kinds of stream and studies, regarding how you want or need. If you go to an SMK, your life is on track. Which means, there is already a plan: when you are in a regular school, you still have time to pick the kind of stream you would choose in a university.

What makes SMK different from universities? SMK is an education that is higher than high school. Even though you get to do what university students do, you don't get a diploma for graduating. When you graduate from a university you are qualified more to get a job than graduating from SMK. "Tut Wuri Handayani" is used as the symbol of education in Indonesia, especially SMK. There are 3 meanings to Tut Wuri Handayani, which are:

1. Ing ngarsa sung tuladha: Yang di depan (pemimpin atau pendidik) harus memberi contoh yang baik kepada anak didiknya.

2. Ing madya mangun karsa: Yang berada di tengah (pemimpin atau pendidik) harus menuangkan atau memberikan ide- ide cemerlang sekaligus semangat.

3. Tut Wuri Handayani: Yang di belakang (pemimpin atau pendidik) harus memberikan dorongan atau arahan kepada anak didiknya.

So, basically, this means what we are allowed to follow. It is one of the student's role models to follow. These meanings have a purpose so that we can be more open-minded and so we can follow and imitate.

Ki Hajar Dewantara was a national hero who not only fought for his homeland but also fought for people's right to an education. He built schools named "Taman Siswa". The creation of the educational institution had the purpose of serving those people in the colonial era. Other than that, in that era, education was still very odd and alien for Indonesians. Tut Wuri Handayani has 5 sides that represent an environment of life based on our Indonesian Ideology, Pancasila. The saying of Tut Wuri Handayani means to honor and also our achievement; therefore Ki Hajar Dewantara's birthday was set as a national day of education here in Indonesia.