Education and Public Values: the Case of Indonesia

Purpose: Every country has an education system that guides the whole country to prepare their future generation. Education is not only a matter of preparing individuals to develop their potentials to succeed in their lives. It is also a matter of how a country prepares its citizens to contribute to their homeland the best way they could. This paper examines how Indonesian education prepares its people to become knowledgeable and responsible citizens. Nationalism is a word that was powerfully used to build its people’s love to the country. The changing challenges that every generation face has changed the way people view public values in education, especially in understanding the meaning of nationalism. This article explains how the meaning of nationalism, as the most important matter of Indonesia’s education public value, has changed among Indonesia’s new generation. Method: This study is a reflection of the changing social circumstances in Indonesia study in redeveloping the meaning of nationalism. It used qualitative method by means of historical approach through literature review and some reflective notes from the author. Results: This study found two major finding that reflect the changes of Indonesian education. The first is the reorientation of Indonesian education from mass education to quality education. Government’s efforts to provide access to all Indonesian children to attend school has significantly reduced illiteracy and changed people’s view on the importance of education. The awareness of Indonesian education’s position among neighboring country worrisome the education authorities and alter the education priority from ass education to quality education. The second is that nationalism has been one of the importance issues in education. Indonesia’s has been focusing its development towards making its people love their country with normative ways, such as singing national anthem and memorizing the country’s five principles of Pancasila. The values has initially slowly changed towards making contribution o the country. Conclusion: This study aims to present the changing public values in Indonesian education. While love of country remains an important value in education, the changing global awareness on education has changed values in Indonesian education. Indonesian people are more aware on the importance of education quality and hence a lot of parents welcome the presence of private schools that offer quality education. Likewise, the government continues to increase quality oriented education policies and programs.