2 Mei 2011

Paradigma Pendidikan Nasional

Dalam UU Sisdiknas N0. 20 Tahun 2003 tampak jelas adanya dikotomi pendidikan agama dan umum yang bisa melahirkan pendidikan sekuler materialistik. Padahal sistem pendidikan yang dikotomis semacam ini telah terbukti gagal melahirkan manusia utuh (soleh) yang berkepribadian Islam sekaligus mampu menjawab tantangan dan perkembangan penguasaan sains dan teknologi.

Dari sistem pendidikan ini, terdapat kesan yang kuat bahwa pengembangan ilmu-ilmu (iptek) yang dilakukan Depdiknas dipandang sebagai tidak berhubungan dengan Agama (Islam). Sementara pembentukan karakter siswa yang merupakan bagian terpenting dari proses pendidikan, justeru kurang tergarap secara serius. Kurikulum Agama (Islam) hanya ditempatkan sekadar sebagai salah satu aspek yang perannya sangat minimalis dan bukan menjadi dasar utama dari seluruh aspek kehidupan.

Ini artinya, sangat jelas tidak akan mampu mewujudkan anak didik yang sesuai tujuan pendidikan nasional itu sendiri, yaitu mewujudkan suasana belajar dan proses pembelajaran agar peserta didik secara aktif mengembangkan potensi dirinya untuk memiliki kekuatan spiritual keagamaan, pengendalian diri, berkepribadian, kecerdasan, akhlak mulia, serta keterampilan yang diperlukan dirinya, masyarakat, bangsa dan negara.

Karena itu, pendidikan yang sekuler materialistik ini memang bias melahirkan orang yang menguasai sains teknologi melalui pendidikan umum yang diikutinya. Namun, pendidikan semacam ini terbukti gagal membentuk kepribadian peserta didik dan penguasaan pengetahuan keislaman. Betapa banyaknya lulusan pendidikan umum yang tetap saja “buta agama” dan rapuh kepribadiannya. Sebaliknya, yang belajar dalam lingkungan pendidikan agama memang menguasai pengetahuan keislaman dan secara relatif kepribadiannya tergarap dengan baik, tetapi disisi lain terkesan buta terhadap ilmu-ilmu kehidupan modern.

Apa yang terjadi selanjutnya? Sektor-sektor kehidupan modern seperti industri manufaktur, perdagangan, jasa, eksplorasi SDA, perbankan, dan lain-lain lebih banyak diisi oleh orang-orang yang mengerti pengetahuan Islam lebih banyak berkumpul di dunianya, seperti madrasah, dosen/guru agama, Depag, dan pada umumnya tidak mampu bersaing dan terjun pada sector-sektor modern.

Dan ujung-ujungnya, merebaknya wabah korupsi di negeri ini karena akibat keterbelahan sistem pendidikan ini, termasuk berbagai penyakit sosial lainnya. Hal ini telah kita rasakan sampai saat ini.

Explaining about Song IMAGINE by The Beatles

Open your mind. . . This is what John Lennon invites us to do in his thought provoking song, Imagine. Just think of the word imagine. Think of all the contexts in which you find this word. The human imagination can, and has, created some of the most horrible atrocities, but it has also conjured up some of the most beautiful hopes and dreams. Lennon asks us to imagine the world as a better place and we can actually make that come true. This very meaningful song was brought about during one of the most turbulent times in our history, the Vietnam Conflict. The United States was fighting a war that wasn’t its own, and consequently it was leaving hundreds of thousands of dead innocents in its wake. John Lennon wanted very much for peace to be found abroad and also hear at home, so gave us a set of logical steps to fix the world. Each verse of this
song is actually one of those logical steps.

Roughly 86.5% of the world’s population believes in some form of a higher power, and ultimately some kind of life after death. Here Lennon asks us to forget about our cares and things to come just by living for the day. Nothing can make us forget about our cares like living for the day. Why tie ourselves down with the concerns of tomorrow, when we aren’t even there yet?

What things have caused more war and bloodshed in the history of mankind? Our culprit here were most definitely have to be a combination of patriotism and religion. Think about it, some of our most infamous massacres have occurred due to this combination: The Crusades, the 9/11 attack, any persecution of the Jews from the Days of the Egyptian Empire to the Holocaust of World War II, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and even the divorce of King Henry VIII. If we could just get rid of countries and religion, there would be no need for peaceful cohabitation of different groups of people. There would be no groups of people, just people.

Another obstacle that keeps the people apart is their inability to keep everyone equal, and with this inability comes a long line of problems between the haves and the have-nots. However, if we are somehow able to cut out our possessions and our greed, we could create a universal sense of brotherhood in humankind. With this obstacle out of the way, we are able to share the world as equals.

The chorus is, in my opinion, the most important and powerful part of the song. The chorus is a message to all of those closed-minded people who don’t think that Lennon’s goal is possible. I particularly like how Lennon plainly says that he isn’t the only person who has taken this message to heart and that even if you don’t see eye to eye with him at the present, he isn’t going to shut you out. He is going to just hope that you will come to terms with the message yourself and make the world a better place. This approach is particularly powerful because it is practicing what the rest of the song preaches: peace and understanding.

This song is, was, and always will be refreshing for at least one reason; its voice of optimism and hope for mankind. The world should be filled with ‘people’, not Blacks, Christians, Homosexuals, Russians, Jews, Whites, Italians, not even Moslems or Buddhists. . . just people. This song is an example of what can be as people, and what we can actually accomplish if we try.

26 Apr 2011

"But I can say that life is good to me. Has been and is good. So I think my task is to be good to it. So how do you be good to life? You live it."
--Morgan Freeman--

SOCIETY

It's a mystery to me
We have a greed with which we have agreed
You think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'Cause when you have more than you think
You need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

There's those thinking more or less, less is more
But if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make your level drops
Kinda like it's starting from the top, you can't do that

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me


IMAGINE

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one