Abileo Proano Karakedo

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Etika Keilmuan

Is the adjustment of English Material during Pandemic important?

Covid-19 outbreak was spreading out significantly in around the mid-year of

2020. It caused most schools to do the online class since the school also started the
academic year in July. The minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology
of Indonesia, Nadiem Makarim announced that the curriculum had to be simplified
for the teachers to focus on the essential material as the fundamental concept, not
pursuing the target of curriculum. Moreover, I agree with Makarim’s statement about
adjusting English material during this pandemic for some reasons in terms of
pragmatism, progressivism, and essentialism.

First reason is in terms of pragmatism. According to Ray & Lama (2020),

Pragmatism is the practical philosophy that has the dynamical standard or values. In
the education field, pragmatism has tried the matter of limitation like idealism and
naturalism for influencing the world to a great extent. Regarding this matter, why the
adjustment of English material is important during a pandemic is because the
standardization has been changing following the flow of outbreak cases. For the
fundamental concept, the curriculum needs to be simplified, so that the material
students get is received well even though they are doing online learning.

Second reason is in terms of progressivism. Musyarapah (2017:34) stated that

progressivism education is a theory with the educational system that is considered the
freedom of learning. It means that students are not forced with the drilling system
and/or dictation towards the material and textbook. Moreover, the case of adjusting
the material is also one of points that the minister discusses about freedom of
learning. By limiting the material, the students are able to learn deeply about the
material that existed. Thus, progressivism can affect the educational system through
modifying the curriculum that we use.

The other reason is in terms of essentialism. A good education should be

based on a core curriculum of traditional subjects (Sahin, 2018). The essential
material chosen is better if it is related to culture, or the essential values. Based on
this, teachers should coordinate with other teachers for choosing the essential material
to full-fill the students’ needs. Thus, it can impact the students on the learning activity
during their online class.

To sum up, there are some reasons why I agree with our minister's statement
about simplifying the material during the pandemic. Standardization of the material
for following the rotation of the pandemic era, giving some space for the students to
have a freedom of learning, and to find the essential material. Moreover, adjusting the
material made the teaching-learning process going well in this pandemic era.

References:

Rai, P.C & Lama, R. 2020. Pragmatism and Its Contribution to Education. IJCRT
Journal, 8(3), 1844-1847. Retrieved from
https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2003258.pdf

Musyarapah. 2017. The Role of Progressive Philosophy in the Curriculum Based on

John Dewey’s Theory. Al-hayat Journal 1(1), 32-39. Retrieved from
https://alhayat.or.id/index.php/alhayat/article/view/4

Sahin, M. 2018. Essentialism in Philoshopy, Psychology, Education, Social and

Scientific Scopes. Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Eduation and
Didactics 22(2), 193-204. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331113103_ESSENTIALISM_IN_P
 HILOSOPHY_PSYCHOLOGY_EDUCATION_SOCIAL_AND_SCIENTIFI
C_SCOPES/link/5c6667baa6fdccb608c3ce8d/download

“Guru Diminta Prioritaskan Materi Esensial di Masa Pandemi Covid-19”.

Kemdikbud.go.id. October 23rd, 2021.
https://www.kemdikbud.go.id/main/blog/2020/08/guru-diminta-prioritaskan-
materi-esensial-di-masa-pandemi-covid19.