TEACHER AS A DECISION MAKER 1

Teacher as a Decision Maker

Samsudin R. Ishak

We were trapped in such a luxurious prison named School

Unfortunately, we were enjoying of being there comfortably

Those are my “innocent eye” point of view towards educational practice of mine so far. I have been
questioning those terms since I was in junior high school. Why did I have to get to school, did paper-
pencil activities all along day from Monday to Saturday? I have also been questioning the similar things
happened to my friends. Why did they who were mostly coming from farmer family, have to learn things
which were not directly related to and did not give benefit to their real life practice? And, I also thought
that was why our farming technology could not be well developed because educational practices turned
farmers‟ children into the one who learn other theoretical concepts. Those children then might become
well educated people who didn‟t want to be farmers anymore. They turned from rural to urban society,
leaving the communities who raised them and also leaving farming to the uneducated people. It
happened time to time as if it was a life circle.
School which etymologically adapted from Greek word Scholae means Leisure devoted to learning. It
means that, originally school was an activity of spending a spare time by meeting the expert who was
called as teacher. There was a worthwhile one-on-one communication between the so called teachers
with students. However, this traditional model has turned into a classroom setting that required students
to spend more of their own time to learn various subjects provided based on formal curriculum. There was
also a transformation of concept of learning in which students should complete theoretical tasks instead
of practical knowledge that can be useful for real life practices. Furthermore, many subjects mean much
energy to be used. As the result, students naturally felt tired, lost their focus, had no motivation in learning
and brought boredom to home. So, what does the benefit of schooling when it cannot be worthwhile for
life?
My consideration here is not a view of a skeptic. I was actually questioning about how school could
be logically producing students who are capable of using the material they got from school to change their
life. School, ideally, should be a place of getting knowledge that matter to students. By that consideration,
I came to the answer when I started my practice teaching. And, it was or it really is difficult to be a „real‟
teacher so that the so called skeptical view could be diminished inch by inch. I then agree with Rita Dunn
who surely stated that there was no learning difficulty, there was only teaching difficulty (Prashnig, 2007).
As the decision maker, teachers face huge problems in their teaching practices which need to be solved.
The problems are coming over and over which requires teachers to use much energy and effort to solve it
quickly and appropriately (Slavin, 2006). From the past experience of mine with the help of some
readings, I propose some discussion about teacher as a decision maker.
Firstly, as a decision maker teachers have to know their students in terms of intellectual, moral and
physical profile. I consider this will be related to students‟ intelligence profile which should be determined
at the first year of school. Specifically for Senior high school (SMA) it is required that students should be
grouped into departments based on their proclivity. It is stated in Permendiknas No. 64 article 4 that
grouping is based on students‟ junior high school grade or by the advice of counselor. There are two
options namely test and non-test instrument which can be used to reveal students‟ profile. The first one is
periodically held at school so it is easily observed by school. However, such a non-test instrument
describing the profile of students‟ proclivity is not easy to access. If there is one, it takes much time to
hold which results difficulties for school, especially one in rural, to make a complete database of students‟
profile. Teacher can handle this by creating a self-developed instrument and conduct an administration at
the first year of school. The profile can help teacher in differentiating the instruction so there will be many
options delivered to students based on their tendency of learning. Teacher also can use it to determine
TEACHER AS A DECISION MAKER 2

students‟ learning styles so that learning can become a celebration of students‟ styles, not only following
teachers‟ teaching style.
Secondly, teacher should make the material logically accepted. Some students revealed that they
hated Math or English because teacher didn‟t make them understand how they can use the knowledge in
real life. For instance, in high school I was told that theoretically integration formula could be useful to
calculate the volume of a solid by rotating the curve by the x-axis. However, it was difficult for me to apply
it in real life because another new question appears: why do I have to calculate the volume instead of
directly use the solid? Another example was the absence of English teacher‟s explanation about the
importance of learning foreign language; how, where and in what situation students use the language. I
consider this as the important thing for teacher to undergo the responsibility as a decision maker. Before
teacher decide how to make the lesson interesting, it is important to make students know in what context
of real life the knowledge involved in the lesson could be used so that the boredom in learning process
can be prevented since the very beginning of the lesson. Especially for English, as the academic concern
of mine, it should be clear at the first meeting of the lesson to illuminate to students why English is
included to the lesson they should fulfill in school practice. In some situations, when I started the lesson
by telling an anecdote about misunderstanding in an English conversation, students were really interested
to learn. Unfortunately, in another situation in different class it didn‟t work at all; means that decision
making was not only about choosing the well-designed technique and plan for students but also about
responding the situation quickly with appropriate strategy in order to boost students motivation to learn
(Good & Brophy, 1990; Slavin, 2006). Students may lose their passion if they are not told about the big
impact of the lesson. They are, in fact, seems understand the material at the time but no one can
guarantee, including teachers, whether or not it could be long lasting in their memory. They might sit at
the table for the reason not to miss the lesson but they do miss the lesson years later. If so, my analogy
of being imprisoned in school might also be considerable.
Finally, teacher should be the one who help students find a path that leads them to their future. Every
student has the interest of what to become at the future. The aspiration exists on their mind only if they
found the best way to seize it. Many students, however, still cannot determine their strength; cannot
decide what person they will become because they didn‟t find someone to follow. As Gardner (1983)
revealed that students may have specific intelligence tendency that can be improved time to time.
However, the intelligence also can be changed or even diminished if there is no support from the
environment. I myself have ever held a survey towards this intelligence tendency and found that students‟
intelligence were uniquely different one another. Teacher‟s role is to guide them realize the specific and
best capability they have so that they can improve or enrich it. Teachers who do a motivation can be an
idol for students; the one who bring the big impact, the big changes in their life.
As a conclusion, teacher should respond to problems they found in classroom activity and should also
solve it quickly and appropriately. School, in students mind, should not be a prison: a boring place where
they got too many absurd tasks and punishments; one that made them wanted to get rid of it. It should be
the place to which students put their dream; the places in which they can make the dreams come true.
There stood their teachers: their idol.

References:
Good T.L. & Brophy J.E. (1990). Educational Psychology: a Realistic Approach. New York & London:
Longman.
Prashnig, B. (2007). The Power of Learning Styles. Bandung: Mizan
th
Slavin, Robert E. (2006). Educational Psychology: theory and practice-8 Ed. Boston: Pearson
Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 64 Tahun 2014 tentang
Peminatan pada Pendidikan Menengah