Minister of Education Wishes Us to Read to Improve Character
Indonesia's Minister of Education and Culture a.k.a. Mendikbud in Bahasa Indonesia, Muhadjir Effendy, encourages youngster to take a liking in reading.
A motion I can get under! I tried Pottermore and became a Ravenclaw, mind you, so of course I am biased. But in general terms, we do not live in the Wizarding World. We live in a place ruled by politicians and scientists... or rather, science laws.
See, on Saturday (4/3/2017) in Blambangan Park, Banyuwangi, East Java, the Minister opened the "Discovery 4, Banyuwangi's Reading Movement" Event by urging teachers and parents to give guidance to children in reading to build their characters. He addressed this in front of 16.500 elementary school and Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) students whom attended the event.
It was acknowledged that adults do urges children to read and guide them to understand the books, however, the context is almost always given as an order, of a sort. Urging the children to read on the basis of 'If you study, you will succeed' makes reading seem like a necessity, and consequently, a chore in the long run. The minister wishes for us all to make reading associated with the word fun. And after a short run, children will view summarizing what they have read as something fun too.
The minister asked what kind of books do the children prefer. Erwin, a 5th grader, answered that he liked reading story books at home, school books at the school. Firdaus, a 3rd grader, prefers to read children stories. A fellow 3rd grader named Aldo spends his time at home reading school books that have a lot of stories. Tuti, a 4th grader, stated that she spends her time reading stories about friendship. Then the most interesting thing happened. A 5th grader named Aza answered that he liked stories about the history of Indonesia, and could recite the entire tale of how Banyuwangi came to be.
Personally, I always think it's fun to summarize what I learn from reading a novel, a chapter, a journal, or lecture... when it's about science. When the same assignment is applied to politics, the word 'boring' and expression 'ugh' is the first thing that crossed my mind.
The ambition - this speech to urge us to make reading as fun - is not something new. I think, the challenge is how we will be maintaining that status as 'Fun', because once the children develop their reading preferences, their non-preferences will be left to gather dust.
References:
http://www.tribunnews.com/tribunners/2017/03/04/mendikbud-gerakan-membaca-wujud-penguatan-pendidikan-karakter
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