Watatita: School Initiations Condone Bullying

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July 20, 2011 | by Alexia Cahyaningtyas

(Drawing by Alexia Cahyaningtyas)

I was surprised to read an article about Amanda Putri Lubis, the girl who died after the three-day orientation program at her new junior high school. Even though the school has denied that the cause of her death was violent activity or fatigue, I still think they contributed to her death.

Nevertheless, I am shocked to learn that “pelonco,” or violent, harsh and mentally degrading initiations, are still common these days.

During orientation, new students are supposed to discover their campuses, make friends, discuss subjects and courses. They should feel accepted and welcomed.
I’m not sure why people here create the feeling of “togetherness” by embarrassing each other and putting people through a lot of mental and physical torture. It’s unnecessary and it’s not educational.

Older students just love to display their power to the new students. They demonstrate their masochist, cruel, insensitive, inconsiderate and uncivilized behavior, which clearly represents the quality of Indonesian education. Doesn’t education teach us how to be civilized? What have they been learning in school all this time if, by the time they’re 16, they’re still acting stupidly?

This three-day orientation tradition has been running for decades. It has caused many deaths and destroyed the futures of students and their families. And yet it still exists today. Haven’t we learned anything from this? Are we insane? Do we just keep on repeating tragic history? Maybe subconsciously, Indonesia is addicted to pain. Maybe we love causing trouble – just for something to do. Isn’t there anything better to do?

Fortunately, many educational institutions have banned any form of cruelty during orientation week. I was very lucky to attend university overseas, and orientation week where I went to university was very, very different. Students volunteered to give free tours for new students, people talked about their courses, they helped each other with student housing and students promoted their clubs.

Meanwhile, at some schools and on campuses here, people welcome new students by playing evil pranks and/or putting them through harsh physical activities. I remember a friend of mine told me a story about her orientation day. She was put in a group of girls and the older students demanded they line up, with the “ugliest” girl on the left and gradually “improving” to the “prettiest” on the right. These girls had to judge how pretty they were against each other.

How degrading and dumb is that? Afterward they were insulted and mentally abused. I would’ve walked away. We should learn from those educational institutions that are classy enough to understand that unnecessary aggression has nothing to do with education. Can’t we think of other ways to create the feeling of togetherness? We should be able to look back on past mistakes and learn from them. Don’t allow another person to be injured or die from a silly mistake. When will we ever become a leading country if our education system allows this to happen? Stop repeating history, and start welcoming new students properly.

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COMMENTS

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benvanstaveren

7:40pm Jul 20, 2011

@watatita: I don't really think I'm being negative; I've lived here for 4 years now, am married to the most awesome woman (Indonesian, coincidentally), and we have a 4 month old son. I've tried the positive thing, only to be told that "bule's should mind their own business" a few times too many, as such, I've done just that. It won't stop me from criticizing certain things or having an extremely cynical attitude (you should see me go on about the Netherlands, my home country), but I no longer offer tips to improve things. Mostly because people tend to not want advice from a bule, and if I tell them what I think or hand over the solution in a silver platter, people don't understand because "it's never been done like that before".

Well yes that's kind of the point, isn't it... So, apologies if you think I'm being negative, I'm not writing what I'm writing to be negative, but if people don't want to listen to advice, maybe they'll listen and pay attention to a healthy dose of cynicism.

Dionne

5:23pm Jul 20, 2011

What this kind of bullying also promotes is, IMHO, the false notion that the seniors are the better more enlightened bunch than the juniors. It starts with the initiation, but doesn't stop there. This is the mentality we continue to carry into our society. I spent one highschool year in Brazil where everybody's friend with everybody, regardless of age and grade (which didn't necessarily correlates). The same didn't happen back in Indonesia. Some seniors even forbade us to look directly in their eyes if we pass in the hallways, the juniors who did would be labelled as 'arrogant'.

watatita

3:41pm Jul 20, 2011

benvanstaveren: oh, and one more thing. i know that my country is a big mess, but once you put a positive mind, im sure we can make improvements. please don't be so negative about indonesia - at least help us find a solution too.

watatita

3:28pm Jul 20, 2011

benvanstaveren: yes, not many kids will do that. self respect, and self defense is not really encouraged in this country. Pack animal mentality is much more obvious. Everybody wants to belong in some sort of clique, whether it was wrong or right. there was one point in high school when i was a social outcast, i took it as a chance to study in the library and ended up at the top of the class. there is a positive side in everything. people have to learn just cause they got bullied as a kid, they will have to get their chance to bully other people too in the future. it's stupid. i got bullied but i didn't want to bully my juniors. our education institutions haven't been successful enough in educating their students about manners and respect. PACK MENTALITY, that's what we have in this country. we have to get rid of that. it starts with the education system itself.

jakselgirl

3:13pm Jul 20, 2011

It has to start with the teachers and parents. After all, they are supposed to educate and protect the children. Burying their heads in the sand with pathetic excuses is just not good enough. I'm sure that the education department has a policy on this but it is just ignored. Time for a shakeup.