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True Story

People are dead serious about what they put on the walls. Some put ethnic things from exotic places on their walls to make the interior of their house cozy. Some others put valuable paintings by well known artists to not just to make their home cozy but also show that they have a good, if not expensive, taste in art. When they want to communicate sentimental values, people put up stuff like family pictures, pictures with college sport buddies, trophies, and even medals of honor. The walls have become media to communicate what's the dearest to our heart.

Apparently school managers and teachers behave more or less the same way. So, if you want to see the values that a school believes in, don't just read the brochure, visit the website, listen to a presentation by the principal, and talk to the teachers. Next time you scout for a school for your child, take your time to pay attention to the stuff the school puts on the walls. The stuff reflects the value that the school holds, which gets translated into the curriculum, rules of behaviour, and the styles of teaching. Anything that does not conform to the school's values wouldn't be put up on the walls. You are what you put on the walls.

Recently I got an opportunity to visit an international school. I deliberately stayed a little bit longer to see what the school put on the walls in one classroom. Written in big letters were the principles held dearly by the school, and four of them immediately caught my attention: "We walk quietly", "We sit properly", "We listen well", and "We respect teachers". I just couldn't believe my eyes. When I read those principles, I got a sense that the most important value that the school wanted to instill upon the children was restraint and respect. The children should restrain themselves from disturbing the school environment, therefore they "walk quietly", and they "sit properly" in order not to disturb the class.

Don't take me wrong. I am not against teaching children to be respectful to others. But I would rather send my kids to a school that plasters the values of inquiry, creativity, and decision making on its walls. In the Jakarta International Multicultural School (JIMS) these are among the things that we put on the walls: “knowledgeable”, “thinkers”, “inquirers”, “communicators”, “risk takers”, “open minded”, and “reflective”. What about respect to teachers? At JIMS, we believe that respect to teachers should not be implanted from the outside. Instead, teachers have to earn it from the students. When a student of JIMS raised her hand during a class and said, "Miss, I am bored," the teacher had to find more creative ways of teaching to engage the creativity and inquisitive mind of the students. Otherwise, the students would not respect him/her and JIMS would have to let the teacher go.

First comes respect and second comes admiration and even ... love. "Mom, you are not as smart as Ms X," said a JIMS student referring to her beloved class teacher. "O ya?" the Mom retorted. "I might not be as smart as Ms X, but I am the boss in this house!"
True story!

Alexander Irwan Ph.D, JIMS Board Member