Man on top of mountain
I have had enough witnessing so much disappointment coming from the society— mostly, local society—always perceiving got left behind from the fortunate ones in the terms of pursuit of their dreams. Having acknowledged that the Indonesian’s education has not been significantly in the same stage.
The fact that my country, Indonesia, has been in a transitional process from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state is one of the issues we all need to deal with. This is a very critical and a crucial phase for people in this country.
Since the fall of the New Order regime of Suharto, the educational system in Indonesia is hampered due to the dearth of experts and of educators, particularly in the field of education and social management.
Along the aforementioned lines, that makes throngs of people keep questioning about the appropriate deeds on how to face this issue and make them be able to juxtapose their education’s level.
Thus, as a former student of English Study Program, I would like to promote that the global citizenship, the understanding, and the role of multilingual ability, which is English, are the collective essential components to learn for the sake of our goodness by providing some mechanisms that have pivotal roles to be run.
Not only is it to repair the broken part of this country and the society, but also it is to assist and to enlighten the people to really cope with the new phase of the world with the power of linguistics at once.
As I perfectly noticed, the main reason why, mostly, the locals are being skeptical and are even opposed to the existence of English as a part of globalization is due to they possess a notion that globalization and English are two kinds of things coming from Western's behavior predisposing them to be perfunctory towards their norms and original cultures.
But then, we could not deny we are now immersing in a 4.0 technology era. The era which solely compels us to be a better person, be more creative, be more innovative, be tougher, and be bolder than we have ever been.
Because of globalization, we are now much easier to have an access to connect to the people in the parallel universe and to know the world’s progress, ultimately. Therefore, they have to see it as a perspicuous leverage to express their local status.
They do not need to surround themselves with the negativity and the anxiety of bereaving their heritage, for they might just utilize this opportunity as a medium to propound their unique and exquisite culture around the world.
English is one of the prominent languages people around the world exert to communicate, orally and written. As a matter of fact, English does assist them in many accounts, for instance, voicing their aspirations when they are becoming the representatives in the national, and even in the international level; assisting them in possessing an understanding when they try reading and scrutinizing international sources which are useful for expanding the insight; and countering many sorts of domestic’s issues through research or mass media articles.
How to foster new ideas or understandings should they not be able to even communicate well to other people or greater audiences? Understandings and new ideas are fostered through communications, and language is the key point of it. In hindsight, there are several aspects need undertaking in pursuing those.
Firstly, it is to open many portals of opportunities to gain a proper occupation and is as a tool of communication for those who accept globalization as a part of the changes. For example, by being a teacher of English, one educates ‘regular people’ (as a local society member) to be a global citizen. Of which the idea of the latter indicates a broader scope of perspective, societal, or political role and engagement.
The idea of global citizenship is to position the individual in a bigger role, globally. By doing that, one is a part of the world; one globally matters (as opposed to locally), and what matters is one contributes towards the neighborhood. Hence, one possesses a responsibility, an impact, and a big involvement with mankind.
In addition, by being a teacher of English, one educates people to be able to interact and to connect to the professionals and the non-professionals around the world by exerting English as their communications means for the sake of proliferating their skill as global citizenship.
Secondly, it would be about the cultural aspect that may be well-affected. Frankly, English has not yet been familiar in my homeland, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia; however; English elevates the society’s capacity, capability, and cognizance to be a global citizen.
Because it creates a challenge making people obliged to be more competitive in pursuing their necessity. By seeing this situation, one may create culture transformation which can transform a generation’s culture in a global movement, i.e. one is a part of generations. one is amongst of a zillion people creating a culture referring to ‘digitally-versed’ habit.
In the next occasions, the existence of the annual Summit is going to take its role as a global action to expand the Asian youths’ insight and critical thinking on handling tons of issues, and to strengthen the bond that each country has been committing for years.
And English surely helps the students as a youth represent, argue, and conduct a presentation about their countries, respectively. As result, it does show that multilingual ability has an imperative role in proliferating and in fostering what we wholly did possess in this global era to keep our endurance lasting.
We have a long road ahead of us and we need to do whatever it takes to ensure that we render all we can for our country and neighborhood. It is already becoming our commitment as the next generation of leaders to help our land reach her true potential.