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The 21st century has meant a major shift in the way people are educated, especially in emerging countries. One example was the implementation of international education in the local education system.
A good example of this is in Indonesia.
In the space of ten years, Indonesia deregulated the once rigid state education system and allowed localized private schools to offer international education to its citizens, as well as expatriate children.
This has enabled Indonesian students to study locally CambridgeIIB internationalAND UK IGCSE programs in private schools in the cities and towns of the islands of Indonesia. And it has yielded some surprising results with Indonesian children often ranking alongside their British and American counterparts, equally.
Some critics of this policy have argued that while the state-provided education system sometimes lacks basic facilities, a new “elite” of Western-educated Indonesians is being created, who can afford the higher tuition fees to enter these internationalized schools .
But studies have shown that in the 1990s this newly educated “elite” were often sent to study in Singapore, Australia and the United States, and now their Western-educated parents prefer that they study closer to home. It also allows more Indonesians to allow their children to receive an international education, when previously they could not afford to send them abroad.
Many Indonesians have always looked to the west for a better education, with many Indonesians today working in the nations urban centers holding degrees mostly from American and Australian universities.
Local critics cite the recent economic meltdown in countries outside Indonesia, arguing that perhaps as economies have failed, so has the western education system that created the leaders who have presided over the economic decline of many of these countries. and Indonesia imitates these countries too much.
The “Westernized” education system that these schools offer is internationalized, but even in the long run it can teach values of countries that some say are alien to the local culture. Values that are based on Western ‘pop’ culture and ideas, rather than Indonesian ‘family values’.
Some academics see this trend as ominous, when a new generation of “Western” educated Indonesians could rule Indonesia, at a time when some economists predict that China and India could be the main influence on Indonesian society.
Other critics argue that students lose their cultural identity and become less national citizens, but more global citizens. Identifying with the United States more than with their own culture, and often migrating there once they have finished their studies.
Those who agree the changes are beneficial say Indonesia will have a new generation of citizens ready and able to cooperate and compete in business with their Western counterparts. Bringing wealth to Indonesia.
However, for most Indonesians, an international education provides opportunities in Indonesian society and beyond that a state system can only provide from select schools. And until that changes, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian children will be attending local schools studying IB and IGCSES programs and in some cases achieving higher exam results than their counterparts in the US and Europe.
(This article is part of a new series of articles based on trends in education and training in the 21st century)