Is Bilingual School Good or Bad?

Education is a process of training and instruction which is designed to give knowledge and develop skills. Nowadays, the educational system of our country has been changing from monolingual schools to bilingual schools. A bilingual school is a school which uses two languages in expressing and writing at school. Not only that, the using of both languages must be good. Additionally, it is adopted from learning system of other countries; for example: Australia. Basically, many schools in Australia use English as the first language and French as the second language. Furthermore, the bilingual school becomes more popular among us. The schools in Indonesia use Bahasa Indonesia as the native language and English as the foreign language. In fact, the foreign language is much more used at bilingual schools in Indonesia−SMA 5 Bekasi and SMA 5 Wonogiri. The bilingual school is like a knife with double-edged blades. In other words, we can say that the system could develop and limit the quality of human resources. Let us analyze the situation from three aspects: psychology, economy, and culture.

Firstly, let me explain from the psychological aspects. A bilingual school is able to make the student inside to be an active or even passive student. One will be a passive student, if he/she has no language proficiency in communicating with others by using second language. Someone will feel under pressure because he/she has to know how to make sentences if he/she wants to state his/her ideas to others. In addition, he/she is required to understand what others said. The condition will get worse if his/her family has never communicated with the second language as at school. Consequently, he/she always gets late to do his/her homework. Furthermore, his/her teacher will judge him/her as a lazy person. Afterwards, he/she will get a bad score; he/she will become desperate, indeed. After all, we know English is a language that needs much more practice. It is the same as the Indonesian language; we can speak the Indonesian language fluently because we use it every day. On the other side, the condition will be the opposite if someone has language proficiency. He/she will have self-confidence in the class so he/she becomes an active student. Normally, he/she could get easier to communicate in the class. Then, he/she will be interested to join his/her class. Consequently, he/she gets his study easily in his/her class.

    Secondly, let me know you from the economical aspects. Based on the economical aspects, the bilingual school may make a limitation between the rich and the poor. It is caused by a high tuition which has to be paid. The tuition can be five times from the general school, for the example, if the students study at public school, they have to pay Rp. 50.000,00. The other hand, if the students study at a bilingual school, they could pay Rp. 250.000,00. After all, if the student has no basic in communicating with the second language, he/she has to take the second language course beside his/her classes. The teachers of bilingual language have to be able to teach by using the second language so they have to study the language beside their own subject. Not only that, the most important thing is that they have to spend a plenty of money, for instance: Al-Azhar School, one of bilingual schools in Pasuruan. If you study at Al-Azhar, you have to pay Rp. 1.000.000, 00 for the tuition each month. Consequently, they want to earn high salaries to the school. Then, the school provides more expensive tuition to the students. It is different from the students who have language proficiency; however, they will be prospered. They do not need an additional cost to take a second language course. Moreover, they can make money with their skill about the language. In addition, it will be easier for them to get a scholarship. Reciprocally, teachers who can master the second language could make money by teaching the second language. Based on those reason above, bilingual school could impact some positive things or even negative things for one’s economical condition.

Thirdly, let us have a look in the cultural aspect. There are two sides−positive and negative−if we analyze from the cultural aspect. First, there is a language acculturation if both languages use as well. On the other words, we can say that the bilingual schools apply two languages which are taken and combined the positive sides become a new culture to get better culture, in terms of attitude, the way of thinking, and so on. After all, the original culture must be conserved and we have to be selective with the foreign culture. Second, there is replacing a native language with a foreign language. Consequently, the origin culture will no longer exist due to the foreign culture. When the foreign culture occupies our own culture, it will reduce the sense of belonging to our culture. Moreover, the bilingual school may develop or ruin our culture.

In conclusion, there are two sides of having bilingual schools. Based on three aspects above, bilingual schools could be good or bad. It depends on the language proficiency. You can have your own opinion whether bilingual schools are good or bad for our society. For further information, you can analyze if there are problems and the purposes before you decide it. Not only that, you can read several books which relate and have several effects to the bilingual schools-psychological books, economical books, cultural books, and other books. In addition, you can ask people around you about their opinions of bilingual schools or you can read many articles on the internet. After all, you can have your own point of view so you yourself can answer, “Is Bilingual School Good or Bad?”

Sources: 

Model Kelas Bilingual by Gusti Astika 
Memillih Sekolah Bilingual by Herlina Mustikasari, S.Pd., MA, Ph.D. Cand (linguistics) 
Majalah Intisari, Bulan Juli 2007, halaman 160-166

Written by

Restu Maulidianto

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