In
this modern way, education becomes an important thing in living the life.
Education is badly needed by everyone for the developing of the technology
along with the developing way of living. It is a must for children to have a
good education so that they are ready for facing the life. In Indonesia, for
example, children have both the right and obligation to get basic education.
Basic education here means 6 years in elementary school or other institutions
which is equivalent as well as 3 years in Junior high school or other
institutions which is equivalent (UU no.20 th.2003-Sisdiknas). As this has been
stated in the law, parents have the full responsibility in facilitating their
children to get a good education. Moreover, parents are competing in finding
the best education for their children. Thus, education institutions do their
best to pursue the parents by offering certain kinds of facilities and school
systems. Generally, every institution has its own way in the learning process. Ideally,
parents should have background knowledge to compare one school to another along
with the school system in used and the facilities offered in order to succeed
their quest of finding the best and the most suitable school for their
children.
Recently,
most of people are accustomed to hear about one school system called full day
school system. In our education institution, from elementary school level up to
senior high school level, most of those school institutions are, now, using
full day system. In Surabaya, for example, Kadispendik
Surabaya, Suhadi, said that almost
80% of Junior High school as well as Senior High school applied this system. Here,
there are some questions which pop up in the parents’ mind. What is full day
school system? How it works? Is it an excellent choice for my children?
Full
day school system is a school system in which the learning process lasted from
minimally 8 hours per day in weekdays so that the school is able to arrange a
suitable schedule for the students. The learning process focuses on the
material comprehension of the students (Salim, 1998:340). From the definition
above, we can infer that the 8 hours learning process should not be all about
formal learning. The learning process should be fun, joyful, and interesting
enough for the students so that they do not feel bored and the main aim of the
process still on board that is the student’s comprehension in material. Yet, sometimes,
things do not result in what we have expected to be. In facts, full day school system
does not work like it should be. Many schools has mislead in bringing this
system into the learning process in the class. They lost in how they should
consider the student’s passion in learning. They only focus in how they should
fill all the learning time with the learning process. Most of the time, they
forget about the joyful learning. For instance, in SMA N 3 Mojokerto, the learning
process started at 06.45 a.m. and would be finish at 03.00 p.m. with 2 break
times each at 10.00 a.m. for about 15 minutes and at 01.00 p.m. for about an
hour. There is no movie, games, or other joyful activities but books during
that eight-hours learning process. What a hectic day the students have to face!
Most
people may think that full day school system is okay, even great, since the
students will use their huge portion of time in studying. The students will
have no time to ever think about using their time for something unworthy and
being juveniles. Yet, as every single thing has its own pluses and minuses,
full day school system came with its own problems. Full day school system
suspected causes several negative effects on the students. Here I will explain
two negative effects caused by that system.
The
first effect of the full day school system is the students will be lack of
socialization. Students are human beings who need to socialize with other
people and it seems that full day school system does not facilitate the
socialization well. When they are in the school, they will hardly find time to
socialize with their friends since they only have an hour as break time. Sitting
whole day in front of textbooks they have to read and memorize the content of
it in 8 hours straight would consume out their energy. So, when they come home
in the late afternoon, they would be totally worn out. They will have no
intention to do anything else but rest their body and mind. They will be too
tired to go out with some friends for sure. Moreover, I believe at that very
time, they will think that sitting down with their family and having a
heart-to-heart conversation or just sharing their day would not be as
interesting as sleeping in their room. In the end, we can see that the full day
school system lets the students socialize with nobody but their textbooks.
The
other effect of the full day school system is it makes the students depressed. One
research indicates that a 10-year-old child has to bear the same level of
stress as those people aged 25. The research probably show the real fact since
full day school system requires the students to study at least 8 hours per day.
Actually, if the teacher can arrange the learning process as fun as what the
students expected it to be, then it will be great. However, in the reality, the
learning of the full day school system process involved only textbooks. The
students are forced to deal with definitions, theories, formulas, and that kind
of things the whole day. After spending the whole day at school, the students
will find the facts that they are too tired to do some enjoyful activities. Thus,
they will attend the class next day in the full tense. This cycle will go on
every single day until the students’ tension accumulated and, then, result in
the student’s depression. When the students come to this level, then I’m sure
there will be no more learning process can be carried out.
As
the conclusion, full day school system can bring both positive and negative
effects depends on how good the learning process brought by the teacher and the
support from all elements required. The school has to provide the facilities in
need. The parents of the student have to support their children. They have to
know their children capability so that they can decide whether or not their
children ready to go to full day school. Forcing their children beyond their
capability will bring them nowhere. They should remember and understand one old
famous proverb, “All work and no play make Jack dulls”, and mean it.
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