Sekolah Membunuh Kreativitas

Sekolah telah membunuh kreativitas, menurut Sir Ken Robinson dalam presentasi di atas. Bagaimana mungkin? Semua hanya gara-gara salah paham, dan salah urus. Dalam satu kasus menarik yang diangkat oleh Ken, adalah seorang penari, koreografer terkenal bernama Gillian Lynne. Berikut adalah transkrip pemaparan Ken.

I'm doing a new book at the moment called "Epiphany," which is based on a series of interviews with people about how they discovered their talent. I'm fascinated by how people got to be there. It's really prompted by a conversation I had with a wonderful woman who maybe most people have never heard of, she's called Gillian Lynne, have you heard of her? Some have.

She's a choreographer and everybody knows her work. She did "Cats," and "Phantom of the Opera." She's wonderful. I used to be on the board of the Royal Ballet, in England, as you can see. Anyway, Gillian and I had lunch one day and I said, "Gillian, how'd you get to be a dancer?" And she said it was interesting, when she was at school, she was really hopeless. And the school, in the '30s, wrote to her parents and said, "We think Gillian has a learning disorder." She couldn't concentrate, she was fidgeting. I think now they'd say she had ADHD. Wouldn't you? But this was the 1930s, and ADHD hadn't been invented at this point. It wasn't an available condition. (Laughter) People weren't aware they could have that.

Anyway, she went to see this specialist. So, this oak-paneled room, and she was there with her mother, and she was led and sat on a chair at the end, and she sat on her hands for 20 minutes while this man talked to her mother about all the problems Gillian was having at school. And at the end of it -- because she was disturbing people, her homework was always late, and so on, little kid of eight -- in the end, the doctor went and sat next to Gillian and said, "Gillian, I've listened to all these things that your mother's told me, and I need to speak to her privately."

He said, "Wait here, we'll be back, we won't be very long." and they went and left her. But as they went out the room, he turned on the radio that was sitting on his desk. And when they got out the room, he said to her mother, "Just stand and watch her." And the minute they left the room, she said, she was on her feet, moving to the music. And they watched for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick, she's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."

Ya, anak itu pernah disangka mengalami kelainan. Kesalahpahaman semacam ini sering terjadi, dan melahirkan orang-orang yang stress di kemudian hari. Kesalahpaham mendidik bakat-bakat terpendam, menjurus pada salah urus, dan akhirnya bukan saja mematikan bakatnya, tetapi membuatnya hidup di alam yang tak nyata.

Pendidikan, harus mampu menjadikan manusia seutuhnya. Terdengar utopis? Mungkin iya. Tapi tidak mustahil. Jane Vella, ahli dalam pendidikan orang dewasa, dan pendidikan melalui dialog (dialogue education), menempatkan need assessment sebagai prinsip pertama dalam pendidikan orang dewasa. Prinsip ini menyatakan bahwa, pendidikan yang dialami pembelajar, seharusnya berbasis pada apa yang ia butuhkan, karena potensi yang sudah dimilikinya. Pendidikan inklusif, tidak menyeragamkan pembelajar, itulah intinya.

Dalam prinsip yang lain, adalah persoalan kontrol. Pembelajar seharusnya memiliki keleluasaan memilih, menentukan apa yang ingin dipelajarinya, tentu dengan bimbingan. Faktanya, pendidikan kita adalah bentuk dari "jual dedet", kalau kata orang Sunda, yang kalau diterjemahkan secara bebas artinya adalah "jual paksa".  Siswa hanya menerima dengan pasrah, apapun yang diberikan sekolah. Sekolah yang menentukan mana yang penting, dan ini teraplikasi pada sistem UN yang mengujikan beberapa pelajaran yang menurut Pemerintah, itulah yang paling penting.

Lalu apa yang akan terjadi dengan anak-anak berbakat seperti Gillian Lynne? Kalau ada anak dengan bakat seperti Gillian Lynne itu, maka ia (mungkin) tidak akan pernah lulus UN. Kalaupun bisa lulus, bisa dibayangkan tekanan yang harus ia alami karena harus belajar mata pelajaran yang bukan bidangnya. Kemana anak-anak seperti itu akan berujung?

Semoga bukan di rumah tahanan, atau perawatan keterbelakangan mental.
Berikut adalah vesi lain dari presentasi Ken Robinson ini.