Simple Simplicity

Tuhanku Berkata, “Aku adalah Prasangka Hambaku” Menjadi pengangguran setelah lulus merupakan salah satu hal paling mengerikan di muka bumi ini. Tidak ada aktifitas, tidak ada kesibukan, yang ada hanya bisik- bisik tetangga atau pertanyaan menjemukan tentang sekarang bekerja apa, dimana, atau mengapa tak mendaftar ke ini, anu, dan sebagainya. Bila tak pintar- pintar menyikapi, runtutan pertanyaan semacam itu bisa menjadi semacam terror yang siap menghantui kita siang dan malam. Seperti saya sendiri, hal ini benar- benar terjadi. Saya lulus dari IKIP PGRI Semarang pada Desember 2013 lalu, yang karena sedikit beruntung alhamdulillah bisa menggondol predikat cumlaude . Dari segi pemahaman semasa kuliah, berarti bolehlah dibilang tak terlalu parah. Saya mulai mendaftar kerja pada Maret lalu, 3 bulan setelah lulus. Belasan sekolah swasta di kota Kudus telah saya masuki. Mulai dari sekolah swasta islam baik NU maupun Muhammadiyah, PGRI, dan lain sebagainya telah saya coba. Namun ...

Sebuah Mental Terjajah Belakangan ini, kasus yang tengah marak di tengah perbincangan masyarakat adalah kasus pelecehan seksual yang terjadi di sebuah TK Internasional, tepatnya Jakarta Internasional School (JIS). Sungguh memprihatinkan, bahwa kejadian sebiadab itu bisa terjadi di dalam sebuah satuan pendidikan, yang notabene bertaraf Internasional. Yang untuk bisa masuk ke dalam lingkungannya saja harus melalui berlapis cek keamanan. Yang mengherankan lagi adalah, bagaimana bisa TK semegah dan semahal itu bisa tenang- tenang saja “melenggang” selama ini dengan tanpa memiliki izin resmi untuk pendiriannya? Mengapa tak ada watchdog yang bertindak tegas misalpun sudah mencurigai? Kenyataan lain bahwa di JIS tingkat lanjut (SD,SMP&SMA) tak ada 4 mata pelajaran wajib yang harus dimasukkan ke dalam kurikulum sekolah di Indonesia, adalah fakta yang sungguh mencengangkan sekaligus memprihatinkan. Keempat pelajaran yang “hilang” tersebut adalah Bahasa Indonesia, Sejarah Ind...

April in Indonesia is identical with Kartini Day. Kartini herself is identical with woman. And finally woman is identical with mother. Ya, though Kartini’s and Mother’s Day are on different dates in calendar, they have similar meaning. Those are the days remembering the woman’s struggle. And in this time I’d like to say thanks for my Kartinis: 1.      For mother Marlin Ariyanti Farida , thank you so much for delivering me on March 17th  1991. I am not good enough I see, but I am gonna try to make a change for you, 2.     For mother Zubaidah, thanks a lot for delivering my first unbiological younger brother  Ahmad Syafii on June 22nd 1991. His “uncontrolled” laugh will never be forgotten, mom! 3.     For mother Ruyani, thanks a bunch for bearing my second unbiological younger sister Ratna Madu Wireni on June 29th 1991 (She was born 9 days after my first brother :), a nd 4.    For mother Asriyah , so ...

Makan Tak Makan Asal Kumpul Namaku Rahma. Aku asli lahir di Jepara, orangtuaku pun murni Jawa. Menjadi orang Jawa memang unik dan menarik, dan aku menikmatinya. Kesantunan, keramahan, dan tepo sliro alias tenggang rasa orang- orangnya sudah bukan rahasia umum lagi. Kenal atau tidak kenal, kebanyakan kami akan tersenyum bila berpapasan. Apalagi jika yang ditemui orang yang lebih tua, maka tak jarang kami menundukkan kepala tanda hormat kami. Apabila bertamu pun, ada adab- adab tak tertulisnya. Yang meskipun tak memiliki kontrak yang mengikat, namun sebagian kami begitu mematuhinya. Di antaranya seperti pantang menghabiskan makanan atau hidangan yang disajikan sang tuan rumah sampai tandas. Misal si tuan rumah menyajikan 5 pisang goreng, maka alangkah lebih pantes jika kami hanya mengambil sampai 2 atau 3 biji saja. Pun saat berpamitan dari bertamu, kami akan berulang kali mengucapkan berbagai salam perpisahan. Mulai dari nggih ngeten mawon, badhe pareng rumiyin (Ya begitu s...

Being a Civil Servant? Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the old Indonesian great writer, in his era ever said “Don’t be a civil servant, be a boss of yourself. Don’t eat others’ sweat, eat yours. And those are proven by working.” Wow… What a message. I was actually so surprised when I read this quotation. At that time, even when the vacancy of being a civil servant was widely opened, Pramoedya had said such thing. From the words “…be a boss of yourself”, if we notice carefully, it means that by not being a civil servant, we can be the possessor of ourselves. Or in other words, it means that by being a civil servant, we cannot be the possessor of ourselves.             Being a civil servant or PNS in bahasa Indonesia, is actually good. We do something based on our ability that matches to specific government department. We have enough monthly salary, subsidy for some things, and a guarantee of pension fund later. Everything is s...

Being a Housewife is not a Sin “No matter want to be a carrier woman or a housewife, every woman should achieve high education. Since they will be a mother, and a smart mother will deliver smart children.” That was a well-known quotation by Dian Sastro Wardoyo, the Indonesian famous actress. What a beautiful quotation is that. There is actually a deep meaning if we carefully notice this. In today circumstance, woman loudly speaks about gender generalization; that they have the same right as the men do. Woman works out, and no longer stays at home as the woman used to be. They have achieved high education, so being a woman career is found as the consequence. I don’t know exactly since when this paradigm started and by whom. To be honest I personally also ever thought the same thing. That an educated woman should work outside as the consequence. But then I was “waken up” by realizing that actually the main goal of achieving education as high as possible is not for a work...

Colonialism in Learning Courses Graduated students who are known as fresh graduates really have a magnificent attraction. They are young, passionate, and still idealist. In this writing I am going to concern to the fresh graduates from education faculty. Most fresh graduates from education faculty still have good memorization of the way of teaching, the material of teaching, and the art of teaching. I could bet so because I, myself, am graduated from education faculty as well. In the near end of the learning period, each college student in this faculty experiences teaching practice for almost a half of a semester. All theories related to teaching which was got from the previous semester are practiced in this time. In this moment, either the good or the bad teacher- to be will be visible. This practice will finally be polished by final project making. All theories, practice, will be mixed well over there. Unfortunately, this complete “package” is not supported by the quota of...