Indonesia Students Orientation is widely known as OSPEK (Student Orientation and Campus Introduction) for tertiary student level and MOS for Junior and Senior High School. Before actively participating within learning process, the students are obliged to participate in this activity. The main purpose of the implementation OSPEK in university is as an introduction for freshman about the campus, academic activities and also extracurricular activities.

The Ospek and Mos have been practiced in Indonesia since the 1950s. Unfortunately, the major problem is this campus orientation practiced seemingly by imposing violance conduct physically and verbally. It is undeniable that one thing comes first when people imagine the student orientation it would be bullying, violence, harassment, coercion, oppression.

The senior students always become the committee of this orientation and most of them manipulates this activity. The freshmen are sometimes treated unethically. They are often ordered to wear unusual and weird accessories or hairstyles to embarrass themselves only to entertain the seniors. Far more profound, this tradition seems has violated the purpose of Campus Orientation and indeed, this has no relation to the introduction process of the campus. Punishments are also uncommon. The students are punished due to simple problems Another crazy thing is the seniors create regulation which is beneficial for them that consist of 2 statements: 1st seniors never wrong; and 2nd if the seniors are wrong, do apply the first statement.

In proportion to Indonesian Campus Orientation, western educational institutions provide a better and beneficial system of campus orientation. The aim of this orientation is truly to introduce the campus and its surroundings. Besides, the freshmen are asked to develop their critical thinking by dividing them into a group in order to know each other followed by discussion and presentation concerning certain issues. Surely, this will be an effective method to sustain the educational development.

As a final point, OSPEK practically gives more harm than good. Setting good values to the freshmen under the senior pressure would never be effective and it may cause the psychologial trauma. Therefore, it is believed that OSPEK should be banned and replaced with new orientation system.

By: Rozaini Abidin | Executive Board of HEC

Coal has composition which is similar to fuel oil, so that coal can be an alternative source of liquid fuels. Unfortunately the government solely exploits coal by the two functions, The first is exporting coal that ranges from 75%-80% and the second is the function as electric steam power plant. The writer believes that these potential resources are possible to be exploited more than those two functions, therefore The government should stop exporting coals to other countriy and process them as indonesian potensial enery.

The first reason is indonesia is not abundant in terms of non renewable resources including fuel but in fact, indonesia still becomes the major petroleum consumers. As a result indonesian government had to spent 20 Million USD in 2014 to import not only fuel but also refined oil.

The second reason is the availability of coal in indonesia which is very abundant and has been proven to reach 120 Tons of all over indonesia. Because of the highly abundance of availability, the government should be able to utilize it as an alternative to resolve the problem of the increasing level of high level fuel consumption in indonesia.

The third reason is to process raw commodities such as coal that will establish a new industry. Indsutries in indonesia seems to be a chain of interconnection. If a new industry develops, it will encourage the establishment of other industries. By developing new industries more employment will be provided.

As a final point, coal should not be exploited to produce processed materials for electricity purpose and for export use because coal could be utilized to prosper the society. The government should stop exporting coals to other countries and process them as indonesian potential energy. By processing coal in our country as fuel, the society of indonesia will not be difficult to buy and acquire fuel.

By: Rischa Pratiwi Sahrum | Executive Board of Hasanuddin English Community

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but it is the light of the fire”, a quote from William Butler Yeats, implies that education should not be brimming water in a bucket. It even should be able to light a candle to lighten its surrounding. It seems this quotation truly concerned with Indonesian education system. Does the education system refer to ‘fulfill the bucket’ or ‘lighten its surroundings’?

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According to the survey conducted by Political and Economic Risk Consultant (PERC), Indonesia is now on the 12th grade among the 12 countries that illustrate significant decline on education qualities in Asia. It, in fact, implies that there are still many severe problems among all educational elements of Indonesian educational system including the management, facilities and teachers.

Assumptions and controversies in relation to Educational background and Teachers’ Professional Certification program (Sertifikasi Guru) are said to be the major cause of it,

In fact, there are approximately 13,8% of 1.2 million teacher in elementary school who are not certified (Balitbang Depdiknas: 1998). It is believed that Indonesian teachers do not fulfill the standard of qualified teacher. As the consequence, there are still many teachers are unable to manage the class effectively, for instance, to organize the teaching planning, to evaluate, and to test their students.

Moreover, after the government regulated the additional salary as an award for qualified teacher, all teachers suddenly committed to fulfill all the administrative condition expecting that they will be awarded in spite of their unworthiness. In addition, there are some teachers’ assumed that teacher certification  is addressed to those who seek for prosperity, meanwhile, the aim of teacher certification program to encourage them to be professional teacher.

Furthermore, certification issues also effect on the increasing number of students’ training and teacher ship program (FKIP) in some universities. The teachers even manipulate this certification. This phenomenon might be the causes of unsuccessful teaching process.

There is even a rumor that teacher is an easy work. As can be seen from our society, many teachers only hand over the modules to the student and they think their tasks are finished.

To sum up, our government, ministry of education still has many works to resolve those problems. I state that this state, Indonesia, need many great program to develop our education, but we have to realize that it is not enough, there should any controls among those program, to see the program enforcement. Especially, when teacher national recruitment comes, government must take a qualified teacher only, which has great academic background, experiences and personality. In addition, providing scholarship programs to excellent student who wants to be a teacher will be very supportive.

By Taufik Akbar│Advisory Board in HEC

In this globalization era, there has been a considerable number of major changes occurred in the social life of the entire Makassar community. As can be seen from the recent phenomenon, one of the changes is the isolation of traditional games such as dende’-dende’accangke’, ma’guli’, bekel, and mabbenteng from the local children due to the emergence of modern games. With regard to this issue, there have been many controversies from various critics and comments which demand further analysis and good discussions.

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Indeed, these traditional games are not isolated from the children completely. These traditional games might be found in rural areas and still played by many children. In contrast, the change that signifies the extinction of traditional games gradually has become evident in many Indonesian metropolitan cities including Makassar. The wide spreading of this extinction even gradually infected the children in rural areas. It seems that the children nowadays have more tendencies to play the modern games rather than to play the traditional ones.

In response to this alteration, the generations of 19s will absolutely consider this change very pathetic. They think that their willingness to restore the ancestors’ heritage including traditional games should be practiced by the children. Besides the cultural values, it is believed that the sense of exploration will be further developed through traditional games. Far more profound, these traditional games will develop the values of creativity, solidarity, cooperation and happiness because  unlike modern games, traditional games cannot be practiced by only one person. Therefore, they will be more consolidated as they become more frequent practicing the games.

According to a research, the extinction of traditional games is due to the deviant sub-cultural socialization. The parents as the first social agent, has no serious concern to introduce their children to the traditional games. Furthermore, they are introduced to modern games such as Angry Bird, Clash of Clans and other modern games. In broader sense, the government has very less concern to promote the traditional games. They only place emphasis on promoting traditional dances, traditional clothes and other cultural objects that are considered the more influential cultural value than the traditional games. Besides, the national development causes the decreasing number of playgrounds which in turn, will annihilate the practice of these traditional games. However, in spite of the unsupportive agents, there is still a certain community which has serious concern to keep the sustainability of Makassar traditional games such as MTGF (Makassar Traditional Game Festival) which is conducted once a year so as to attract various elements of Makassar society to participate in maintaining the traditional games.

Far more profound, the impacts of modern games become tangible and they can be identified through the behavior of young generation. Indeed, there have been a number of behavioral changes concerning the social awareness of the children. Modern games do not provide social consolidation to the children because unlike traditional games, the children become addicted to play it individually and it does not need other player to play with. Therefore, one manifestation of the practice of modern games is the loss of many cultural customs such as Tabe’(giving permission) among the children. However, still it is questionable and further research needs to be conducted to clarify this claim.   

Written By: Muhammad Afdal

Song is sounds which have a rhythm and a tempo and are performed by using music instruments. The types of songs vary for instance, jazz, classic, Mozart, Blues, Rock, Country, Dangdut and traditional song. Song cannot be separated from human life because it can express someone’s feeling. It can make people sad, happy and energetic. For children, song helps them to be more energetic and stimulate their brain to know word, music and art skill. In golden age, children usually study by music because child’s song has many educations in its lyrics that are easy to be understood by children. Nowadays, it is difficult to find children song or children singer in Indonesia. This paper will argue that Indonesia has lost child song because the music company only thinks about its profit. In addition, it should balance the number of adult and child song in the music world.

There are many lessons behind the children’s song. It is very important for parents to teach morality for their children. It is, however, quite difficult because moral education is boring and children’s mind cannot receive it. Through a simple song, parents can teach their children because children song is easy to be understood and memorized by children. Children can sing and learn in the same time through a song. By song, they will move around and clap hands enthusiastically. It helps them to be more active and energetic. It is unlike now where adult’s song more much than children’s song.

Nowadays Indonesia is dominated by Adult’s Song. It is difficult to find children song or children singer in Indonesia due to the domination of love and broken heart song. It is very contradictive with children world where there full of happiness and education. Although we find a child song he/she not looks like a child. A child singer sings a love song and dresses up same as adult. That is why Indonesian children especially in one to five years old usually sing unqualified songs such “Ayo goyang dumang”, “Pusing pala Barbie”and “Sakitnya tuhDisini”. It is impossible for parents to teach their children about morality through that song. It is irony because many people like to see their children sing that song. They think it is funny but they don’t realize that those songs give bad impact to their children. The music recorders also don’t think about the bad impact of that song to the children. They just think about how much money they can get by showing a child sings a love song.

However, in fact, music Companies only focus on big profit. Because the market of adult song is bigger than children’s song, so they change children become adult by singing adult’s song. That is why child looks not pure again as a child. The companies realize that they can get much profit by launching children singer because they will attract many young fans. In fact, children sing a song that it is not suitable with their age.

To sum up, children should sing a children’s song that full with spirit, happiness and education. Parent or candidates of parents we must be careful with the song. We must know how to teach the children through proper song.

Written by : Zakia Khyadhaniel Zaskia
Picture : www.youtube.com

The government as a policy maker is obligate (v. wajib) to accomodate the needs of every element of society. It also means they have to keep themselves away from self-interest fullfilment (n. pemenuhan) and discrimination. The government should treat societies equally, especially for the blind people in educational sector in order to make sure blind people are not discriminated in terms of education. In fact, there are still several cases that government turned out not to have any concern, even humiliated (v. menghinakan) the blinds.  Therefore (adv. oleh karena itu) this paper will explain unjust (adj. ketidakadilan) treatment of government in educational service for blinds.

http://im.hunt.in/cg/Bhavnagar/City-Guide/blind.jpg

For instance, recently happening in the public schools, schools unreasonably do not accept a blind student due to (phr. karena) the absence of teaching-blind-oriented educational infrastructure and instrument (n. alat). They claim, in studying, the blind students are not able to go together with ordinary students because their visual impairment (phr. keterbatasan penglihatan). Schools are seemingly worried on being hardened by them. Let along (phr. apalagi) most teachers who are complaining being uneducated in teaching blind student and normal students in a mixture (n. percampuran/penggabungan).

In this case, obviously (adv. dengan jelas) seen government does not put sufficient (adj. tidak cukup) concern for improving special teacher for blind in numbers. There should be planning and budgetting provided for increasing the number of the special teachers or in another case training certain teachers in public school for dealing with (phr. berhubungan) class mixture between blind students and ordinary students.

The worst case raises in school admission. The discrimination humiliates the rights of blinds students both directly and indirectly. Direct discrimination happens in Makassar when public schools and universities refused them by including ‘not accepting disabilities’ in their admission requirement. Then indirect discrimination was that the school provided application form in an inaccessible format for blinds, in this case all difables experienced (v. mengalami).

Government with their rights in making social decision have responsibility to look after (phr. membela) diffables’ rights, especially in education service. The concern must be serious and away from perjury (n. janji palsu). Toward education, blind students needs extra support and aid, such as teaching specialists or supportive equipment in classrom and a ramp (n. jalur landai) or special road for their mobilization.

How about if the blind students are in exam? This typical question is the other frequently-asked one by teachers or common people. As has been done so far by Blind Union (PERTUNI) by recruiting volunteers to assist the blind students during their exam, the government should learn that the blinds are a part of society that needs education and there is no way of ignoring (v. mengabaikan) the difficulties to do it. As another reference for government in order to learn how to treat (v. memperlakukan) diffables like blind well, they should learn from government of Australia who put high concern on this issue by providing free, supportive transportation, special ramp for blind and special educational system and instrument for dealing with blind people.

Written By: Rahmat J. | President of HEC

One simple funny story perhaps could help us know the importance of sex education in our life especially to introduce it to the children. Here is the story:

A child: mommy, what makes your stomach bigger and what is it inside?
A mother: oh dear, there is a baby in mom stomach right now and he could be your brother.
The child suddenly becomes silent and cries and her mother could not stop her from crying. What makes the child cries is because she couldn’t imagine that how cruel her mother ate the baby.
A child: I don’t want to talk to mother because mother ate a baby.
A mother: just smiling and tried to explain it to her little girl.

Traditionally, children and adolescent were not given any information on sexual matters, with discussion of these issues being considered taboo. Sex is an important aspect of the life of a human being and almost all the people including children want to know about it especially when they grow up. Most of the information were obtained informally from friends and the media, and much of this information was of doubtful value.

It is much better to teach children about sex in school or in home rather letting them use other resources such as pornographic material and the internet. This is important because avenues such as the internet have a huge store of information that might be misleading and lead to misinformation.

In Indonesia formal sex education is taught as a full course as part of the curriculum in junior high school or high school but actually comprehensive sexuality education is a program that starts in kindergarten and continues through high school and it is depend on how far the children should know about sex. Schools have a significant role in imparting effective sex education to children and adolescents then how about family sex education?

Some parents couldn’t explain very well when their children ask about sex even they don’t want to explain clearly to make their children understand because they assume that the time is not yet appropriate. Then when is the perfect time to tell the children about sex education?

“According to the WHO, sex education for children should be imparted (v : disampaikan) at the age of 12 and above”. It means that we should introduce sex education step by step to the children to build good understanding and of course this should appropriate to family religion.

It cannot be denied that religion has a big role in controlling how far we should know about sex before married and after married in order something that we do not want will not happen such as MBA (Married by Accident), abortion, HIV/AIDS and so on. 1. Do you think sex education is important? 2. Why everyone shall know about sex education? 3. Sex and sexy almost same, how could you differ it? 4. Where do you get your first sex education? (individually will be different) 5. How many methods do you know to introduce sex education to the children? 6. Which methods is the best one to introduce it to the children? 7. Between family and school, which one has main role to introduce sex education to the children? 8. Do you think pornographic material could help to introduce sex to the children? 9. What tools is needed to introduce sex to the children? 10. Do you think that our curriculum is correct in sex education learning process? 11. Have you ever learn about sex education in your own religion? 12. What the children will get from knowing about sex education early? 13. No sex until getting married, do you agree with this statement?

1. Do you think sex education is important?
2. Why everyone shall know about sex education?
3. Sex and sexy almost same, how could you differ it?
4. Where do you get your first sex education? (individually will be different)
5. How many methods do you know to introduce sex education to the children?
6. Which methods is the best one to introduce it to the children?
7. Between family and school, which one has main role to introduce sex education to the children?
8. Do you think pornographic material could help to introduce sex to the children?
9. What tools is needed to introduce sex to the children?
10. Do you think that our curriculum is correct in sex education learning process?
11. Have you ever learn about sex education in your own religion?
12. What the children will get from knowing about sex education early?
13. No sex until getting married, do you agree with this statement?

Picture : http://www.dailystar.com.lb
by Aslan Irunsah, S.Si | HEC’s co-founder
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Gloomy (adj : remang – remang), with flashing lights, is the common view of some parts of the city corner in Makassar. No one really knows since when this kind of view first appeared. But one thing sure is that this world has drown so many beautiful “flowers” accross South Sulawesi. Wearing bikini-like dress sometimes with fulsome (adj : berlebihan) make up are usually some girls who work in sex industry. They usually are referred as Commercial Sex Worker (PSK). Wikipedia defines a sex worker as a person who works in the sex industry. The term is used in reference to all those in all areas of the sex industry including those who provide direct sexual services as well as the staff of such industries.

Indonesia is one of the country whose youth engaged in sex industry is already in a red-alert stage. No wonder if the number of HIV/AIDS case in Indonesia has been rapidly increasing in the last 10 years. UN has just published 2012 World AIDS Day Report which revealed Indonesia’s low success in HIV prevention over the last 10 years. It disclosed (v : mengungkapkan) that the rate of new HIV infectios in Indonesia increased by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2011. This was, of course, considered low. Indonesia has actually making efforts to press down the number of the HIV/AIDS over the islands but it seems it doesn’t work effectively. Using condom, for instance, is one of the attempts taken by Government to help eradicate (v : menghapus) or halt (v : menghentikan) the HIV/AIDS case in Indonesia. But the question of why does government allow such prostitution place to be established remains to be answered.

Since Makassar is predominantly a muslin society with strong concerns about sex work and the use of condoms, another question rises. Why “religion” does seem to be a worthless feature for everyone here? Worse, those engaged in sex industry are mainly still under 18 years old. What are their purposes? Looking for money? Or simply surviving? Let’s say it’s for surviving. I have actually no ideas of their surviving style is. Does it take a lot of money to survive so that you have to sacrifice your only one dignity (n : kehormatan)? Looking for money? Do you really think that there is no more space for you out there to get a proper job? Difficult? But it’s worth trying, isn’t it? Plus, city provides more and better various jobs than country side where you come from.

Let’s take a peek in some PSKs’ night lives. In Makassar, Jalan Penghibur has long been known as one of several centers of prostitution practice. A lot of gloomy “stalls” camouflaged (v : disamarkan) as Singing house have been established and acknowldged by the local government. The owners have bagged (v : mengantongi) the official license to run this kind of business. Riri (disguised), for example, a 17-years old girl, has been a part of a prostitute industry since 2 years ago. She claimed that she’s doing this because of family’s sake. “I have to go to prostitute place because someone threatened my family that he will ruin our lives if I don’t follow his lust. It all started from there”, Riri uttered with some tears falling down from her cute eyes, leaving track in her face. Another case is beared (v : diderita) by Nini (disguised) who previously worked as a cafe singer. She was lured (v : diiming – imingi) going to be awarded a big house and millions of rupiah after having a sexual intercourse with a 30-years old man. But it was only for figment. Feeling ashamed, Nini lost her hope becoming a professional singer and started thinking that no more space for her anymore. So instead of turning back to the right path, she was hopelessly after more money from this activity. And she did gain much money.

Male-to-female transgender, waria, has also been known as another kind of PSK. Unlike the 100%-girl PSK, warias look really absurd because they appear like girls wearing sexy dress making their bodies look very repugnant (adj : menjijikkan) (for most of people). Warias usually hang out in fronf of Hero’s Tomb Park (Taman Makam Pahlawan) at Jalan Urip Sumoharjo. It seems their lives are not as good as their 100%-girl colleagues. Most of them work like other guys during the day and turn into someone else at night. They kind of live in two different world or simply called “amphibian”. They usually name themselves uniquely when the dark comes. Randy, for example, will be changed into Ririn or else. One of them was having a kind of interview with the author of this paper, it was Nina (disguised). Nina admitted that she has to come to this (being an amphibian) way because she has got no choices. She has to support her – and his – 2 children who go to elementary school. His (daytime) job is only a cleanser (cleaning service .red). And he can’t afford all his children’s need. That’s why he has to metamorphose to someone else at night to cope with his and his family’s life.

In her night job, she usually gets only Rp 10.000 to 50.000 per transaction. If she’s lucky, she sometimes earns more than one million a night. Her customers are men whose age ranges from 30 to 45 years old. So, should all the commercial sex workers remain the ones like the way they are now? Share your ideas!

Picture : http://rakyatsulsel.com
by Naskar F. Hansam | Secretary of HEC
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Well let's start with some kind of example of cheating that I found almost everyday. Someone who cheat in the road. This is one of the most common cheating that people do, maybe only in Asia (since we "Asian" are stereotypically judged by the western people as a terrible driver/rider) or maybe only in Makassar. All of the drivers do not obey the rule anymore. Well maybe not all of them. But we can found so many street violation happening right in front of our eyes. Ignoring the traffic sign and traffic light (especially yellow one), driving in opposite direction that it should be, crossing the footpath, and wearing no helmet are some of many common traffic violation that are happening almost everyday. What in the world is happening right now? All of those keep happening over and over again without paying attention of the consequence.

Aside from all those horrible thing we are not proud of but still keep on doing it above, there are still so many kinds of cheating happening in our beloved world. A doctor who only gave antibiotic when they actually needed a further examination, a seller who were raising the price just before they put the discount, teacher who didn't assess the assignment/quiz responsibly, and many other thing had happened that I consider that is some kind of a big cheating. Even there are a big old kind of cheating that are mostly known a corruption. Well yeah, it is the biggest problem that we are facing nowadays, cheating.

How is this happen? Well let us take a look back at where everything are started.When you were in your mummy's tummy. Hmmm, let's not go that far back. I mean you should really know where this is going.

Okay, it's cheating at school such as copying homework, making a live vest (if you know what I mean) before facing a quiz, etc. I think the first time I cheated was in my 4th grade (or maybe 5th or 6th I can't really remember). Since I know that I hate social study so I made a small paper with history of colonialist in Indonesia for some test. I wrote every single year and person that are in my book. But fortunately everything I wrote was on that test. But, I ended up not using it. Not because I got caught. No, I didn't. It is because I remember every single thing in that paper. Yeah, so making that "cheaty" paper is kind of a good way of studying for me at that moment. So this is not really is a cheating. Well, maybe it is, since  the paper is actually being used by one of my friend.

Well, why I tell you this is not to brag about such a very smart little me (maybe a little bit) but to tell you that I am not very good at cheating. The thing is, maybe because my parents are both teaching (even my grandparents, aunt, and uncle are). That made me think that if I cheated, I would betray my family and that for a 12 years old children is kind of a big thing. However, I can't say that I didn't cheat at school, no no no, I admit that I did it lots of time.

You might be asking why am I do that horrible thing. Well I ask my self why and there I have the answer. Because everybody does that and I don't want to be the only one to get an advantage from cheating. That might sounds very terrible for you but that is the truth. What I feel about how bad cheating is blown away just by the fact that every single one in the world love to cheat.

From my explanation above, we found one of the reason what make people cheat. It is the environment that made who we are now. At first people think that cheating is bad because it take benefit from other people but knowing that even that other people are cheating, so, yeah, we are such amazing humans. (sarcastic ways)

There are some reason why people cheat, and people have made research about them and one of them are shown in a video below.

Have you seen that? Well you better see that now! But, I will made a quick review because some of you might not be able to watch that discerning Indonesian's slow internet connection.

Dan Ariety, which is the one who performed the research, discovered that people try to cheat only a little bit. So people are not cheating because they feel bad about themselves. This is why people cheat only a little bit it is because somebody want to still feel good about themselves but still get a benefit from cheating. The most interesting part of the research is the method he was using. He made several people answer several number of simple mathematical problems but limited by a very small amount of time. Every number they solve will be rewarded as some amount of money. The twist is after the time is over they are asked to shred the paper. So the research intentionally remove the possibility of getting caught so they can focused more on why people cheat.

I can't explain you everything about it but I will explain you a little bit of thing

Picture : Wikimedia

by Ahmad Akram | Faculty of Engineering | Hasanuddin University

Our life is fashioned profoundly by personality, gender, religion, and race. The foremost important aspect of personality is based on the temperament dividing us into introverts and extroverts. Thus far, people construct the new personality styles telling us that to be great so be bold (adj=berani, tegas) and to be happy so be sociable.

According to a study one third of a person is introverts. This statistic seems surprising knowing that it is hard to find an introverted person nowadays. It might be because most of introverts are pretending (v=berpura-pura) to be extrovert ones. The reason why introverts hide themselves is that the extrovert ideals are implemented more in the society.

The universe believes that the ideal personalities are sociable, alpha, and assertive (adj=tegas), contrary to those of the introverts which are shy, apathetic (adj=acuh tak acuh), and timid (adj=malu-malu).

Extroverts and introverts work in a different way. Extrovert seems to be working fast and comfortable with multitasking and risk taking, contrary to the introvert who works slow, deliberate (adj=tidak tergesa-gesa), and focus. They also have a different social style. Extroverts attempt to be self-confident and dominant. They think out loud and prefer talking than listening. They charge their energy by socialize even though it is just a small talk. Introverts are in contrast. They might have good social skill, enjoy a party, or hang out with each other but after a while they need a time to be home alone. They prefer spend their social energy with close friends, colleagues and family. They prefer listening, express better in writing, and enjoy deep conversation.

Introversion is always treated as either disappointment or disease by one nearby the introverts. Some parents apologize for their child being shy. In school they are being taught to come out of their shell. Even there are some drugs that are intended for children in “special need”. It is believed that most of the people don’t really know or even care to what are “inside” the introverts mostly believe that the only way to handle them is by fixing the introversion. They believe that this shyness will make them end up with bad thing like alcoholic and suicide.

Shyness is often compared with the introversion. Shyness is fear of humiliation while introversion is the preference of environments that are not stimulating. Shyness is exceedingly (adv=sangat) painful but introversion is not. Sometimes people are confused between these two things because sometimes they overlapped. It also because most of introverts are shy. This shyness does not always come from the introversion but mostly from the way the other treats their introversion.

However, no matter what you are, either an introvert or an extrovert doesn’t mean that your behavior can easily be predicted. We cannot say that all introverts are nerds (n=kutubuku) or all extroverts enjoy party as well as we cannot say that all women love cooking and all men love sport. As a wrapping up, there is no such thing called pure introvert or pure extrovert. It is not only because we are all a complex individual but also that there are so many kinds of introverts and extroverts, each of them interact with their own way, producing weirdly different kind of people.

by Ahmad Akram | Faculty of Engineering | Hasanuddin University

Hola, guys, how are you doing? Good, huh? I bet you are! When reading my greeting, each of you must have different expressions indicating how your feeling respond to it. It tells us that we are unique creatures. You might realize that you always get different treats from people around you, sometimes they are good, fun and enjoyable, but sometimes really annoying. Why do people act in different manner? You already know the answer! Each of us was uniquely created by God for His glory with distinct appearance, characteristics, spiritual gifts, intelligence, abilities, talents, and personality. The key to getting along with others is being able to recognize their way of doing things has validity and a reason behind it, even if it seems the complete opposite of what we would do. Then how could we identify others’ personality and deal with it?

Florence Littauer, a personality development book author, wrote a book which amazingly exposes the way we could spot people’s personality and should react to it. Although people are unique, Littauer suggests they fall under one of four personality types. These are choleric, sanguine, melancholy and phlegmatic.

Popular Sanguine – emotional and demonstrative, the Sanguine is the life of the party and is all about having fun. They make work into fun, and they love to be with people. They see excitement in each experience and are outgoing (adj : ramah) and optimistic. They love colors, are dramatic and prone to (adv : rentan terhadap) exaggeration (n : pernyataan berlebihan), and are great on stage, thriving with an audience. They love touching and hugging (v : memeluk) people. You will laugh and laugh with a Sanguine. After all, they are happy, bouncy, often loud, talkative, great storyteller, lots of fun.

Powerful Choleric – dynamic born leader, dreamer of the impossible dream, always aiming, reaching, succeeding. The Choleric is ever achieving and everything will be fine as long as you obey his rule: “Do it my way NOW!” He is outgoing and optimistic, but has little need for friends (socializing wastes time and doesn’t get things done, btw do you know who he is?). He believes everything will be fine as long as you do it with him in charge. He gets more done than the other temperaments. He rises to the top, is goal - oriented, and has innate (adj : bawaan) leadership abilities.

Perfect Melancholy – deep, sensitive, organized, detailed, lover of lists. The Melancholy is quiet, undemanding (adj : tak banyak menuntut), and likes to be alone. He follows schedules right from the beginning and will not adapt well to having his routine upset. They are neat, tidy, and perfectionistic. They are frugal (adj : hemat) and have deep compassion (n : kasih sayang) for others. The fact that I always love and serve people around well is a point that I might be under this category, well, more or less. The Melancholy is creative, introspective, and analytical. That’s why personally, I always ask the people whom I always interact with not to prevaricate (v : bohong) because it’s always easy for me to unveil (v : menyingkap) what is behind their stories. Without Melancholies we’d have few artists, writers, philosophers, and composers of music. Btw, I am neither an artist, writer, philosopher nor composer. LOL

Peaceful Phlegmatic – buffers (n : penolong) for all the other personalities to bring stability and balance. The Phlegmatic is peaceful and the great leveler (n : orang yang suka menyamaratakan sesuatu atau seseorang) in life. He says, “It really doesn’t matter that much” – and it usually doesn’t matter! The Phlegmatic is content (adj : memuas - muaskan), easy-going (adj : santai), not pushy (adj : ambisius), balanced, on an even keel, doesn’t easily offend, and quietly does what is expected of him. “Whatever” seems to be the Phlegmatic’s life motto. He is a “learned (adj : terpelajar)” leader and with proper motivation, he will rise to the top, because of his outstanding ability to get with everyone and avoid conflict.

Despite its diversity, it is common for individuals to have many traits (n : sifat) from one or two of the personality types and smaller amounts in the others. There are four possible combinations can be found in someone’s personality. 1) Natural Combination i.e Sanguine Choleric, 2) Complementing Combination i.e for relationship – oriented : Sanguine Phlegmatic and for goal – oriented : Choleric Melancholy, 3) Opposite Combination i.e Sanguine Melancholic and Choleric Phlegmatic, 4) Small amounts from all 4 types can be generally considered either Phlegmatic, perfect man, or the person whose past was over – directed, strictly controlled or severely oppressed (v : ditindas). I considered myself under Complementing Combination for goal – oriented, but I – even it is negligible – also have some Sanguin features. Littauer encourages people to take the profile test to determine in which categories their personality lies. But in this occasion, we would not do that. If you wish to know more about yourself and others through Littauer’s personality test, you may join us in our Mobile English Discussion in STKIP YPUP (contact us for further info).

We need to learn what our strengths are and amplify (v : memperkuat) them, and what our weaknesses are and overcome them with God’s transforming power. We need to understand the personalities of the people around us as well to have the best relationship possible with them. Otherwise, they can drive us crazy! Trust me, they can and they will!

Reference : The Personaity Plus Book by France Littauers

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by Naskar Hansam | Nobody

Usually, we mostly talk about what or how a good student is, whether in a small talk or a formal talk. It is an absolute way which enables us, as student or learner, to share experience and insight about being a good student. Nonetheless, have we ever thought about a man who is always standing in front of us in the class room or what we call “lecturer”. If a good student is required to study diligently, would a good lecturer required so? If a good student is required to have extensive knowledge, would a lecturer supposed to be like that or even more than that?

If every student has their opinion about good student's criteria, they must have opinion about good or qualified lecturer or teacher as well. Here, several fundamental qualifications with respect to a good lecturer or teacher will be discussed. 

1. Having sufficient educational background
   
   A lecturer is a professional. Nowadays, particularly in Indonesia, a teacher or lecturer has to go to college not only to study but also to obtain a degree which indicates their specialization and capability. It is undeniable for a lecturer to teach only students under his degree. For instance, a master degree graduated lecturer must not teach post doctoral student. He is only available to teach undergraduate students. It means that the lecturer would not be able to present post-doctoral class material as he has not yet studied it. It is hardly possible for them to teach it.
2. Having satisfying experience
   
   It is quite similar with having sufficient educational background, because professionalism is also reflected by how experience a teacher or lecturer is, either to his knowledge regarding to his field or to his dealing with students. Lecturers should know and master subject that they teach. That is why they have to study in undergraduate and so on. It's also better if they have done research about their subject. In addition, not only do they have to be a master in their field, but also have to be able to transfer their knowledge to students.
3. Having appropriate and enticing methodology
   
   Teaching or transferring knowledge to students is related to how a lecturer teaches in class. Commonly, there are two methods applied by lecturers, i.e. Lecturer Centered Learning (LCL) and Student Centered Leaning (SCL). In accordance with Dr. Richard M. Felder, a professor of North Carolina State University, that student-centered teaching methods shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. These methods include active learning, in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class; Cooperative learning; inductive teaching and learning. If compared with SCL, LCL is far left behind as it is presumed to be an old style of teaching. Hence, lecturers nowadays are demanded to apply SCL in class room. 

To sum up briefly, lecturers have to know their position and how to run it. They are obliged to fulfill the very basic requirements of being lecturer until the advance requirements to be able to implement their knowledge to the real academic world, where education is convenient for human being.

by Muhammad Arham | Hasanuddin University

Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking are a new breakthrough in the world. Even some people have been applied those two since long time ago. They usually are recognized as the great men, like presidents of countries, successful businessmen, etc. Now, I'm going to discuss about these two kinds of thinking.

Critical and Creative Thinking can be described as qualities of good thinking processes and as types of thinking. Creative thinking is generally considered to be involved with the creation or generation of ideas, processes, experiences or objects; critical thinking is concerned with their evaluation.

Critical and creative thinking are interrelated and complementary aspects of thinking. Almost all of the thinking which we undertake contains some critical and some creative aspects. For example, when we try to solve real life problems we move back and forth several times between creative and critical reflection as we develop solutions or weigh the consequences of any one solution. It is important, therefore, that any attempts to improve thinking abilities pay attention to both critical and creative aspects of thinking.

To enhance our understanding, I'd like to give you definitions for these two kinds of thinking. According to The Critical Thinking Community, Critical Thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

While Creative Thinking according to Brainstorming (an online brainstorming training) is specific thought processes which improve the ability to be creative. Being in an optimal state of mind for generating new ideas. To think deliberately in ways that improve the likelihood of new thoughts occurring. To maximize the ability of the brain to think of new ideas. The ability to think of original, diverse and elaborate ideas. A series of mental actions which produce changes and developments of thought. The process of exploring multiple avenues of actions or thoughts. (Sometimes called divergent thinking because thought patterns and areas of belief are expanded).

Okey, even I said that these two kinds of thinking are interrelated each other, but much of the thinking done in formal education emphasizes the skills of analysis - teaching students how to understand claims, follow or create a logical argument, figure out the answer, eliminate the incorrect paths and focus on the correct one. The point to be stressed here is by doing so, you will only focus on what has been available in this world. You will never think something new, thus, never do something new, all you can do is criticizing and finding the correct answers or paths. Nah, Creative thinking here, thus, is really essential. It focuses on exploring ideas, generating possibilities, looking for many right answers or paths rather than just one. This makes clear that we can't choose one of them, both of these kinds of thinking are vital to a successful working life, yet the latter one tends to be ignored until after college.

We might differentiate these two kinds of thinking like this :

Critical Thinking	Creative Thinking
Analytic	Generative
Convergent	Divergent
Vertical	Lateral
Probability	Possibility
Judgement	Suspended Judgement
Focused	Diffuse
Objective	Subjective
Answer	An Answer
Left brain	Right brain
Verbal	Visual
Linear	Associative
Reasoning	Richness, novelty
Yes, but	Yes, and

In an activity like problem solving, both kinds of thinking are important to us. First, we must analyze the problem; then we must generate possible solutions; next we must choose and implement the best solution; and finally, we must evaluate the effectiveness of the solution. As you can see, this process reveals an alternation between the two kinds of thinking, critical and creative. In practice, both kinds of thinking operate together much of the time and are not really independent of each other.

by Naskar Hansam | Hasanuddin University

Actually, this topic is one of a very sensitive topic to discuss yet also one of the causes of various problems in our country, nowadays. When we crossed in front of a school, what we see is a lot of students, not all of them, but some of them do things that they should not do, such as hanging out in front of the gate at the time they should not, dating, motor racing, even fighting each other that has victimized many students. What we are witnessing is not something new but it has happened since a long time ago. This situation is a result of the lack of students' awareness and the lack of moral education they get, either from school or from their parents.

Despite their lack of awareness can lead to things mentioned above, there is one factor that plays a crucial role in this case, the education provided by their parents. The condition of children in the future depends on how the parents providing education and guidance to them. Therefore, we can not underestimate parents' role in this case.

Parents are their children's first teachers. It is from parents that children learn about their culture, certain values, gain language acquisition, and so forth. Parents play a very valuable role in their children's education: in and out of the classroom. Because of the reason, parents need to take on the challenge and provide their children the tools they will need in order to be successful in school and life. Education does not only involve knowing the content areas in school. Education involves learning how to be a productive member of society, it involves how to behave in social settings, it involves learning how to figure everyday problems, and so much more. By talking to their children, parents can help them increase their vocabulary, they help their children in their receptive and expressive language, and they help their children feel empowered. Also, parents that talk with their children build lasting. positive, and strong relationships.

Sadly, as my experience observing (FYI, I'm a great observer but I've got a friend that exceeds my ability in observing, it's Ruslan Letal, LOL) today's home education, many parents send their children to school and leave them to their school teachers while they deal with their own business. They don't even take a look their children after coming home. But, when their children make mistakes, parents blame their school teachers and the education system. What about their children? Yes, parents will absolutely scold or even punish them. Of course, these kinds of parents' education will only make their children afraid and even despair. As a result, they, the children, start looking for another environtment that can give them supports. Lucky for the parents if their children find appropriate spheres to live, but if they don't? I remember when I got expelled by my father. At the time, I was still in Junior High School. I ran away from home for 3 months and grooving with my friends. Fortunately, I realized something back then that my life didn't depend on the environtment, I created my own path. That was what I thought. This gives lessons that a strong discouragement can lead us to something worse. But if you get through it, you will become stronger. (Do I sound like a coach? lol) 

Worse, I often witness parents that don't give any appreciations to their children about their interest just because their children's interest is not related to their field of education or job. Most of parents, then, even force their children to follow their way. Pursuing the same interest with them. Now, think about it. Do you really like to do something you are not interested to? I bet you don't. So why forcing them? It would be better if parents give their children encouragement on their interests because by doing this, they will enhance ther ability. In this occasion, I want to recommend an inspiring movie titled "I Not Stupid Too". This movie tells us the effect of miseducating by parents to their children. 

Let me cite some narration from that movie :

Everyone has the key within them. When we were young, there was plenty of encouragement and praises to help us overcome our obstacles. We never realized how lucky we were then. Somewhere along the way, the praises and encouragement changed as we grew up. Everyone gradually shuts themselves out. Give more encouragement and compliments. See one's virtues. Is it that difficult? Everyone needs encouragement. But why do we often hesitate to shower compliments? In every child, there's an angel and a devil. Seek out the angel, and the best qualities will surface. There's much truth in the saying, "Resources used wrongly will become waste, Waste used correctly can become resources." With appreciation, a miracle happened. From this, we learn that appreciation is a powerful force. This powerful force may be the result of the simplest of words that you say or an action, or a simple expression. You never know what you have changed. 

It's totally true, that when we were still a child, we often got some appraisals, encouragements, and compliments. But when we already looked a bit taller, parents started scolding us, punishing us, beating us, or even expelling us. Whereas, as we know that, children need 3N to grow up, Nutrition, Nurture, and Nature. And to become a productive, strong, good men, children alse need 3N, Nutrition (education), Nature (environtment) and Nurture (encouragement, appreciation, compliment). Actually, thus, parents need to give their children supports even after they become teenagers, adults, and even after they get married.

by Naskar Hansam (Hasanuddin University)

Family is the first human’s relationship, the place where they study language, roles, and adaption to their environment. As the children grow up, parents hold the role to establish (v = membangun) their character. It is important here because character building determines everyone’s future. Like father like son, a proverb (n = peribahasa) that tells us how important the parents’ role is. It is the childhood that contributes much in building the children’s character. When they are 5 years old or more, we can see that most of their activities are playing, crying, studying language, and learning to speak. That’s why parents should actually be more active in accompanying (v = mendampingi) their children while educating them as well. However it’s very contradictive if see today’s condition where many parents are confused on how to guide their children. 

There are a lot evidences we can see in our surroundings that prove haven’t understood how to be their children’s role models. Being absent from school, being lazy to study, quarreling, fighting, smoking, etc., are only some examples of how poor the parents’ concern (n = perhatian)on their children’s growth. They tend to (adv = cenderung)force their children to do what they think is right. For example, they want their children to study in an Islamic boarding school, hoping that their children will be more prevented from doing bad things while the children are not interested to study there. As a result, we often find the children do something inappropriate in their classes. In terms of psychology, children who get pressure from their parents will be difficult to socialize with others, be unfriendly and sometimes rough. 

According to finger print research, everybody has different capacity and talent. It means that we do not have to force somebody else to do what we want. Instead, find the things they like to do, then improve it and stick to it. If this thing goes well, both parents and children will have good communication and relationship. In addition, as Ayah Edi, a parenting consultant, said that everything comes from family and parents. In this case, it is obviously parents that should demonstrate their love through what they do every day. It’s not really necessary for them to feed (v = menyuap)their children everything because there a lot of things children can find by themselves. The only things that parents should do are to guide them and learn their improvement. Once they found something the children are interested in, then focus on it. That’s all what parents need to do.  

Glossary
establish (v): to succeed in making or creating (something)
proverb (n): a brief popular saying
accompany (v): to be included with something
concern (n) : something that a person is responsible for or involved in
tend to (adv): used to describe what often happens or what someone often does or is likely to do
feed (v) : to provide what is needed for the continued growth, operation, or existence of (something)

by Mardis Darwis | Civil Engineering of Moslem University of Indonesia

Writing this article began with our conviction (n=keyakinan) that communication is key to the theaching and learning of mathematics. Communcation involves talking, listening, reading, writing, demonstrating, and observing. It means participating in social interaction, sharing thougths with others, and listening to others share their ideas. 

Communication helps children construct understanding of mathematical ideas and develop connections between their informal knowledge and the abstract symbolism of mathematical concepts. Communication makes mathematical thinking observable, thus making mathematical talk critical to assessment process and to learning it self. Teacher find out what students understand or are confused about by listening to their ideas. And communication encourages students to reflect on their own knowledge and can help students clarify their ideas or change their thinking, especially when they hear others points of view. 

Communicating about mathematical ideas is therefore important to both the teacher and student. Student cannot learn mathematics by just going to class and watching the instructor Lecture/theacer and work problems. In order to learn mathematics you must be actively involved in the learning process. You’ve got to attend class and pay attention while in class. You’ve got to take a good set of notes. You’ve got to work homework problems, even if the instructor doesn’t assign any. You’ve got to study on a regular schedule, not just the night before exams. In other words you need to be involved in the learning process. 

Literature identifies the major obstacles to reforms as teachers’ lack of familiarity with innovative instructional practices and tools, teachers’ lack of understanding of mathematics they teach and their inability to communicate mathematics with students in ways other than direct instruction; and teachers’ reluctance to conform to new methods of teaching due to their beliefs about what students need to know.

So, the key is communication....!

by Rusdin La Eba | Post Graduate of FMIPA Unhas | IMMIM Makassar

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. 

Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking. Some consider the subject as just nonsense, and others scoff at people who believe and accept it. Among the people who accept it, not many know how to use it effectively to get results. Yet, it seems that many are becoming attracted to this subject, as evidenced by the many books, lectures and courses about it. This is a subject that is gaining popularity. 

It is quite common to hear people say: "Think positive!", to someone who feels down and worried. Most people do not take these words seriously, as they do not know what they really mean, or do not consider them as useful and effective. How many people do you know, who stop to think what the power of positive thinking means? 

Positive thinking is contagious. All of us affect, in one way or another, the people we meet. This happens instinctively and on a subconscious level, through thoughts and feelings transference, and through body language. People sense our aura and are affected by our thoughts, and vice versa. People are more disposed to help us if we are positive, and they dislike and avoid anyone broadcasting negativity. 

Here are a few actions and tips to help you develop the power of positive thinking :

1. Always use only positive words while thinking and while talking. Use words such as, 'I can', 'I am able', 'it is possible', 'it can be done', etc. 
2. Allow into your awareness only feelings of happiness, strength and success. 
3. Try to disregard and ignore negative thoughts. Refuse to think such thoughts, and substitute them with constructive happy thoughts. 
4. In your conversation use words that evoke feelings and mental images of strength, happiness and success. 
5. Before starting with any plan or action, visualize clearly in your mind its successful outcome. If you visualize with concentration and faith, you will be amazed at the results. 
6. Read at least one page of inspiring book every day. 
7. Watch movies that make you feel happy. 
8. Minimize the time you listen to the news and read the papers. 
9. Associate yourself with people who think positively. 
10. Always sit and walk with your back straight. This will strengthen your confidence and inner strength. 
11. Walk, swim or engage in some other physical activity. This helps to develop a more positive attitude. 

Think positive and expect only favorable results and situations, even if your current circumstances are not as you wish them to be. In time, your mental attitude will affect your life and circumstances and change them accordingly.

by Iryanthi Farida Saiful | Hasanuddin University

As the semester comes to a close, many of us are taking intensive learning to prepare for final examination. We have to remember everything from the classes we slept through, read books we never even bought, and somehow convince (v=meyakinkan) our bodies that sleep just isn’t that important. We usually even reject every incoming call in our mobile phone. That is merely for trying to focus on studying. 

According to us, as we’ve mentioned before, most people don’t study effectively by sitting and reading notes over and over (adv=berulang-ulang), hoping that will stick (v=tinggal) in our brain. The human brain doesn’t work that way. It’s a more complex, disordered, and fun-loving being. Memories of things you do and did, and enjoyed, are always more prevalent (adj=lazim) to your brain than to that a bunch of study guide you made for your exam. 

It’s actually quite easy to elude (v=menghindar) from the conventional (adj=biasa) ways of studying and make studying more interesting, efficient and effective. There are a ton of ways out there, but we’ll give you four that work for us. (These, of course, aren’t not going to be really that fun but at least they’re all more interesting than sitting and reading notes over and over.)

1. Repetition. Take everything you’ve done in the semester such as notes, homework, papers, etc. Now summarize all of that onto one page, front and back. Fill it ONLY with the information you really need to know. This will inform how you study, as well as help you skip the pointless details and get to the heart of the information. This shouldn’t be the only studying to do, but it’s been widely used for any kinds of activities.
2. Play Teacher. Find someone who knows nothing about what you’re studying for. Then teach them about it. While figuring out how to make someone else understand the material, you’ll do wonders for your own mastery. It’ll stick in your brain better, as well as give you a clearer view of the subject. If you want, you may also record when you’re teaching someone else and play back your recording after that. You’ll see how fast you learn than used to.
3. Fight. Pick a friend and a topic for a class. Pick sides, and have a debate with each other. This is great for essays, papers, and any kind of test requiring you to elaborate (v=menguraikan) on one or a few points. Debating, EVEN A SIDE YOU KNOW IS WRONG, is an incredible useful skill which will help you reason on test. If you can argue both sides, you can argue one side much more effectively.
4. Reward Yourself. Give yourself something for studying. When you sit down, decide that if you study hard for 60 minutes, you’re going to eat a bowl of Pisang Ijo. Or, if you study hard for 2 hours, you can go phone your best/close/beloved friend. This helps focus and keep you from being distracted, and also lets you have some fun in your life. If all you do is study, you’ll get bored in a short time. Balance it with friends, fun, and rest, by rewarding yourself for a WELL DONE JOB. 

So, how do you study? Do you have any unconventional methods? Share them with us in this discussion.

by pweedisc Team