Kalla blames teachers

Letter to Jakarta Post

We are fortunate that Vice President Jusuf Kalla pays such close attention to education issues. While addressing hundreds of teachers at a seminar, he said, "In the past you used to make all students graduate, leading the country to a national dumbing down of the system."

So, according to Kalla's theory, some of the people who graduated in the past didn't really deserve to pass and yet were passed anyway by their teachers, resulting in a "national dumbing down of the system".

Here are a few people who graduated in the past: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Hamzah Has, Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, B.J. Habibie, Din Syamsuddin, Hasyim Muzadi, Quraisy Shihab, Amien Rais, Faisal Basri, Emil Salim, Sutiyoso, Agum Gumelar, Tri Sutrisno, Wiranto and also every member of Parliament.

Although these people graduated from high school, we have no way of knowing if they actually worked hard to pass, or if they were just part of Kalla's "dumbed-down nation". If any person wishes to hold a prominent public position, then perhaps we should interrogate their school teachers to find out if they really deserved to pass.

Now that Kalla has pointed teachers in the right direction, we will no longer be faced with hordes of people (including national leaders) who, according to the Vice President, were simply passed by their teachers, and weren't really smart enough to succeed on their own.

Hopefully, now that teachers have been made aware of the problem, this country will not be led by any of the dumbed-down people who were allowed to graduate from high school before the Vice President fixed the problem.

GENE NETTO
Jakarta

(Published Monday 16 July 2007)

Jakarta Post