Generation Gap

Old generation and young generation have differences in many aspects. According to Cambridge Dictionary, the generation gap is when older and younger people do not understand each other because of their different experiences, opinions, habits and behaviour.

In the experiences aspect, older people certainly have more experiences than younger people because they have lived longer than the younger. All experiences that old and young generations were not faced in the same ways. Habits and behavior will affect their experience, so does reverse.

In behavior aspect, older people are calm, wise, love peacefulness, and cool-headed in solving their problems. Yet, they are sometimes selfish and old-fashioned in deporting themselves  Whereas younger people are energetic, adroit, creative, and optimistic in facing their lives. However, many of them are stubborn, impolite, impatient, and ostentatious.

In the way of speaking or giving opinion, older people always discuss about their past experiences, hobbies, job, social-political matter, so on among them. They also would like to give advice for the younger people by virtue of their experiences. Nevertheless, younger people is wiseacre, more talkative, emotional, and speak out frankly than older generation.

In taking some risks, older people have many considerations before taking the risks. In addition, when they have decided something, they will be brave to face the risks about that. While the younger generation sometimes do not think over the risks carefully, but when they face the risks, they will regret their decisions. Beside that, most of old generation pay more attention about their future while some of younger people only enjoy their present days without thinking about their future.

Old generation’s style is more formal than the younger. They look great in formal style, like batik, shirts, trousers, long skirts, etc. Younger people would rather to follow fashionable and colorful clothes.

In consuming food, old generation prefer to consume sustenance because they think about their health. Nevertheless, young generation prefer to consume junk food, instant food, snacks, and so on as long as those foods are delicious for them although the foods are not nutritious.

If these differences could not be understand each other, there will be many conflicts between them because they do not want to be derfeatist. However, if these can be understand by both generations, our lives will become more harmonious than before.

Career Women Cause Juvenile Delinquency

Topic: The position of women in society has changed markedly in the last two years. Many of the problems, young people now experience, such as juvenile deliquency arise from that married women now work and are not at home to care for their children.

Since 20 years ago women have been admitted to have the same rights as men. It changes the position of women in society until now. The emancipation have brought the women to the higher position. Nowadays, women permitted to work by their parents or husbands. This matter still causes pros and cons in society.

We must acknowledge that career women are women who pursue a career to make a living for personal or family advancement. Nevertheless, career women think they can do anything because they have jobs. As we know, most of women that become career women are married women. Besides to support their family financial, career women can also increase their status as women both in family and society. On the other hand, there are also negative factors of being career women.

In working as career women, there are certain obligations that women should not ignore. That is becoming good mothers and good wives. Nevertheless, career woman today do not realise their nature. To illustrate, career women act just like as the leader of their family. They ignore their obligation as wives and mothers, and also  the status of their husband as the head of family. This misperception causes their children as the victims of their selfishness.

Many  people build  in  opinion that the children do not get full attention from their mothers because of  that misperception. It brings bad impact for the children. For example, they spend their time outside without any control. Eventually, the children will dragged along in a bad society, such as drugs consumer, doer of free sex, gangster, street racer, and other  kinds of juvenile delinquency.  Others,  however, disagree about  that. They think that it is not only the women's fault but also the men as the real head of family. Men have obligations much more than women, either as fathers or husbands. Fathers have to be strict to their children. If a father does not control their children by applying rigid rules,discipline habits, and so on, his children will act against their parents. A man also has to make his wife obey him as a husband, so the wife will do her obligation as a good mother and wife. If the men cannot do their responsibilities well, their family will be broken. Their wives will act arbitrarily and their children will wreak their disappointment on deviate things like we have discussed above.

Actually, juvenile delinquency as a kind of rebellion of the children can be avoided and prevented by their parents. In spite of a couple of husband and wife work outside and are rarely at home to take care their children, there are many ways to pay attention to them, such as calling them in a break to ask their condition, enjoying the holiday together, helping them to  solve their problem, listening to their sigh, caring about their growth, and so on. Thereby, the parents will be able to fulfill their commitments as well.  As a result, the children will feel a warmth of love in their family, and never want to do any juvenile delinquency.

In short, a statement that juvenile delinquency and other problems that young  arise from that married women now work and are not at home to care for their children is not true at all. It actually arise from the parents - not only a mother, but also a father - who do not fulfill their responsibilities for the children as well. However, if the parents can manage their time to work and take care their children, the children will not do any delinquency.

SENIN PAGI

Senin pagi

Mentari muda berseri

Kakiku menapak jalan berdebu

Hingga aku menemu

Gadis manis

Agamis

Eksotis!

Ayu parasnya

tertutup bahu kekar

Senyum sipu malu terlontar

Dari bibir berah muda

Yang nyaris tanpa cela

22 Okt 2012 - oleh kawanku, Irfan.

POSITIVE THINKING

First of all, I would like to apology because it is not my story. But, this is an article that I have translated from Bahasa Indonesia to English. If you don't mind, please correct my translation if there are some mistakes. If you couldn't catch what I mean in this story it also means I have many mistakes. So, please tell me. Thanks beforehand :)

Enjoy it, take the wisdom, and please correct my mistakes :D

POSITIVE THINKING

One day, there was a housewife who had four sons. She could manage the household chores very well. The house always looked neat, clean, and well-arranged. Her husband and sons really appreaciated her.

Unfortunately, there was something bad. This mother really disliked a dirty carpet. She became upset everytime she saw footsteps on the carpet. This unpleasant situation would be happened all day. Though she knew this problem would be happened everyday.

Based on her family’s suggestion, she met a psychologist named Virginia Satir, and told about her problem. After she had listened to the problem, Virginia Satir smiled and said to her, “Close your eyes, please. Imagine what I am going to say.”

The housewife closed her eyes then.

“Imagine that there is a clean carpet in your tidy house which is opened without spot, dirt, or footsteps. What do you feel?”

While closing her eyes, the housewife smiled, her gloomy face turned into bright face. She looked satisfied.

Virgina satir said, “It means there is nobody at home. No husband, no sons, no joking and laughing. You only have a desolate house without your beloved family.”

Suddenly, her face looked so gloomy, her smile disappeared, and then she was sobbing. She was shocked. She became afraid about her husband and sons.

“Now, look at the carpet, you will see footsteps and dirt, it means your husband and sons are staying at home and warming your heart.” The housewife smiled again and felt comfortable.

“Now, open your eyes.” Then, the housewife opened her eyes.

“So, does the dirty carpet still become your problem?” The housewife smiled and shook her head. “I see what you mean,” said the housewife. “If we look something from the good side, the negative thing could be seen positively.”

Since then, the housewife never sighed about the dirty carpet, because everytime she saw footsteps there, she knew that her beloved family stayed at home.

It was true story. Virginia Satir was a famous psychologist who inspired Richard Binder and John Adler to make NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) with Reframing technique, that is how to “reform” our viewpoint so all the negative things could change positively, one way is changing the viewpoint. 

Mengajar itu Tantangan

Yup! Mengajar itu memang benar-benar sebuah tantangan besar!!! Dan itu yang saya rasakan pertama kali mengajar di Sikola Macca. Saya dihadapkan pada seorang siswa yang sangat susah diatur. Padahal, waktu itu setiap tenaga pengajar hanya mengajar satu siswa. Satu, lho! SATU! Tapi susah sekali mengaturnya.

Awalnyaa.. siswa yang namanya Ariska ini diajar oleh seorang tentor yang bernama Faika, mahasiswi Hukum UH 2011. Si Riska ini sangat senang diajar oleh Faika. Tapii.. karena Riska mau belajar bahasa Inggris, sementara Faika mengajar matematika, saya pun dipanggil untuk mengajar dia. Oh, Tuhan! Baru saja saya duduk di samping siswi ini, dia sudah ogah-ogahan untuk diajar oleh saya. Dia maunya diajar oleh Faika. Sedih. Sedih. Sedih. (Hiks). Baru saja mau belajar cara mengajar yang baik, sudah dihadapkan dengan tipe siswa seperti ini. Karena tidak diajar oleh Faika, jadilah dia tidak konsen diajar oleh saya. Perhatiannya terus mengarah ke Faika. Terkadang dia berjalan kesana-kemari mengganggu teman-temannya yang lain tanpa menghiraukan saya.

Riska. Siswi SD kelas VI di ..... (lupa dimana). Sebenarnya dia mau belajar nama-nama benda. Tapiii... alphabet dalam bahasa Inggris saja dia belum tahu. Jadilah saya mengajarkan dia alphabet terlebih dahulu sambil mengajarkan beberapa kosa kata dari huruf-huruf yang telah saya ajarkan. Sebelumnya, saya menanyakan 'Number' padanya, dia menghafalnya. Kemudian saya meminta dia menuliskan angka-angka itu dalam bentuk letter, dia  menyanggupi. Tapi, tak lama kemudian, dia menemui temannya dan membawa selembar poster bertuliskan angka-angka dalam bahasa Inggris. Dia menyalinnya! Katanya bisa, kok malah menyalin, sih! Pikirku dalam hati. Ckckck.

Dengan penuh kesabaran, saya pun mengajarkan huruf A-L padanya. Dan Alhamdulillah dia sudah bisa (prok! prok! prok!). Tapi, perasaan saya dan dia belum menyatu. Belum ada chemistry sama sekali yang bisa menjembatani penyaluran ilmu di antara kami. Transfer ilmunya masih susah. Tapi, saya anggap ini adalah sebuah tantangan bagi saya untuk menjadi seorang guru yang menguasai empat kompetensi guru, yaitu pedagogik, profesional, sosial, dan kepribadian. 

***

Sepulang dari sana, saya pun curhat kepada dua sahabat saya, Isshin dan Onii. Isshin yang bukan seorang pengajar memberikan motivasi kepada saya, sementara onii yang juga dari prodi pendidikan seperti saya dan sekarang sudah menjadi tenaga pengajar memberikan saran untuk teknik pengajaran yang selanjutnya.

Menurut Isshin, ini baru kali pertama saya mengajar. Jadiii... saya tidak boleh pesimis dan kecewa menghadapi siswa seperti Riska. "Di sinilah keterampilan kamu diuji," katanya padaku. Ya. Terampil. Bagaimana cara saya menghadapi siswa semacam itu dan mengatasi kelakuan-kelakuannya yang seperti tadi. Saya akui, saya sempat down mengingat situasi seperti . Saya merasa tidak bisa menjadi seorang pengajar yang baik. Namun, semangat dan motivasi dari Isshin selalu mampu membangkitkanku dari keterpurukan yang tanpa sadar kubuat sendiri. "Jangan menyerah! Kenali dirimu dan potensimu!" Itu adalah kata-kata yang selalu diucapkan olehnya untuk menyemangatiku.

Menurut Onii, pikiranku lebih kuat dari lisanku. Persepsiku terhadap anak itu sejak awal telah membuatku tidak mampu melihat potensi yang dimilikinya (Isshin juga berkata seperti ini padaku). Yah. Kesan pertama seharusnya kubuat sebaik mungkin agar dia merasa nyaman bersamaku. Tapi, karena minder (soalnya si Riska maunya sama Faika), kesan pertamaku menjadi buruk. Saya grogi, gugup, dan menjadi kaku. Kata Onii, "Buat dia merasa nyaman dengan kamu. Dan sesuaikan metode pengajaran dengan kepribadian si anak, seperti audio, visual, audiovisual,dll." Yah, saya sadar, saya masih punya banyak kekurangan untuk terjun ke lapangan mengajar para siswa. Saya pun dianjurkan membaca buku Quantum Teaching dan Quantum Learning. Selain itu, saya juga dianjurkan untuk mengajar sesuai dengan konsep psikolinguistik, yaitu Listening - Speaking - Reading - Writing. Konsep ini adalah konsep yang kita bawa sejak lahir. Sepertinya saya harus memahami dan mendalami konsep ini dan diaplikasikan pada saat proses belajar mengajar.

In short, mengajar itu tidak semudah yang dibayangkan. Kita perlu memahami siswa yang kita ajar agar stimulus dan responnya dapat berfungsi dengan baik dalam menyerap pelajaran. Semoga saya bisa belajar dari kekurangan-kekurangan yang terdahulu dan menjadi guru favorit para siswa dan patut diteladani. Aamiin. 

Doakan, ya, teman-teman =) 

Big thanks to Isshin dan Onii yang sudah mau mendengarkan curhatku ^_^