Education During the Colonial Experience in IndonesiaBy: Iwan Syahril

Michigan State University, Fall 2011

The purpose

❖To explain and critically analyze educational goals during the Dutch colonization in East Indies/Indonesia (1920-1930) using a video artifact “Onderwijs in Indie”.

The Video❖ Title: Onderwijs in Indie (Education in the Indies)

❖ Length: 3 minutes 41 seconds.

❖ About: Mixed scenes of different schools in Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) in late 1920s.

• Dutch Chinese School, National/Village School, Dutch Indonesian School, Dutch Chinese/Indonesian Normal School, Vocational School, European High School.

❖ Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fweO3Sfsj1M

❖ Original Source: Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.

ORIENTAL EDUCATION

OCCIDENTAL EDUCATION

In summary...

The Colonial Power

The Social Economic Power

The Masses, The Majority

Labaree’s Educational Goals

❖ Democratic Equality - Education for the masses, through Ethical Policy, 1907. Separate but Equal?

❖ Social Efficiency - Education to fill the administrative positions, & keeping up with demand of growing industries.

❖ Social Mobility - Equal access to all provided language & money; credentials?

Separate but Equal? or Separate and Unequal?

❖ By 1930, Dutch East Indies’ national primary enrollment only reached 12.2% (Benavot & Riddle, 1988), 87.7% ???

❖ Different support: financing, administration, ethnicity. Video shows the quality of furniture and school supplies.

Language Policy to Maintain

Power/Credentials

❖ Similar cases in French West Africa, French Indochina (Kelly, 1984); in Taiwan during Japanese occupation (Tsurumi, 1984).

Conclusion: Educational Goals are problematic!

❖ (Low/High Quality) Education for All?

❖Language and Power.