Which TRUTH is most important in the Indonesian culture? The individual's? Or the group's?
As with Our Haikus, each of our experiences are singular. Personal. Ours.
And each of our thoughts, opinions, and beliefs are singular. Personal. Ours.
However, everything is interrelated. Connected. Globalized. A culture represents a people. Not a person. Right?
Is the individual's truth more important than the group's? What is "Our Global Truth?"
As I participate in my international field experience, I hope to focus on this investigation, guiding, supporting, and researching the question before, during, and after my travel experience.
I have in my life grappled deeply with this question. Since I was a boy, I have often struggled with whose happiness is most important? Mine? Or my family's? Whose thoughts are more important? My own? My work's? Is my truth my own? Or is it my culture's? Can I be who I am? Or should I be the person the world wants me to be? Should I make myself happy? Or make my family happy? Should I care about only myself? Or my community? Because of my own passion and interest in the topic, I am excited to search for and discover Indonesia's answer to this question. As I interact with the Indonesian people, see and think about their culture, and experience their gorgeous, complex country, I will constantly have this research query on my mind.
And maybe their truth is a global one and can become my own truth? Hopefully, then I can better understand my own answer to this question.
And each of our thoughts, opinions, and beliefs are singular. Personal. Ours.
However, everything is interrelated. Connected. Globalized. A culture represents a people. Not a person. Right?
Is the individual's truth more important than the group's? What is "Our Global Truth?"
As I participate in my international field experience, I hope to focus on this investigation, guiding, supporting, and researching the question before, during, and after my travel experience.
I have in my life grappled deeply with this question. Since I was a boy, I have often struggled with whose happiness is most important? Mine? Or my family's? Whose thoughts are more important? My own? My work's? Is my truth my own? Or is it my culture's? Can I be who I am? Or should I be the person the world wants me to be? Should I make myself happy? Or make my family happy? Should I care about only myself? Or my community? Because of my own passion and interest in the topic, I am excited to search for and discover Indonesia's answer to this question. As I interact with the Indonesian people, see and think about their culture, and experience their gorgeous, complex country, I will constantly have this research query on my mind.
And maybe their truth is a global one and can become my own truth? Hopefully, then I can better understand my own answer to this question.
My Response to My Research Question
My Research Question, though one I created for this Teachers for Global Classrooms program, is one I actually grapple with everyday of my life. I often think that this question is an essential one given to me by the Universe or God or whatever you might call It...One that, once I answer it, will set me free, will make me become the person I was meant to be, will allow me to finally live my best life. I know, sounds dramatic, right? But it’s true. When I was a boy, my parents dealt with substance abuse issues. As I grew older, I grappled with how I would react to this...Are the love of my parents more important than the love for myself? When I’ve got my “teacher hat” on, I am constantly dealing with the practice of differentiation...Is that student’s individual learning more important the group’s learning? And as a parent, this question is always on my mind too...Should I treat my child as a specific individual or should I keep in mind the environment and world that the child will be growing up in? I mean, the child will be becoming an adult someday and will affect the community...Shouldn’t I remember that when I am teaching, punishing, or rewarding that child? Ugh! It’s a tough question.
The easy answer to this question when regarding the Indonesian culture is that the group’s Truth is totally and completely more important than the individual’s. There’s many pieces of evidence. First, a universal curriculum produced by the government. Second, a culture almost solely based off the Islamic religion, with classes, entire schools, and even whole communities, praying throughout the day. Third, the divide between males and females, especially in regards to sports, societal expectations, and clothing (with the hijab, etc.). Fourth, the discrimination of the LGBT community. I could go on and on. With every person I talked to, whether it be with an individual or a group, their responses, their interactions, and even their thinking was based off the group’s Truth. I don’t want to say they were indoctrinated or brainwashed...It was a positive and beautiful thing to witness, something I sometimes wish America had more of. They were all a family, together as one, no matter what. A group’s Truth can create peace, love, and strength.
Of course, as with anything, it’s more complex than that. I observed many teachers not follow the government-produced curriculum, often finding their own ways to get their own voice heard, even if just a whisper. An Indonesian teacher even told me that they hated that they had to put a photo of the president at the front of their classroom, which is law. She said “I didn’t vote for him. Can you imagine if you had to put a photo of Trump at the front of your room?” I saw some small instances of schools providing students of other religions with prayer rooms. Fitri, an Indonesian friend I wrote about in my blog, was a strong, independent female. She even gave me a ride on a motorcycle! She contradicted that societal role I saw for most females. I know that my host teacher Fidalia would’ve been very compassionate to me if I would’ve been open to her about my sexuality. In tiny, individual ways, Indonesians also had their own Truths respected, heard, and shown. The group’s Truth was all-encompassing, but their individual ones were also there, subtle yet powerful.
I suppose the answer to my research question, like all the big questions in life, is that there is a balance, a yin and yang. The “Me” versus “Them” mentality is too complex to even understand fully. And, as in my own life, I shouldn’t be looking for that one answer to that question. Instead, I should be mindful of the wonderfully delicate nature of the question, of that balance with the universe. I should live fully and be appreciative and thankful for that “battle” or rather “relationship.” I am not being completely selfish and I am not being a tyrant. As I go through my life, I am being an individual and treating others as individuals as I also care about the peace and unity of the group. I have a balance. And, in a way, the Indonesians do too. Instead of trying to answer the question and figure out which answer is best, the Indonesians and I are living our lives being mindful that the question exists. Individual’s Truth? Group’s Truth? The real truth of it all is that they are both one Truth. A balanced, fragile Truth, that we must make sure always exists. Cause if the question doesn’t even exist at all, what would our world be like?
This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.