RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S VIEW OF EDUCATION IN HIS POEMS THE CHILD ANGEL, WHEN AND WHY, AND BENEDICTION
RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S VIEW OF EDUCATION
IN HIS POEMS THE CHILD ANGEL, WHEN AND WHY,
AND BENEDICTION
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Martinus Sudartomo
Student Number: 03 1214 004
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
I will run having legs
But, I will not stop for having the goal
I will fight for having hands
But, I will not lose for having the spirit
I will shout for having mouth
But, I will not shut it up for having the truth
Then, I will live for having love for everyone
(Kiyer D’great)
When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long.
Take the reason of the thing into your mind, and then
look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past
cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.
(Phyllis Bottome)
GOD WILL NEVER GET YOU SO FAR
JUST TO SEE YOU DOWN
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGANAKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma : Nama : Martinus Sudartomo Nomor Mahasiswa : 03 1214 004 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
“RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S VIEW OF EDUCATION
IN HIS POEMS THE CHILD ANGEL, WHEN AND WHY,
AND BENEDICTION
” beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 21 Agustus 2009 Yang menyatakan (Martinus Sudartomo)
ABSTRACT
Sudartomo, Martinus. 2009. Rabindranath Tagore’s View of Education in
His Poems The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction. Yogyakarta:
English Language Education Study program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study is conducted to analyze Tagore’s view of education from his three poems. They are The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction. These poems are the part of Tagore’s The Crescent Moon which was written in 1913. In these poems, the poet reveals some of his ideas on education.
There are two main questions which are going to be discussed in this study, namely (1) What is the explication of Tagore’s poems, entitled The Child
Angel, When and Why and Benediction? and (2) What Tagore’s views of education are as reflected in his three poems, The Child Angel, When and Why and Benediction?
The study uses library research to gather the data. The primary source was taken from the poems. Some books, articles, the poet’s biography, reviews on Indian education in 1913, and some sources from the internet were selected as the secondary sources. This study uses socio-historical approach and biographical approach. The first approach was employed to answer the first question. This approach was used to find the explication of Tagore’s three poems. The second approach was employed to answer the second question. This approach was used to find Tagore’s view of education.
Through the analysis, the study discovers the explication of the poems. As any other poems in The Crescent Moon , these three poems present Tagore’s relation to child. The explication of The Child Angel shows Tagore’s love to the youth. In When and Why, Tagore presents his close relation to nature and the child. Then, Benediction shows Tagore’s spirituality that needs God’s help. In addition, the study found some of Tagore’s view of education. In The Child Angel, education is viewed as giving parents-children attention to the students.
When and Why presents education that must be built based in a good atmosphere and long life learning. Benediction views education that needs spirituality. In this poem, t he presence of God’s help must not be forgotten.
The last, the application of the poems in education. The study used the poems to teach reading. It focuses on the language program of the third grade of senior high school.
ABSTRAK
Sudartomo, Martinus. 2009. Rabindranath Tagore’s View of Education in
His Poems The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction. Yogyakarta:
Program Study Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Studi ini disusun untuk menganalisa pandangan Tagore tentang pendidikan melalui tiga puisinya. Ketiga puisi tersebut adalah The Child Angel, When and Why, dan Benediction. Ketiganya merupakan bagian dari The Crescent Moon yang ditulis pada tahun 1913. Melalui ketiga puisi tersebut, penyair mengungkapkan ide-idenya tentang pendidikan.
Ada dua permasalahan mendasar yang akan dibahas dalam studi ini, yaitu (1) Apa explikasi dari puisi-puisi Tagore yang berjudul The Child Angel, When and Why dan Benediction? dan (2) Apa pandangan Tagore tentang pendidikan dalam ketiga puisinya, The Child Angel, When and Why, dan Benediction?
Studi ini menggunakan studi pustaka untuk menggali data. Sumber utama dari studi ini adalah puisi-puisi tersebut. Beberapa buku, artikel, biografi penyair, tinjauan tentang pendidikan di India tahun 1913, dan beberapa sumber dari internet digunakan sebagai sumber lain. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan formalistik dan pendekatan biografi. Pendekatan pertama digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama. Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk mencari explikasi dari ketiga puisi Tagore. Pendekatan kedua digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua. Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk mencari pandangan Tagore tentang pendidikan.
Melalui analisa, studi ini menemukan explikasi dari puisi-puisi tersebut. Seperti puisi-puisi lainnya dalam The Crescent Moon, ketiga puisi tersebut menggambarkan hubungan Tagore dengan anak. Explikasi The Child Angel menunjukkan cinta Tagore pada kaum muda. Dalam When and Why, Tagore menunjukkan kedekatannya dengan alam dan anak. Sebagai tambahan, studi ini menemukan pandangan Tagore tentang pendidikan. Dalam The Child Angel, pendidikan berarti memberikan perhatian orangtua-anak kepada para murid. When and Why memberi gambaran tentang pendidikan yang dibagun dalam suasana yang bagus dan pendidikan seumur hidup. Benediction memandang perlunya spiritualitas dalam pendidikan. Dalam puisi ini, manusia tidak boleh melupakan pertolongan Tuhan.
Akhirnya, studi ini sampai pada bagian penerapan puisi dalam pendidikan. Dalam studi ini, puisi-puisi tersebut digunakan untuk mengajar reading. Pelajaran tersebut ditujukan untuk anak SMA kelas 3 program bahasa.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Finally, I had done my thesis. All of the miracle from Him and the supports from others really help me in the process of writing the thesis. My deepest and greatest gratitude goes to Jesus Christ, for pouring His never-ending blessing on me and accompanying me all the time.
I am greatly indebted to V. Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., my major sponsor, for her guidance, patience, and kindness. I thank her for her advice, correction, and time to read my thesis thoroughly.
My deepest thanks are addressed to all of the English Language Education Study Program lecturers. I also would like to express thanks to Mbak Daniek, Mbak Tari, and all of the librarians for all of their assistance during my study.
I would like to extend my deepest and most sincere thanks to my parents, Y.
Sugiman and A. Rokimah; it is because of them that I am who I am. I thank them
for their love, care, patience, support, and never-ending prayer for me. They are my inspiration to be a better person and my motivation to finish my thesis. I thank my brother and sister, Th. Sugiyarti and St. Darmawan Wijaya for supporting me financially and psychologically.
I would like to express thanks to my relatives in VL X Generation for coloring my life in black: Bhanu, Blacky, Bem-bem, Dionz, Jatee, Bawor and
Top-X. Thank you for giving me experience that life is beautiful.
My sincere appreciation goes to the big family of SMP Kanisius Borobudur, especially for Pak Harto, Pak Sri, and Pak Tik for our very hard working experiences. Also, SMP Maria Immaculata Yogyakarta, especially for Suster
Ancilla, and Bu Ratmi for giving me chances to learn how to be a real teacher.
Furthermore, I thank BEC for the experience in teaching and hard working.
My gratitude goes to Wiwik for giving me knowledge and let me learn his wonderful idealism. I also thank Brian, Nanang, Eko Kam, Shanti, Thulik, Adi,
Ucok, Diah, and Lita for the experiences in Mudika. All that we have done
together really inspire me to be a tough and independent person. I express my gratitude to PBI-98: Mas Topo and Mbak Maria for the translation work; PBI-
02: Dedy Edogawa, Gede, Dhani, Galih Purnomo; PBI-03: Gaboo, Trek, Ji’i,
Lukas, Dono, Sukie, Edu, Ayu, Yusta, Layung; PBI-04: An, Jody, Marshel;
PBI-05: Wahyu. Thank you for the experiences, madness, sadness and happiness.
For EEPRO, I thank for the incredible works and experiences. My gratitude to the play performance crew, especially
“Willow Creek”, thank you for let me learn to
work in a team. Adiwijayanti, I thank you for filling my loneliness with your smile and fun experiences.
Then, my special thanks to my “little angel”, my beloved one, Euducia
Wening Rahayu Maharani. I thank her for the light in my life and much for
being light of my life. I also thank her for her patience, understanding, care, and support.
Furthermore, I thank to everybody who has given me support in the process of writing this thesis that cannot be mentioned here.
Martinus Sudartomo
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... i PAGES OF APPROVAL ................................................................................... ii PAGE OF DEDICATION .................................................................................. iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .................................................. v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI.................................... vi
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .....................................................................
1 1.1 Background of the Study ........................................................................
1 1.2. Problem Formulation ............................................................................
3 1.3. Problem Limitation ................................................................................
3 1.4. Objectives of the Study .........................................................................
4 1.5. Benefits of the Study ..............................................................................
4 1.6. Definition of the Terms .........................................................................
4 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................
7 2.1. Review of Related Theories ..................................................................
7 2.1.1. Critical Approach .......................................................................
7
2.1.2. Theory of Explication .................................................................
10 2.1.3. Theory of Education ...................................................................
11 2.2. Biography of Rabindranath Tagore and His Views of Education ..........
13 2.2.1 Biography of Rabindranath Tagore ..............................................
13
2.2.2 Tagore’s View of Education ......................................................... 16 2.3. Review on Indian Education ..................................................................
19 2.3.1. Ancient Education ......................................................................
19 2.3.2. Modern Education ......................................................................
20 2.4. Theoretical Framework .........................................................................
22 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ...............................................................
23 3.1. Object of the Study ................................................................................
23 3.2. Approach of the Study ..........................................................................
24 3.3. Method of the Study ..............................................................................
25 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS ................................................................................
26 4.1. The Explication of the Poems ...............................................................
26 4.1.1 The Explication of The Child Angel .............................................
26 4.1.2. The Explication of When and Why ...............................................
35 4.1.3. The Explication of Benediction ...................................................
40 4.2. Tagore’s View on Education Reflected in His Poems .......................... 47 4.2.1.
Tagore’s View on Education Reflected in The Child Angel ....... 47 4.2.2. Tagore’s View on Education Reflected in When and Why .......... 48
4.2.3. T agore’s View on Education Reflected in Benediction ................ 52
58 REFERENCES .................................................................................................
67 4. Material for Teaching Reading ......................................................................
66 3. Lesson Plan for Teaching Reading ................................................................
65 3. Benediction ....................................................................................................
64 2. When and Why ...............................................................................................
63 1. The Child Angel .............................................................................................
61 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................
57 5.2.1. Suggestion for Teaching Reading ................................................
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ...............................
57 5.2.1. Suggestion to Future Researchers ................................................
56 5.2. Suggestions .................................................................................................
5.1.2. Tagore’s View of Education on The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction............................................................
55
5.1.1. The Explication of The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction .............................................................................................
55
55 5.1. Conclusions .................................................................................................
70 5. Tagore’s Selected Work ................................................................................. 70
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The first chapter consists of six parts. The first part is the background of
study. It reveals the writer’s reason for conducting the study. The second part is the problem formulation. It conveys the problems that are discussed in the study.
The third part is the problem limitation. It gives a clear border of the study being discussed. The fourth part is the objective of the study. It shows the aims of the study. The fifth part is the benefits of the study. It reveals the advantages of the study for other researchers and the importance of the study to the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. The definition of terms, which clarifies the terms used in the study, is the last part.
A. Background of the Study
This study stems from the curiosity of the writer to reveal how a poet can express his idea through poems. The writer thinks that it is interesting to study someone’s thought which is expressed through literary works. Therefore, the writer invites the readers to learn other’s thought to sharpen their knowledge. As the part of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata
Dharma University, which trains someone to be a teacher, the writer feels that it is necessary to deepen his knowledge on education. One way to deepen knowledge of education is studying other’s thought of education. Therefore, other’s views will enrich the writer’s knowledge on education.
This study chooses to find view of education through poem for the reason that both of them can be related to one another. Poem is one kind of literary works that has unique elements and becomes a way to deliver someone’s thoughts, views, and ideas. On the other hand, education relates to the process of delivering knowledge from one to another. Poem might be one of the ways to deliver knowledge or idea on education. There are some people who are able to express their idea on education through poems. One of the people who can write down the idea about education in poem is Rabindranath Tagore.
Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet and educator, has magnificent thought in education. He is able to convey his thought in education through his works, which most of them are on poems. Through the symbols, themes and the elements of poems, Tagore conveys his profound thought on education. His works are widely known by Indian people and other people all over the world. The Indian education was also being influenced, due to the strength of Tagore
’s writing. His thought that the Indian should not forget tradition still influences the Indian education up to the present. Therefore, the writer chooses Tagore’s poems.
There are more than thousands of poems of Tagore, but this study chooses his three poems, namely The Child Angel, When and Why and Benediction. They are part of his book, The Crescent Moon, which was written in 1913. The writer is interested in those three poems because they convey Tagore’s thought in education. Tagore’s thought of education conveyed on those poems are unique.
He uses symbols, simile, personification or any other poetic device to draw his ideas. In addition, the characteristics of Indian poets, such as the mysticism, religious aspects, etc, appear in those poems. Thus, the uniqueness makes the poems worth studying.
India and Indonesia have similar history in terms of history as the colony of other country. This situation affects their education system and ideology. For that reason, this study has the significance to Indonesian education. First, the Indonesian can study Tagore’s view of education as a comparison to Indonesian education.
Second, Tagore’s view may inspire the Indonesian education of today. The third, Tagore’s struggle in education and his spirit in developing education also similar to some Indonesian education figures, such as Ki Hadjar Dewantara, R. A Kartini and so on. Thus, the today’s Indonesian educator can learn from them.
B. Problem Formulation The study intends to answer the following questions.
1. What is the explication of Tagore’s poem, entitled The Child Angel, When and Why and Benediction?
2. What Tagore’s views of education are as reflected in his three poems, The
Child Angel, When and Why and Benediction?
C. Problem Limitation This part affirms limitations of the study in order to avoid broader focus.
The study focuses on Tagore’s view of education. His view will be seen only in his three poems, they are The Child Angel, When and Why and Benediction. This study focuses on Tagore’s biography to find his views of education.
D. Objectives of the Study
Based on the problem formulation above, the objectives of the study are stated as follows.
1. The goal of the study is to observe the explication of Rabindranath Tagore’s three poems, namely The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction.
2. The study is aimed to observeTagore’s views of education as reflected in his three poems, The Child Angel, When and Why, and Benediction.
E. Benefits of the Study
The study has some benefits. The readers are able to get more knowledge of someone’s view on education, especially Tagore’s view. The study presents Tagore’s biography, hopefully his biography arise reader’s motivation, especially in education. For the English Education Language Study Program, especially the students, of Sanata Dharma University, this study may enrich the study program with some education views from Tagore. The implementation of this study in language teaching will be presented in the lesson plan to teach reading.
F. Definition of Terms
The writer states some terms in order to avoid misconception. The terms are stated as follows.
1. Education Education has many interpretations, but in this study, education means "to lead out”. The word “education” came from Latin e-ducere. Education was about drawing out what was already within the students. So, it means that education just develops the talent which has been acquired by the students. Education, according to Hornby (369), is
“the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university ”.
Other definition comes from Driyarkara (126-128). He states that “education and to educate are fundamental problem”. They are activities which changes human life, including the students and the educator. In addition from his thought
, education is a process to “born” a new human being. Mayer (11), quoted from John Dewey, regards that “education is a reconstruction of experience which gives meaning to our existence and which aids us in the direction of subsequent experience ”.
In this study, education’s goal is a way of making a full human being. There are many aspects to concern in achieving the goal but this study only grasps only to some aspects. The first is about how to treat the students. The second, there must be religious aspect included in an education. The third, an educator needs a willingness for a long life learning, where s/he can study from many sources including his or her students and environment.
2. View According to Hornby(1327),
“view is a personal opinion or attitude; a thought or comment on something ”. Nevertheless, view has other interpretation. Philosophically, view defines as someone's way to understand and to think about things happening around him in present or in past (www.swami_krishnanendra.org/phil/phil_ola.html). Then, it will be resulted in wisdom.
Here, in this study, view is considered as someone’s opinion or thought about a topic. However, such opinion is implemented in such a way so that people around him can also learn from him.
3. Explication
According to Barnet, Berman, & Burto (1258), “explication is a line-by- line commentary on what is going on in a texts
”. However, it is different from pharaphrase. This kind of analysis is more detail. The detail includes allutions, denotations and connotations of words, symbols, sounds and rhythms, irony and other particular. Kennedy & Gioia (609) states that
“explication tries to examine and unfold all the details in a poem that a sensitive reader might consider ”.
In this study, the writer regards explication as the analysis of the poem in certain detail. There are many details can be seen. The details which is included in this study are symbols, rhythms, connotations and irony.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This study is divided into three main parts. First, review of related theories. Second, review on the historical-biographical background. The last is the theoretical framework. They are presented as follows. A. Review of Related Theories This part reveals some theories which relates to the study. They are Critical Approach, Theory of Poetry, Explication Theory and Education Theories. The theories are presented as follow.
1. Critical Approach Critical approach in literature is commonly used since it is easy to conduct.
The theories of critical approach in this study are taken from two sources. They are Rohrberger, and Diana and Gioia.
Rohrberger starts the theory of critical approach to literature by comparing it to impressionistic approach. It is said that critical approach is different from impressionistic approach in terms of viewing literature. Impressionistic approach seems too subjective in studying a literary works. In contrary, there is critical approach to literature. Critical approach to literature regards art to have esthetic value. The esthetic value in literature is the part of applied esthetic, which studies art and the nature of beauty. Therefore, this approach involves esthetic response to find the esthetic value.
Critical approach regards that literature ’s verbal structure has meaning. Therefore, the process in critical approach begins with understanding that words are used together to shape meaning. The meaning involves one’s experience and knowledge which are valuable. It enables them to participate vicariously. Then, in doing so, it leads the words to greater knowledge and eventual wisdom.
According to Rohrberger, critical approach to literature necessitates an understanding of its nature, function and positive values. He divides critical approach into six, namely formalist approach, biographical approach, sociocultural-historical approach, mythopoeic approach, and psychological approach. However, this study uses some of them which are appropriate to the context of the study. They are sociocultural-historical approach, biographical approach and sociocultural-historical approach.
The first approach, sociocultural-historical approach, regards that someone must locate the civilization as the reference to study. This statement is based on two reasons. The first reason is that literature is not created in vacuum. There is always situation which becomes the background. The second reason is that the ideas in the literature have significant meaning to the culture that produces it. According to this approach, there are always philosophies of life which can be expressed and viewed in moral terms.
The second approach, biographical a pproach, involves the author’s biography to understand his writing. This approach regards art as the reflection of personality. Therefore, the reader needs to find the information about the author’s life as much as possible. The author’s life may have fascinated the reader, but the reader may not present their judgment on author’s life in analyzing the literary works.
Kennedy and Gioia state ten critical approaches to literature. Their finding is different from Rohrberger, who only states five approaches. However, Kennedy and Gioa have the same idea that criticism can be based on some disciplines. Kennedy and Gioia state that the approaches are not mutually exclusive, the reader may mix methods to suit their needs and interests. The ten approaches mentioned by Kennedy and Gioia are formalist criticism, biographical criticism, historical criticism, psychological criticism, mythological criticism, sociological criticism, gender criticism, reader-response criticism, deconstructionist criticism, and cultural studies. However, not all of them are included in this study. This study emphasizes on historical criticism and biographical criticism.
The first approach, historical criticism, regards the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced literature play important role in analyzing the literary work. The reader may use them to comprehend the literary works deeper. It begins by exploring the possible ways in which the meaning of the text has changed over time.
The second approach, biographical criticism, believes that literature is written by actual people. Thus, the reader can comprehend the work thoroughly by understanding the author’s life. Biography provides a practical assistance to underlines the important meaning of the poems. The focus of this approach is e xplicating literary work using the insight provided by the author’s life.
2. Theory of Explication There are many ways to analyze a poem. One of them is explication.
Explication has close relation to formalist approach since both of them comprehend the form of literary works. Explicating, as stated by Kenedy and Gioia (609),
“explains the entire poem in detail, unravels any complexities to be found in it ”. The complexities can be found either in extrinsic element or in intrinsic element of the poem. In this study, the explication unfolds every detail of the poems in terms of forms, rhetoric, figurative language and its vocabularies.
Explicating a poem must be in a great detail. Abcarian, Klotz and Richardson (39) state that an explication is essentially a demonstration of your thorough understanding of a work. Similar to opening a book, explicating a poem needs an extensive reading of the poem to understand its meaning. Therefore, the writer must read the poem more than once. If necessary, reading aloud must be done. The writer will find the soul of the poem as they read it again and again.
There are some steps in explicating poems. The first step is reading the poem straight through once. The explication should follow the structure of the poem itself. It starts with the first line and ends with the last. The second step is making several general points about the poem’s structure and main purpose before starting to individual lines. The third step is explicating the poem.
However, according to http://uwp.aas.duke.edu /wstudio, there are three main tasks in explicating poem. The first is taking the poem apart into its smallest units and study them on their own terms. The second discusses about how those units relate to each other. The third is making connections between these smaller units and the poem as a whole.
3. Theory of Education
The word “education” has been defined in the first chapter. However, there is no perfect definition of education. Every expert has his or her own definition.
For that reason, this study only presents some education theories which support the study.
Human life starts from baby, child, adult then old. Every stage is different one to another. The first stage, baby, s/he learns by imitating their environment. In the second stage, child, human being starts to learn from their environment and needs encouragement from the people from their above stages. According to Driyarkara, education is important in human life. It becomes the foundation of human life. Starting from the human being born, they need education. He states that education starts at the beginning of someone’s life. Therefore, his ideas in education focused on the education for the young learner. Driyarkara (127) states as follow.
Mendidik ….ialah pemanusiaan manusia muda (anak), dan ini berarti homonisasi dan humanisasi… berarti pengangkatan manusia muda sampai sedemikian tingginya sehingga dia bisa menjalankan hidupnya sebagai manusia dan membudayakan diri.
To educate…is making the youth become a fully human being, by the means of homonization and humanization….it means the promoting of the youth so that they can live as a human being and culture himself.
Education is important in building a full human being. Therefore, Driyarkara states two fundamental activities in education. They are hominisasi and
humanisasi. The main goal of those activities is creating a full human being.
Driyarkara states that “human life is established by education. Both educator and learner, determine their own life through activities in education
”. For the educator, to educate means determining an attitude for the learner. In contrary, it is obvious that the learner accept the knowledge from the educator.
Driyarkara states three principles in education. The first, to educate is an influence from person who is responsible to the child so that they can grow into adult. Second, education is life unity of father, mother and son, where the process of making human happens. In short, family plays an important role in c hild’s education.
Along with Driyarkara’s statement, UNESCO, as the international organization which concerns with education, has its own statement on education.
It regards human as the perfect creature. Human beings have free mind and thinking. However th e people are still struggling to create the “perfect” human being. They made their own limitation about education and also ways to educate people to be full human being.
In order to support the statements above, the writer put UNESCO’s statements on education. UNESCO is chosen since it is an international education is not an object of education. They have their own status in education. Human being is creative, so education must encourage human being to be creative.
Second, human being is inseparable from the society since they are social creature. To conclude, UNESCO states that education must prepare human being for their society including its social structure.
Education is not an instant way to make a full human being. Education is a learning process. During the process, teachers and students are transferring knowledge. It is not merely the teachers who transfer his ideas or knowledge to the students. It is both sides transferring knowledge one another. One of the theories of learning came from experiential learning. Kolb (38) states that “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience
”. The process emphasizes on the process of adaptation and learning as opposed to content or outcomes. Thus, Kolb regards knowledge as a transformation process, being continuously created and recreated not as an independent entity to be acquired or transmitted.
B. Biography of Rabindranath Tagore and His View of Education In this part, the study presents two things. The first is biography of Tagore.
The second is Tagore’s view of education. It is presented as follows.
1. Biography of Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore, a teacher and a poet, was born in Calcuta on 6 May 1861. He was born in a wealthy Brahmin family. He was the youngest child in the family. His father, Debendranath Tagore, was a leader of Brahmo Samaj, a religious sect in Bengal which was based on Hinduism as laid down in the
Upanishad. His mother, Sarada Devi, died when Tagore was very young. His
family was a gifted family that has many talents and was genius. As we can see, his brother Dweijendranath, Tagore’s eldest brother, was a philosopher.
Jyotirindra, his other brother was an amateur artist and known for his drawing. The third brother was the first Indian to enter Civil Service. Then, his nephews, Abanindranath and Gaganedranath were the Great Twin Brethren of Bengali.
Thus, Tagore lived and grew up in the house of India renaissance.
On his personal life, Tagore was a loyal man. His wife was Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri. Tagore married her in 1883 and moved to East Bengal. He had two sons; they are Rathindranath Tagore and Samindranath Tagore, and three daughters; they are Madhurilata Tagore, Mira Tagore and Renuka Tagore. In 1941, Tagore died on his eighty. He never remarried after his wife passed away in 1902.
As a Bengal Poet, Rabindranath Tagore wrote most of his poem in Bengali language. But, some of them have been translated into English. At the age of six, he studied classical poetry of Kalidasa. Thompson (4) said that he had been the representative man of his time, in touch with fullness of his intellectual heritage.
He was able to combine the style of great Sanskrit Literature and good diction.
As a teacher, Rabindranath Tagore had various education backgrounds. When he was a child, he was educated by some tutors and variety of schools. He described his family as the product of "a confluence of three cultures: Hindu, Mohammedan, and British". Those three cultures enriched Tagore’s view. However, much of Tagore's ideologies came from the teaching of the Upanishads and from his own beliefs that God can be found through personal purity and service to others. He stressed the need for the new world order based on transnational values and ideas, the "unity consciousness." He studied history and culture in Bengal Academy. He travelled to England in 1878 in hope of becoming a barrister. He studied law at University College London. However, he left University College London and was back to India in 1880 for the reason that his father had arranged his marriage to Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri. Though he had various formal educations, there was not any place for his real education. Thomson (6) states,
“his real education came, not from the desultory and experimental alternation of tutor and school… but from the whole circumstances of his life
”. Through his thought, education could be obtained through many ways and the freedom of mind. He founded a school at Santiniketan (Abode of Peace). His school was built in 1901. It was an independent school since the school never had much money for the low fees. The government did not pay attention to this school. However, the school grew into an international university, Visva-Bharati, in 1921. Thomson (35) states that “this school was founded for his thought that his country seemed to him so broken and scattered, that the first need was to give it some centre where it might concentrate
”. So, the school uses both imaginative and innovative system of education. He combined the western and eastern philosophy at this school. Even Satyajit Ray, an alumnus of Santiniketan, said: I consider the three years I spent in Santiniketan as the most fruitful of my life…. Santiniketan opened my eyes for the first time to the splendorous of Indian and Far Eastern art…Santiniketan made me the combined product of East and West that I am.
At this school, where he wrote many of his works, Tagore tried to combine traditional Indian culture with Western ideas. All the children contributed significantly to Bengali literature and culture. His writings influence the students and teachers of the school and lead the school to ta ke a major part in India’s social, political and cultural movement.
As one of Indian hero, Tagore fought the freedom of India through his own way. It was different from his friend, Mahatma Gandhi, who fought the freedom of India through political movement. He struggled for the freedom of India with his poems, novels, short stories, plays and songs. His works helped the Indian to gain their independence by burning their spirit, as stated by http://www.terebess.hu/english/tagore4.html (accessed on Monday, May 20 2008)
As a multifaceted genius and renaissance man par excellence, he not only carried the literature and arts of Bengal, virtually single-handedly, to dizzying heights of creativity, but, by his inspiring words, his lyrically unequalled songs, his unstinting support for the cause of India's freedom during a long and turbulent phase of her history, he lifted Indian culture and the Indian psyche to an unprecedented level of revitalization.
2. Tagore’s View of Education
Tagore, education, culture and religion are four integral things. Many of Tagore’s thought are the combination of those things. The philosophy of Indian which stressed on religious side is the base of his thought. However, his thoughts are presented in many practical aspects, as stated by Sardi (66) quoted from Ki Hajar Dewantara as follows.
Tagore menekankan segi religious sebagaimana biasa dalam system filsafat India, dan juga segi-segi praktis atau ketrampilan.
Tagore stresess on religious aspects as stated in Indian philosophy and also practical aspects and skills.
As an educator, Tagore often criticized the education in Europe. He stated that western education as a huge bag which contains many papers and lessons but forget the human soul. Sardi (66) states,
“It creates emptiness in human soul”. He does not reject the thought from western culture but he assimilates it with the eastern view. His thought is that the Indian needs to be educated in both the best of their own tradition and the best of the western tradition. Tagore quoted in Palmer, Bresler, & Cooper (192) states that
“education is a living, not a mechanical process, and is a truth as freely admitted as it is persistenly ignored ”.
In addition, he states, “education should be more or less the same quality for all humanity needful for its evolution of perfection