Character Education

Character Education
Indonesia needs of human resources in sufficient quantity and quality as the main supporter of the development. To meet the human resource, education has a crucial role.
This is in accordance with Act No. 20 of 2003 on National Education System in Article 3, which states that the national education serves to develop skills and shaping character and civilization of the nation's dignity in the framework of the nation's intellectual life. National education aims at developing the potential of learners in order to become a man of faith and piety to God Almighty, noble, healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent, and become citizens of a democratic and accountable.
Based on the function and purpose of national education, it is clear that education at all levels, including junior high school (SMP) should be organized systematically to achieve that goal. This is related to character formation of students so as to compete, ethics, morals, manners and interact with the community. Based on research at Harvard University in the United States (Ibrahim Ali Akbar, 2000), turns a person's success is not determined solely by the knowledge and technical skills (hard skills), but more by the ability to manage ourselves and others (soft skills). This study reveals, success is determined only about 20 percent by the hard skills and the remaining 80 percent by soft skills. Even the most successful people in the world can succeed because the more support the ability of soft skills rather than hard skills. This suggests that the quality character education learners is very important to be improved.
Character is the values of human behavior that relate to the Almighty God, self, fellow human beings, the environment, and nationhood embodied in thoughts, attitudes, feelings, words, and actions based on religious norms, laws, manners, culture , and customs.
Character education is an investment system of values to the character of the school community that includes components of knowledge, awareness or volition, and actions to implement those values, both to the Almighty God (Almighty), self, neighbor, neighborhood, or nationality so become a man perfect man. In character education in schools, all components (stakeholders) should be involved, including the components of education itself, ie the content of curriculum, learning and assessment, quality of relationships, handling or management subjects, school management, implementation of the activity or co-curricular activities , the empowerment infrastructure, financing, and working ethos throughout the school community and the environment.
In spite of various shortcomings in the practice of education in Indonesia, when seen from the national standard of education is the reference for curriculum development (SBC), and implementing learning and assessment in schools, educational purposes in school can actually be achieved properly. Coaching character is also included in the material to be taught and mastered as well as realized by learners in everyday life. The problem is, character education in school for this new level of touch on the introduction of norms or values, and yet at the level of internalization and action in everyday life.
In an effort to improve the appropriateness and quality of character education, the Ministry of Education develop a grand design for each line of character education, level and type of educational unit. Grand design became a reference conceptual and operational development, implementation, and assessment on each line and level of education. Configuring the characters in the context of the totality of the process of psychological and socio-cultural are grouped in: Sports Heart (Spiritual and emotional development), Sports Thought (intellectual development), Sports and Kinesthetic (Physical and kinestetic development), and Physical Pain and the Willing (Affective and Creativity development). Development and implementation of character education needs to be done by referring to the grand design.
According to Law No. 20 Year 2003 on National Education System in Article 13 Paragraph 1 states that the point of education consists of formal education, nonformal, and informal that can complement and enrich each other. Informal education is the path of family and environmental education. Informal education actually has a role and contributed greatly to the success of education. Learners enrolled in school only about 7 hours per day, or less than 30%. The rest (70%), learners are in the family and the neighborhood. When viewed from the aspect of quantity time, education in schools contribute only 30% of the educational outcomes of students.
During this time, informal education, especially within the family environment has not provided a significant contribution in supporting the achievement of competence and character formation of students. The flurry of activity and working parents who are relatively high, the lack of understanding of parents in educating children in a family environment, social influences in the environment, and the influence of electronic media suspected to negatively affect the development and achievement of learning outcomes of students. One alternative to overcome these problems is through an integrated character education, which integrate and optimize the activities of informal education with formal education a family environment at school. In this case, the learning time of students at school need to be optimized in order to increase the quality of learning outcomes can be achieved, especially in the character formation of students.
Character education can be integrated in the learning in each subject. Instructional material relating to the norms or values in each subject should be developed, explicit, linked to the context of everyday life. Thus, learning the values of character not only on the cognitive level, but it touches on the internalization, and real practice in the lives of learners in the community everyday.
Extra-curricular activities that had been held the school is one potential medium for character building and improving the academic quality of students.Extracurricular activities are educational activities outside of subjects to assist the development of learners in accordance with the needs, potentials, talents, and interests through activities that are specifically organized by educators and educational staff or a capable and berkewenangan at school. Through extra-curricular activities are expected to develop skills and a sense of social responsibility, as well as the potential and achievements of learners.
Character education in schools is also strongly associated with the management or the management of schools. The management question is how character education is planned, implemented and controlled in the educational activities in schools adequately. Management include, among others, values that need to be implanted, curriculum, learning, assessment, educators and education personnel, and other related components. Thus, the school management is one of the effective medium in character education in schools.
Mochtar Buchori (2007), character education should bring students to the introduction of value cognitively, affectively value appreciation, and finally to the practice of real value. Issues of character education that has been there in junior high school need to be assessed, and sought alternatives, alternative solutions, and need to be developed in a more operational so easily implemented in schools.
Character education aims to improve the quality of implementation and educational outcomes in schools that lead to the achievement of noble character and character formation of students as a whole, integrated, and balanced, according to competency standards. Character education through junior high school students are expected to be able to independently increase and use knowledge, assess and internalize and personalize the values of character and noble character, so manifest in everyday behavior.
Character education at the institution level leads to the formation of school culture, ie values that underlie behavior, traditions, everyday customs, and symbols that are practiced by all schools, and communities around the school. School culture is the hallmark, the character or character, and the image of the school in the eyes of the public.
Target is a character education throughout the secondary school (SMP) in the Indonesian public and private. All citizens of the school, including learners, teachers, administrative staff, and school leaders become targets of this program.The schools that have managed to implement character education well serve as best practices, which serve as a model to be disseminated to other schools.
Through this program are expected to graduate school to have faith and devotion to God Almighty, noble, noble character, academic competence and integrated whole, and also have a good personality fit the norms and culture of Indonesia. On a broader level, character education into school culture might be expected.
The success of character education programs can be known through the achievement of indicators by learners as contained in the Competency Standards graduate school, which among others include the following:
1. Practicing religion in accordance with the stages of adolescent development;
2. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of self;
3. Demonstrate an attitude of confidence;
4. Abide by social rules that prevail in the wider environment;
5. Appreciate the diversity of religious, cultural, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups within the national scope;
6. Finding and applying information from the surrounding environment and other sources logically, critically and creatively;
7. Demonstrated ability to think logically, critically, creatively, and innovative;
8. Demonstrated ability to learn independently in accordance with its potential;
9. Demonstrated ability to analyze and solve problems in everyday life;
10. Describe the natural and social phenomena;
11. Utilizing environmentally responsible manner;
12. Applying the values of unity in the life of society, nation and the state in order to achieve unity within the unitary Republic of Indonesia;
13. Appreciate works of art and national culture;
14. Appreciate the work tasks and have the ability to work;
15. Applying to live clean, healthy, fit, safe, and enjoy free time well;
16. Communicate and interact effectively and courteously;
17. Understanding the rights and obligations of self and others in the association in the community; Respect differences of opinion;
18. Shows predilection to read and write short simple texts;
19. Demonstrate listening skills, speaking, reading, and writing in Indonesian language and simple English;
20. Mastered the knowledge required to follow the secondary education;
21. Entrepreneurial spirit.
At school level, the criteria for character education attainment is a culture of the school, behavior, traditions, everyday customs, and symbols that are practiced by all schools, and communities around the schools must be grounded in those values.