Values of Indonesian Culture

Values of Indonesian Culture Every culture has its own assumptions and values about what it believes and considers right. When it comes to assumptions and values, people tend to be subjective because the value itself has been planted in them since they were young. Those values are being planted in their mind until they believe in it as if it is the right one. It also happens in my home country’s values. Tradition believes older people have earned respect, because they have survived. Also, Indonesians believe many resources make life easier. In Indonesian education, two values from these assumptions are the teacher is an elder and is always right. In addition, being rich can help students get in the best schools. In Eastern cultures like my country, Indonesia, we trust and respect elders. We respect their opinions, knowledge, and advice because we believe they are old enough to know many things about this world. They have experienced a lot of things that young people have not experienced before. There is a saying that elder people have tasted “asam garam dunia”; it means that elder people have experienced many things along their lives. In our culture, life’s experiences are highly regarded by people. The life knowledge that elder people get cannot be replaced by textbook knowledge. Therefore, that is what makes a teacher an elder. They have to be old enough to experience things in their lives. The older they are, the higher the respect that they will get from the students because of this experience. Other than that, in Indonesia, they believe that a teacher is always right. When I was in high school, I had a language teacher. She was old enough to be a teacher in my school. One day, one of my classmates was questioning my teacher’s answer in class. Then suddenly, my teacher said to the class, “One, a teacher is always right. Second, when a teacher is wrong, go back to number one.” From what my teacher said at that time, I realized how this value in my country