Failure

What do I think about failure?

One of the big things about game is that, in the game, failure is not punishing. I mean, yeah you can quit the game and it is not a big deal. Sometimes I am thinking that why don't we treat life the same? Everyone in education strives for success, strives for achievement. But the reality is, there are many many failures in education unaddressed. I am one of them. I am a failure.

So, as an instructor or learning facilitator what do I do? Is it not the things I do for the learners for their success?

Yes and no. I do everything I can on my capacity to provide the best learning environment (as I know it) for my students. That is true. And that is the bare minimum I can do for them. Do I not want them to succeed? Well, of course I am happy when they succeed. So in part, I want them to succeed. But I deeply understand that success in education is not that simple. It is a messy process with a lot of confounding factors. Sometimes, success even shouldn't be attributed to a single person. It is a social trait. Somebody could achieve something since only and only if those intricate factors support them to be. I, as an instructor, am just a very small factor among all of those intertwining web of factors.

But it is my responsibility to provide the best support I can offer. That is an instructor credo.

How if one of my students failed? I won't mad. I won't sad. I understand. Something might happen, outside my circle of influence. But before that happened, I just wish he/she had the opportunity to reach me out so that I might help.

It is just like in a game. You may quit. You may fail. But not before you give your best shot.

Guru

Di dalam Bahasa Indonesia, kata "guru" memiliki berbagai padanan kata dan makna. Pengajar, pendidik, instruktur, orang yang digugu dan ditiru, mentor adalah beberapa contoh makna "guru" yang kita pahami selama ini. Namun secara etimologis, kata "guru" itu kata serapan dari bahasa Sanskrit "गुरु" (guru). Dalam bahasa Sanskrit, kata itu memiliki dua makna. Jika dia adalah kata benda, maka "guru" bermakna "seseorang yang dihormati" atau lebih literal lagi "guru" bermakna "darkness destroyer, seseorang yang menghancurkan kegelapan".

Yang menarik mungkin, kata "guru" memiliki cognate alias keterhubungan makna dengan kata Latin "gravis". Tentu saja, karena dalam bahasa Sanskrit, makna kedua dari kata "guru" adalah jika dia merupakan kata sifat maka "guru" berarti "heavy, berat".

Menarik ya?

Jika "guru" adalah kata benda, maka dia adalah penghancur kegelapan. Jika "guru" adalah kata sifat, maka dia itu berat.

Ingat istilah "gaya gravitasi"? Gravitasi itu memiliki akar kata Latin "gravis", berat. Gaya gravitasi adalah gaya yang ada karena interaksi dua benda yang memiliki massa (berat).

Di titik inilah kemudian insting gathuk mathuk (mencocok-cocokkan) saya bekerja.

Guru eksis karena adanya interaksi dua manusia. Tidak akan ada guru jika tidak ada murid.

Saya percaya, belajar itu sosial. Ketika kita merayakan Hari Guru, dimana secara kultural kita memang selayaknya berterimakasih kepada semua guru yang telah membawa kita dari kegelapan menuju cahaya pengetahuan, secara implisit sebenarnya kita juga merayakan eksistensi kita sebagai murid, sebagai seseorang yang memiliki kehendak terhadap ilmu. Toh, guru dan murid itu dua entitas yang tak terpisahkan oleh "gaya gravitasi".

Selamat Hari Guru 2021!

Perfect Square

Click the green flag button to start.
Click the red square to clone it. You can move it around.
It will be deleted if the square touches the edge.
You can change the square size.

This is not a game. This is a virtual manipulative.