CHARACTER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL PROBLEM OF COMMUNITY

Jaedi1, Zaenudin2, Sarwo Edi3  

Universitas Wiralodra Indramayu, Indonesia

Zaidim620@gmail.com1, Zaenudin07@gmail.com2, sarwoedy@pelitabangsa.ac.id3

 

Keywords

Abstract

Character Education, Problems, Social

Character education is an education system that aims to instill certain character values in society which includes components of knowledge, awareness or will, as well as actions to implement community education values in realizing the life of the nation by instilling character education. This research aims to identify and improve relevant character values in society. This research uses a qualitative case study type with data analysis methods. This research was conducted in Indramayu Regency using Indramayu Regency Strategic Plan study materials and the 2020 Indramayu Figures book. Pure Enrollment Rates (APM) and Gross Enrollment Rates (APK) According to Level of Education in Indramayu Regency in 2019 and 2020 at SMA/SMK/MA is 69.79. Even though there has been an increase in the Education Human Development Index (HDI) in Indramayu Regency since 2008, the School Enrollment Rate (APS), Net Enrollment Rate (APM), and Formal Gross Enrollment Rate (APK) are still low. The low level of education at this age is a problem in the human development index.

Corresponding Author: Jaedi

E-mail: Zaidim620@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System states that National Education functions to develop abilities and shape the character and civilization of a dignified nation in order to educate the life of the nation, aiming to develop the potential of students to become intelligent human beings, devoted to God Almighty, noble character, healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent. Moreover, they become democratic and responsible citizens (Omeri, 2015).

From this law it can be understood that education is very important in making the nation's life intelligent and developing the potential of students who have the character of faith and devotion to God Almighty. Education is the main capital in improving academic quality (Salamah, 2019). Character education is one approach to anticipate changes in student behaviour in an adaptive and generative manner. This is by the formulation of the objectives of national education contained in UUSPN No. 20 of 2003 Chapter 2, article 3: National Education functions to develop abilities and shape the character and civilization of a dignified nation in order to educate the life of the nation, aiming to develop the potential of students to become human beings. Those who believe and are devoted to God Almighty have a noble character, are healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, and independent, and become democratic and responsible citizens .

According to a report from the Ministry of National Education, a comprehensive study on religious values, social norms, regulations, academic ethics, and human rights principles has identified 80 character values. These values are categorized into five groups: 1) Human behavioral values related to Almighty God, 2) Human behavioral values related to oneself, 3) Values of human behavior relating to fellow humans, 4) Human behavioral values related to the environment, and 5) Human behavioral values related to nationality.

Nilai-nilai karakter manusia berbeda-beda menurut perilaku manusia, seperti yang telah disebutkan di atas. Nilai-nilai karakter seseorang dapat dilihat pada hubungannya dengan Tuhan, diri sendiri, sesama manusia, lingkungan, dan kebangsaan (Awaludin, 2018).

 Increasing human development, which is currently being implemented, is within the framework of complete human development. Therefore, this development is carried out to create prosperity and prosperity for all Indonesian people in an atmosphere of balance and harmony in fulfilling physical and spiritual needs. Thus, human development must be connected to education, health and purchasing power, according to the Human Development Index (HDI). The education development index is urgent in increasing the HDI because education is the leading barometer in achieving human development (Sukur et al., 2021).

The social problems are enormous, especially for rural communities. Society is a small miniature of a country. Nowadays, almost every activity in people's lives is always associated with educational values. Therefore, it takes work to separate education from community life. Education requires support from the community, whether in the form of providing facilities, social systems, culture and so on, because here, the community is positioned as a subsystem that contributes to the success of the implementation of the educational process (Yanzi, 2019).

The key to success in character education is not only formal education but also supported by non-formal education with community support, both community organizations and other organizations. The community is the foundation of a moral education that can educate the nation's life in realizing character education (Ismail et al., 2020).

The benefits of this research include improving people's quality of life through understanding the character values needed to overcome social problems, developing targeted character education programs, and increasing social solidarity. Research results can make a positive contribution to the formation of individual and group character, create a society that is more resilient to various challenges, and strengthen social relations within it. Thus, this research not only provides in-depth insight into the correlation between character education and social problems, but also provides a basis for concrete steps in building a better society as a whole.

Research on Character Education and Community Social Problems has the main objective of identifying and improving relevant character values in society, with a focus on their impact on social problems. The research objectives involve identifying significant character values related to social challenges, increasing public awareness of positive character values, and investigating the impact of implementing character education on social problems. It is hoped that this understanding will help design more appropriate and effective character education approaches.

 

RESEARCH METHODS

This research uses a qualitative case study type with data analysis methods. The approach in this research is naturalistic, meaning that the researcher does not try to manipulate the research setting but conducts a study of a phenomenon/event. The focus of research can be people, groups, programs, relationship patterns, or interactions, all viewed in natural contexts. Thus, researchers through experience try to construct a worldview around education and the social character of society. The data analysis technique used in this research is an interactive analysis model, which includes four components, namely data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. This research was conducted in Indramayu Regency with study materials from the Indramayu Regency Strategic Plan and the 2020 book Indramayu figures.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Character Education Objectives

Character education aims to improve the quality of education implementation and outcomes that lead to the achievement of the formation of students' character or noble morals in a complete, integrated and balanced manner, according to graduate competency standards. Through character education, it is hoped that students will be able to independently increase and use their knowledge, study, internalize and personalize character values and noble morals so that they are manifested in everyday behaviour. Through character education, a child will become intelligent, not only with his brain but also emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence is critical in preparing children to face the future. With emotional intelligence, a person can successfully face all kinds of challenges, including succeeding academically through character education (Ismail et al., 2020).

This is by the formulation of the objectives of national education contained in UUSPN No. 20 of 2003 Chapter 2, article 3: National Education functions to develop abilities and shape the character and civilization of a dignified nation in order to make the life of the nation intelligent, aimed at developing the potential of students to become human beings. Who believe and are devoted to God Almighty, have a noble character, are healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent, and are democratic and responsible citizens.

Meanwhile, from an educational perspective, character education aims to improve the quality of implementation and educational outcomes, which leads to the achievement of the formation of students' character and noble morals as a whole, integrated and balanced (Sari et al., 2023). Character education essentially aims to form an authoritarian nation that is competitive, has good morals, moral tolerant, works together, has a patriotic spirit, develops dynamically, and has an orientation towards science and technology, all of which is imbued with faith and devotion to God Almighty based on Pancasila (Fauzi, 2020) .

To realize this goal, the role of the family, school and community determines character development for a better life in the future. By creating a conducive environment, people will grow into individuals with character so that the nature of every born pure can develop optimally.

Therefore, a good way is needed to build a person's character. One perfect way is to create a conducive environment. For this reason, the role of the family, school and community is vital in determining character development for a better life in the future.

Values in Character Education

Character education is based on primary human character, which originates from universal (absolute) moral values originating from religion, also known as the golden rule. Character education can have definite goals based on these fundamental character values. According to psychologists, some of the fundamental character values are love for Allah and His creation (nature and its contents), responsibility, honesty, respect and politeness, compassion, care and cooperation, self-confidence, creativity, hard work, and never giving up justice and leadership; kind and humble, tolerance, love of peace, and love of unity. Character education is the education of human moral values realized and carried out in real action. There are elements of forming these values and attitudes based on the knowledge to do so. These values can help us better interact with other people (learning to live together). These values cover various areas of life, such as relationships with others (other people, family), oneself (learning to be), life as a nation, the environment and God. Of course, instilling these values requires three aspects: cognitive, affective and psychomotor (Sari et al., 2023).

This is in line with what was expressed by Lickona, who emphasized three components of good character, namely moral knowing (knowledge about morals), moral feeling (feelings about morals), and moral action (moral actions). So, with these components, a person is expected to be able to understand, feel and practice virtuous values (Wijayanti & Fatimah, 2018).

Furthermore, the Ministry of National Education stated that Heri Gunawan stated that based on a study of religious values, social norms, regulations or laws, academic ethics and human rights principles, 80 character values have been identified, which are grouped into five, namely:

1. Values of human behavior related to Almighty God.

2. Values of human behaviour related to oneself

3. Values of human behaviour relating to fellow humans.

4. Values of human behaviour related to the environment.

5. human behavioural values related to nationality.

Thus, if character education has been successfully formulated by activists to a very operational stage including methods, strategies and techniques, while moral education is informed by ideal criteria and sources of good character, then combining the two becomes a very inspiring offer. This is an entry point that character education is strongly tied to spiritual and religious values (Harris, 2017).

Character education is based on the Al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah, a combination of the two, namely instilling certain characters and, simultaneously, providing seeds so students can develop their unique characters as they live. Following several ideas or character models will not make students become creative people who know how to face changing times; on the contrary, leaving it from the start for students to develop their values will not be successful, considering that students do not realize their goodness from the start. (Fattah, 2016) .

Through these character education values, character education will be visible and successful if a student understands that education is a form of knowledge and makes it a part of life and consciously lives based on these values. Implementing the values of character education can become an effort to make society aware of the importance of character education (Sire, 2018).

The Urgency of Character Education in Social Life

A social community highly upholds Islamic character or morality. Humans generally desire and "embrace" Islamic character or morality as proof that humans are social creatures. It is the formation of a society. Thus, society embodies life with people inhabiting a particular area. Various social processes also take place here. From a scientific point of view, this field has produced various scientific disciplines, such as social science (sociology), cultural science (anthropology), public relations science, and others.

Thus, society, values and character education have an interrelated relationship. Islamic character, a core part of believers' values, must receive adequate attention from all parties. This means that transferring the values of character education is a shared responsibility. Suppose Islamic character can be inherited from one generation to the next. In that case, a collective behaviour or character will be created. When collective character building is formed, social control over the lives of the community members becomes effective. Situations like this lead the community to conducive and dynamic conditions to advance themselves without abandoning the values that should be upheld in the local area (Ulwaqidiah, 2022).

Society will follow a good pattern of life if their predecessors have implemented this good example and made uswatun Hashanah in people's lives. Good community figures who can exemplify a moral and ethical way of life so that an intelligent and noble society can be created.

Community Problems

The problems of society today are poverty, education, and unemployment, which are still at the top of the list. Poverty is crucial for rural communities because it is vulnerable to all aspects of life, including educational, social, and cultural factors (Syatori, 2016). Measuring a poor person can be based on daily or monthly income and a person's job and income.

The Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBB) defines absolute poverty, namely, the situation of a population or part of the population who can only afford the food, clothing, and housing necessary to maintain a minimum level of living. To measure poverty, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) uses the ability to meet basic needs (basic needs approach). With this approach, poverty is seen as an economic inability to meet basic food and non-food needs measured in expenditure. So, the Poor population has an average per capita expenditure per month below the poverty line (Rick et al., 2023).

   Poverty is a condition of limited ability to meet the needs of a decent life, such as limitations in income, skills, health conditions, control of economic assets or access to information. This measurement is material or monetary. Monetary measurements can be carried out using expenditure data as an approach to household income. Then, this expenditure data is compared with the rupiah exchange rate limit required to meet minimum living needs. This limit is often called the poverty line (Adji et al., 2020).

In Law No. 13 of 2011 concerning handling of people with low incomes, it is stated that people with low incomes are people who do not have a source of livelihood at all and have a source of livelihood but cannot meet basic needs that are adequate for the life of themselves and their families.

In Islam, poverty is when a person experiences spiritual and material deficiencies (Bayumi & Jaya, 2018). spiritual deficiencies are related to poor faith and knowledge. Spiritual poverty is a poverty of the heart that is never calm and happy. The heart is the embodiment of calm in human life. When a human's heart is calm, his life will be calm, but if his heart is restless, his life will not be comfortable. In the Islamic perspective, poverty is not only seen from material aspects but also from moral or spiritual aspects. Therefore, every poverty alleviation strategy must reflect both aspects. The conventional approach to poverty ignores the importance of moral/spiritual commitment. The Islamic approach has more attention to this aspect.

This condition of poverty is caused by various factors, for example, the lack of job opportunities, wages below the minimum standard, low work productivity, lack of assets, discrimination, price pressures and land sales for productive purposes. Suhardjo divides it into (two) categories, namely, natural poverty and structural poverty. Natural poverty is caused by poor natural conditions or scarcity of natural resources. Meanwhile, structural poverty is caused by the social structure of society, which prevents them from using available sources of income (Auty, 2017).

Meanwhile, according to Kuncoro, the causes of poverty from an economic perspective consist of three types: First, at a micro level, poverty arises because of unequal resource ownership, which gives rise to unequal distribution of income. Poor people only have resources in limited quantities and of low quality. Second, poverty arises due to differences in the quality of human resources. Low-quality human resources mean low productivity, which in turn means low wages. The low quality of human resources is due to low education, disadvantage, discrimination or heredity. Third, poverty arises due to differences in access to capital (Fahrika et al., 2020).

Poverty and its causes in the societal problems faced by all parties can make Indonesian society poor. The Indonesian people can overcome poverty with full attention to underprivileged or poor communities. Policymakers are truly selective in providing programs to poor people who need help. The programs currently being launched by the government are the Family Hope Program (PKH), Uninhabitable Homes (Rutilahu), Self-Help Program Stimulant Assistance (BSPS) and others. This is a program that can improve community welfare and reduce poverty.

Condition of Indramayu Society

Geographically, Indramayu Regency is located at 1070 52' - 1080 36' East Longitude and 60 15' - 60 40' South Latitude. Meanwhile, based on the topography, most is a plain or sloping area with an average land slope of 0 – 2%. This situation affects drainage; if the rainfall is high enough, then in certain areas, there will be waterlogging. Indramayu Regency is located on the north coast of Java Island, which has 11 sub-districts with 36 villages directly bordering the sea with a coastline of 147 km. The population of Indramayu Regency, based on data from the 2020 Indramayu Regency Population Census, is 1,834,434 people, consisting of 922,619 male residents and 911,815 female residents.

Another indicator of the success of human development is progress in the field of education. Based on data from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ganji Semester Data for 2020/2021 for the elementary school level, the number of schools was 893, with 164,556 students and 8,401 teachers. Then, at the junior high school level, the number of schools was recorded at 212, with 62,824 students and 3,835 teachers. Meanwhile, at the high school level, the number of schools was 52, with 18,906 students and 1,195 teachers. Moreover, Vocational High Schools are recorded as having 136 schools, 50,120 students and 2,120 teachers.

Looking at the data from elementary schools that do not continue to junior high school, around 38% or the same as 101,732 students, while those who continue from junior high school to high school are around 29.9% or the same as 43,918 children in 2020, this shows that there are still many students who do not continue their studies at the junior high school level. Or to the high school level, the question is, where are they? Among them, some are unemployed and those who married at an early age.

 

Table 1 Percentage of Population Aged 7-24 Years by Characteristics and Educational Status, 2020 Male Data

Source BPS Indramayu

Table 2 Percentage of Population Aged 7-24 Years by Characteristics and Educational Status, 2020 Female Data

 

Table 3 Expenditure Group

Table 4 Percentage of Population Aged 7-24 Years by Characteristics and Educational Status, 2020 Male Data

Table 5 Percentage of Population Aged 7-24 Years by Characteristics and Educational Status, 2020 Female Data

Table 6

Table 7 School Enrollment Rates (APS), Net Enrollment Rates (APM), Gross Enrollment Rates (APK) Formal and Non-formal Population by Characteristics and Gender, 2020

Table 8 School Enrollment Rates (APS), Net Enrollment Rates (APM), Gross Enrollment Rates (APK) Formal and Non-formal Population by Characteristics and Gender, 2020

Table 9 School Enrollment Rates (APS), Net Enrollment Rates (APM), Gross Enrollment Rates (APK) Formal and Non-formal Population by Characteristics and Gender, 2020

Table 10 Percentage of Population Aged 15 Years and Over by Characteristics and Highest Diploma Possessed, 2020

Male Data

Table 10 Percentage of Population Aged 15 Years and Over by Characteristics and Highest Diploma Possessed, 2020

Women's Data

 

 

Table 11 Expenditure Group

The Horticulture Subsector is one of the supporting subsectors in the Indramayu Regency (Salama et al., 2023). Based on data from Horticultural Agricultural Statistics, the harvest area for large onion and chilli vegetable crops in 2020 was 321 and 550 ha. Meanwhile, production for onion and chilli vegetables was 14,947 and 36,028 quintals, respectively.

Average expenditure per capita is the cost incurred for consumption by all household members during a month, whether from purchases, gifts or own production, divided by the number of household members. Population Expenditure Based on the results of the Kor National Socio-Economic Survey, March 2020, it is known that 54.74 per cent of the population of Indramayu Regency is included in the population group whose expenditure on housing is between IDR 174,196 per capita a month. Food Consumption Household expenditure is differentiated according to food and non-food groups. According to the food group, the average expenditure of Indramayu Regency residents is IDR 202,894 per capita a month, of which 38.98 per cent is used to consume ready-made food and drinks.

Sustainable development is a strategy widely applied by developing countries, including Indonesia (Ramadhani, 2020). Because government policies in recent years have prioritized economic growth, exploiting natural resources has been evident without considering environmental damage. Based on GDP calculations based on constant 2010 prices, the economic growth rate of Indramayu Regency in 2020 is around -1.58 per cent.

Indramayu people whose education is still low also have low welfare. Many still cannot maintain their family in terms of marriage, as in the table.

 

Table 12 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 10 Years and Over by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020 Man

 

Table 13 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 10 Years and Over by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020 Female Data

Table 14 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 10 Years and Over by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020

Table 15 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 15-49 Years by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020

Table 16 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 15-49 Years by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020

Table 17 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 15-49 Years by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020 Gender

Table 18 RSE Percentage of Population Aged 15-49 Years by Characteristics and Marital Status, 2020 Expenditure Group

 

 

CONCLUSION

Character education is critical to improving the quality of education, including for students and educators. The quality of education is reflected in various aspects, such as curriculum, teaching and learning activities, and evaluation in educational institutions. With the rapid development of technology and the need for more religious immunity in society, character education should be addressed. Character development starts from individual humans and, if by Law No. 20 of 2003, can be implemented by various sectors, communities and educational institutions. Even though there has been an increase in the Human Development Index (HDI) for Education in Indramayu Regency since 2008, the School Enrollment Rate (APS), Net Enrollment Rate (APM), and Formal Gross Enrollment Rate (APK) are still low. Character education in Indramayu society is still low, reflected in the high divorce rate associated with low education and welfare.

 

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