On Friday (9/3), doctoral students attended a colloquium with Prof. Gerhard Harder. This event was held in D505 for two hours, starting from 1 pm until 3 pm. With the theme of anti-racist education, a dozen doctoral students sat through this colloquium enthusiastically. This event is one of the programs during Prof. Harder’s visitation in Yogyakarta.
Prof. Gerhard Harder discussed an article about anti-racist education with the students, titled “The Concept of Anti-racist Education: A Critical Analysis of Its Function and an Outline of a Subject Science Alternative”, written by Klaus Holzkamp. Profesor Harder, an expert in education, started off the discussion with a brief introduction. After that, he started to warm it up even more with the topic of racism.
One point that Prof. Harder emphasized on is about the definition of race. He asked, “In what way are people different? what do the genes tell us? can it tell us who is white or who is black?” He continued the discussion by stating that there is only one race: Homo Sapiens, the human race. According to him, humans are all different, but if race is used to defined a whole person, that can be, in a way, racist.
The challenge we are facing right now is how to educate children so that they do not become racists. According to Prof. Harder, this is not something simple, “Easy to be said, but not that easy to be done,” he stated. One key in teaching anti-racist education is to treat children as subjects, not as objects of education. This is also one key point from the article discussed. Giving instructions to children to avoid being racist is not enough. Children have to realize truly that they have the choice, and why choosing to not be racist is right for them.
Prof. Harder, who came from Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany, also said that this racism problem can be seen through the discourse in society. So many discourses encourage people to be racist. For example, the term ‘culture’, which seems like a harmless word, can in fact become a racist word. “A different culture” can be used as a discourse used to separate people wo are from a different culture than us, as if those differences make them not a part of us. Therefore, one of the ways to actively fight racism is to change the dominant discourse in society.
Pedro, one of the participants in the colloquium seemed very impressed with the discussion. He explained that it is very interesting when people from different fields, such as Prof. Harder who is an expert in education, come and explain concepts to psychology students. Pedro thinks that a multidisciplinary approach is important in problem-solving. “We shouldn’t hurry in reaching a conclusion, we should consider various aspects,” said Pedro. He also found an important thing, that in changing a person, there should be a realization from within for them to change. “That is the ideal concept for education,” he stated.
Pedro said that he wishes to implement the knowledge gained from the colloquium to the action research he is working on. He hopes that the subject he researched on can be the center of change. “Starting from their own realization, they should be able to find a way to solve their problem,” he added.
The colloquium ended with a discussion on possible solutions for this racism problem. After that, Prof. Harder took a picture with participants of the colloquium. Although technically the discussion had already ended, Prof. Harder kindly said that he is open for other discussion outside of the classroom setting. [Excel/Hanna]