The Profile of Kindergarten Students’ Kindness
Euis Kurniati, Syamsu Yusuf L. N., Juntikan Nurihsan and Nandang Rusmana
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
euiskurniati@upi.edu
Keywords: Kindness Profile, Kindergarten Students.
Abstract: This study was aimed at describing the profile of kindergarten students’ kindness. To this end, a descriptive
qualitative method was employed. The study was carried out by observing 286 samples selected out of
1,069 students in Sukasari, Bandung. The result revealed that more than half of students displayed well-
developed kindness, some displayed developing kindness, and few of them showed under-developed
kindness. Altruistic love was the most frequently displayed dimension of kindness; for example, when they
played together. The result indicates that basically schools are committed to students’ character
development and that as social being’s humans need each other. However, the designed strategy/program
must be systematically and holistically implemented in school, and peer participation in group activities can
help students develop their kindness.
1 INTRODUCTION
Issues associated with characters have been major
concerns of government and society in general.
Corruption, sex crimes, vandalism, and divisive
political situation have been subjects of discussion
among society and mass media. This condition is
exacerbated with the proliferation of bullying,
persecution, student brawls, and other crime
phenomena that occur in schools. This is very ironic
considering the fact that the aforesaid wrongdoings
are in contradiction with the religious and cultural
values embraced by Indonesians. At the same time,
this condition also implies that character
reinforcement is urgently required (Kosim, 2011).
The aforesaid facts also indicate that character crisis
takes place in various settings including at schools
as put by Sapriya (2007), “we have a crisis of
character at the root of all the troubles everywhere
and the crisis has come about the result of education
without refinement of character.”
The reinforcement of character education should
begin at an early age (Chrisiana, 2005). This period
is considered a golden period in the human
development stage and is expected to be the basis for
character formation. Early character development
will have a long-lasting impact on the moral
formation of the children. Experts have suggested
that the failure in an individual early character
development will lead to the development of
troubled personality in the future (Megawangi,
2004). The success of a child’s early character
development will determine his future development
(Bilmes, 2004).
Character development is a foundation for
human resource development, so government,
educational institutions, teachers, and society in
general must share the same understanding about it
(Suyitno, 2012). This will become the foundation for
holistic Indonesian citizen development. A nation’s
character development can only be done through the
development of individual character development.
However, the character development of an
individual as a social being can only be done in a
social environment and a cultural context where he
lives; in this case, through a process of education
(Kemendiknas, 2010).
Character development can be done through a
creation of conducive, loving, and caring
environment (Suyitno, 2012). This will become the
basic character upon which positive social
relationship can be established.
Character associated with the establishment of
social relationship can be observed in kindness.
Otake, et al. (2006) suggest that kindness will
provide happiness to the one who does it. Happy
people will be grateful to do more kindness.
Peterson and Seligman (2004) argue that
kindness is part of humanity. Humanity deals with
interpersonal skills that involve a desire to befriend
Kurniati, E., N., S., Nurihsan, J. and Rusmana, N.
The Profile of Kindergarten Students’ Kindness.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 2, pages 381-385
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
381
others. Humanity has three elements: (a) love, which
is a tribute to a very close relationship by sharing
and caring with each other and mutual
interdependence, (b) kindness, which is generosity
toward others, and (c) social intelligence, which is a
care and awareness of what others need.
Kindness at early childhood can be measured in
terms of the following aspects: (1) generosity, (2)
nurturance, (3) care, (4) compassion, (5) altruistic
love, and (6) niceness. One can be said to be kind if
he can respect and selflessly help others (Peterson
and Seligman, 2004).
He views: (1) that others are as important as
he is, (2) that all human beings are equal, (3) that it
is important to be friendly and generous, (4) that
giving is more important than receiving, (5) that
doing others good is the best way of life, (6) that he
will be forever grateful, (7) that he is not the center
of world’s attention but part of human beings in
general, (8) that unfortunate and suffering people
need us, (9) that needy people must be paid attention
to, and (10) that it is very important to help others,
regardless of who they are (Peterson and Seligman,
2004).
What follows is the description of kindness
dimensions:
a. Generosity: Muller and Scribner (2001) state
that generosity is the ability to offer the best
of us and what we have for the benefit of
others. It is also an invaluable humanity
attribute. Generosity is also associated with a
desire to give. A study has revealed that
helping others can generate positive
psychological feel for the one who offers the
help. This feel is sometimes called an
emphatic joy.
b. Nurturance: It is the ability to provide
emotional and physical care to others.
c. Care: According to Post (2002), caring is the
ability to provide emotional support to others
who need.
d. Compassion: a strong feeling of sympathy
and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of
others and a wish to help them.
e. Altruistic love: According to Post (2002),
altruism is derived Latin alteri, meaning
“other people.” An altruist would do things
which bring advantages to other people, even
if it results in disadvantage for himself.
Altruistic love is more complex and is an
interesting expression of human altruism.
Love is an invaluable feeling that one can
show it through voice intonation, facial
expression, touching, and a desire to always
be together.
f. Niceness: the quality of respecting others or a
courteous manner that respects accepted
social norms.
To date, studies on kindness have rarely been
carried out. Similarly, no study has profiled the
kindness of kindergarten students. Thus, this study is
of a great importance to be carried out.
2 METHODS
Aiming at describing the profile of kindergarten
students’ kindness, a descriptive method was
deemed appropriate to carry out this study. The
descriptive study is one that attempts to describe a
phenomenon and event in the present moment.
According to Knupfer and McLellan (1996), a
descriptive study can be conducted using
quantitative and qualitative approach. A descriptive
study involves data collection, data organization,
data tabulation, data presentation, and data
discussion (Glass and Hopkins, 1984; Knupfer and
Mclellan, 1996). The data were analyzed by
presenting the percentage distribution, which is one
of descriptive study report forms (Knupfer and
Mclellan, 1996). The data were collected through a
structured observation on 1069 kindergarten students
in Sukasari, Bandung. Since the population was
quite big, the researchers took 20-25% of them as
the sample. For a large population, the sample may
be 10-15% or 20-25%. The total number of the
samples in this study was 286 students.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The result revealed that 54.90% of the sample
displayed well-developed kindness, 40.91%
displayed developing kindness, and 4.20% showed
underdeveloped kindness. Table 1 present the
comprehensive distribution.
Table 1: Profile of kindergarten students’ kindness in
Bandung academic year of 2013/2014.
Criteria
Frequency
Percentage
Well-developed
157
54.90
Developing
117
40.91
Underdeveloped
12
4.20
Total
286
100.00
The description of kindergarten students’
kindness dimensions is presented in Table 2.
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
382
Table 2: Profile of kindergarten students’ kindness
dimensions in Bandung academic year of 2013/2014.
No
Dimension
Criteria
Frequency
1
Dimension 1
(Generosity)
Well-developed
109
Developing
157
Underdeveloped
20
2
Dimension 2
(Nurturance)
Well-developed
125
Developing
146
Underdeveloped
15
3
Dimension 3
(Care)
Well-developed
38
Developing
201
Underdeveloped
47
4
Dimension 4
(Compassion)
Well-developed
81
Developing
180
Underdeveloped
25
5
Dimension 5
(Altruistic
Love)
Well-developed
221
Developing
61
Underdeveloped
4
6
Dimension 6
(Niceness)
Well-developed
57
Developing
181
Underdeveloped
48
The above description shows that basically the
school is committed to character education. Zamroni
(2011) says that character education deals with the
development of values, good habits, and positive
attitudes so as to develop mature and responsible
individuals.
The success of a school in designing character
education is reflected in the teachers’ activities when
giving advice to their students. The success of
character education, according to the Republic of
Indonesia Law No. 20 of 2003 on National
Education System Article 3, is the development of
learners’ potentials so that they become persons
imbued with human values who are faithful and
pious to one and only God; who possess morals and
noble character; who are healthy, knowledgeable,
competent, creative, independent; and as citizens,
are democratic and responsible.
However, the frequent occurrence of case related
to character issues in schools suggests that schools
should continue to develop a holistic character
education curriculum. According Mindes (2005),
holistic curriculum and teaching strategies are that
children construct knowledge based upon interaction
with teachers and the environment; subjects such as
reading, writing, and math are artificial adult
divisions of the curriculum. That is, children acquire
skills, knowledge, and dispositions through holistic
learning rather than through cut-up periods devoted
to a subject. Schools should not only be oriented to
academic reinforcement because that will lead to
development of students’ poor characters
(Hidayatullah, 2010). In line with this, Shield (2011)
says that generally schools put an emphasis on the
number of subjects rather than the quality of
students’ characters.
Viewed from every dimension of kindness, the
data show that kindergarten students are accustomed
to playing together. This implies that as social
beings, humans need each other, like living together,
and give priority to the community interests. Human
behavior is driven by the sense of belonging to each
other, significance to each other, connection to each
other, and worthiness of each other. Russell’s study
also suggests that children engage with each other,
make reasoned judgments, justify their reasons, and
change stance in light of the opinion of others
(Bellous, 2008).
However, many of students still need guidance.
Therefore, schools need to design an appropriate
strategy to develop students’ character. According to
Mindes (2005), teaching strategies include
individual investigations in the library, in the field,
and on the internet; interviews; small group
collaboration; and large-group discussions. Zamroni
(2011) put forward the following character
education strategies: (1) objectives, goals, and
targets should be concrete and well-defined; (2)
character education can be more effective and
efficient through cooperation between schools and
parents; (3) teachers must be made aware of their
important role and responsibility in the
implementation and achievement of character
education; (4) teachers should be aware of the
importance of “hidden curriculum;” (5) the focus of
teaching activities should be on students’ critical and
creative thinking, collaborative, and decision making
skills; (6) school culture should be utilized in the
development of character education; and (7)
character education should be part of students’
everyday life. According Megawangi (2004:149),
the following 11 factors should be paid attention to
in order for the success of character education at
schools is to be achieved: (1) character education
must embody good character values, (2) character
must be thoroughly defined in terms of thinking,
feeling, and action, (3) effective character education
requires a comprehensive approach and must be
focused on teachers as the discipline role models at
The Profile of Kindergarten Students’ Kindness
383
schools, (4) schools should be a model of peace and
harmonious society, (5) students need opportunity to
develop their character; for example, by doing social
works, (6) character education must include
curriculum materials, (7) character education must
evoke students’ intrinsic motivation, (8) school staff
must actively participate in the character education,
(9) character education at schools requires moral
leadership, (10) schools must cooperate with parents
and surrounding community, (11) character
education program should be periodically evaluated.
Character development should be defined as a
systematic activity; for example, by involving
students in classroom rule making. Peer participation
in a group will also help students develop their
kindness. Peers are children at the same age or at the
same maturity level (Santrock, 2002). From peers,
students can receive feedbacks about their skills and
their learning about the world.
4 CONCLUSION
The result shows that basically the school is
committed to students’ character development. This
commitment is implemented in everyday habit
making. Students are encouraged to work and play
together. Teachers encourage students to care about
each other so that they can feel that they belong to a
community and confirm their nature as social beings
who always need each other. Another school success
is reflected the way how teachers provide advice to
their students. Character reinforcement is actually
one of the goals of National Education System (RoI
Law No. 20 of 2003). However, as future challenge
for the character development is increasingly
tougher, schools should continue to attempt to
develop various student character development
strategies, one of which is the development of
holistic curriculum (Mindes, 2005).
Playing with friends shows that children have
desire to share the common interest to achieve
commonness. This means that they have
demonstrated the altruistic love because as social
beings, they will always need each other, like living
together, and are concerned with common interests.
However, many of students still need guidance in
developing kindness to harmoniously live hand in
hand with others. School board and teachers need to
design an appropriate strategy by applying
individual and group approach in various fields and
activities to achieve the goal (Mindes, 2005).
Involving students in classroom rule making can
be one of strategies to develop their kindness. Their
involvement in the classroom rule making enables
them to be aware of what-to-dos and what-not-to-
dos and will indirectly help them acquire certain
knowledge, understanding, and skills.
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