Unifying the Socio-Cultural Differences Among Students in Primary
School Education
Santi Susanti, Kismiyati Elkarimah and Fitri Perdana
Fakultas Ilmu Komunkasi, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Sosio-cultural Difference, Primary School Education, Interactive Method, Togetherness, Equality.
Abstract: School is the right institution for leading the differences among primary students into unity. Students are
guided and directed to appreciate the differences among them to create a harmonious life, away from
conflict. The principle of togetherness and equality among students, embedded in an entrepreneurship-based
school in Garut, SD Bestari Utami. This school provides equal opportunity to every child in Garut to get
quality education without considering their social and cultural background. This study aims to describe the
pattern of education at SD Bestari Utami, which educates students to get quality education with the principle
of respect for differences and create togetherness based on local wisdom of Sundanese culture. This
research uses qualitative-phenomenology method to reveal the experience the school managers in educating
their students to be individuals with good characters such as intelligent, active, moral, and respect
differences. In-depth interview, observation and literature study used to collecting data. The results showed
that interactive teaching method used to build equality and togetherness among students at SD Bestari
Utami. Teachers always encourage their students to involve actively in the learning process. In the
classroom, teachers creatively provide teaching materials to encourage children to interact with each other.
Togetherness is accustomed in every opportunity during study and during rest. Periodically, teachers
provide learning programs to work within groups. The curriculum of Sundanese art is also applied as a
binder of togetherness. Through art performances, all students participated without exception. The
conclusion of this study is that schools have an important role in embedding togetherness and equality to
their students. The right curriculum and methods, as well as creative and big hearted teachers, are a
supportive force in building togetherness and equality to enhance quality in character education for students
from different social and cultural backgrounds.
1 INTRODUCTION
God created human beings into different nations to
get to know each other, to help and to respect each
other. Difference is the colours of life as an element
that reinforces the achievement of common goals.
The Indonesian nation, consist of various ethnicities
spread across various regions of the archipelago, has
the motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in
Diversity), which signifies how diverse the nation of
Indonesia as a unity, whose territory extends from
Sabang to Merauke.
Diversity can be a potential support for the
formation of a large and strong Indonesian nation if
the elements of diversity are used as treasure that
must be maintained, not as a difference that can
trigger interethnic conflict in this archipelago. The
similarity of mind and feeling as a nation that must
unite becomes crucial to the formation of a strong
Indonesian nation rather than promoting
primordialism over other ethnicities.
Schools are the right institutions to train the
unification of differences among students. Through
school, the students are guided and directed to be a
figure who respects the differences between them so
as to create a harmonious life, away from the
conflict.
Character education is one effort to form a child
into a figure who has a good character. Character
education is an effort to develop and educate one's
character, namely psychology, morality and
character to be better. The cultivation of these
character values includes the components of
knowledge, consciousness or willingness and not to
carry out those values (Rosala, 2016)
Susanti, S., Elkarimah, K. and Perdana, F.
Unifying the Socio-Cultural Differences Among Students in Primary School Education.
DOI: 10.5220/0007173406950699
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 695-699
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
695

One school in Garut, SD Bestari Utami
implements character education based on
togetherness and equality for students. Students are
directed to become an individual who can appreciate
each other without questioning their background. SD
Bestari Utami strives to produce students who have
intelligent, active, moral character and respect
differences.
One effort to build character education of
students in elementary school studied by Rosala
(2016). His study emphasizes the importance of
moral values embedded in the learning of art and
culture in elementary school through the art of dance
to build human character forming civilized and
prosperous society. The purpose of this article is to
gain an understanding of the character education
theory contained in the local wisdom of dance art in
elementary school institutions.
The attempts to build the character of students in
elementary school were studied by Supraptiningrum
and Agustini (2015) in one school in Nganjuk. The
results showed that the effort to embed the character
in the students was done by habituation through
various activities, namely: (1) routine activities
conducted by students continuously and
consistently; (2) spontaneous activity by the students
on the spot; (3) exemplary behaviour, attitudes of
teachers, education personnel, and students in
providing examples through good actions and (4)
conditioning by creating conditions that support the
implementation of character education.
Compared to previous studies and studies, the
research at SD Bestari Utami is a combination of
character education and cultural arts education to
create individuals who have the character of
appreciating differences and applying equality in
interacting with other students at SD Bestari Utami.
In addition, the students observed in this study were
heterogeneous students, composed of ethnic Chinese
and Sundanese students, who at the beginning of
entry, had different views of their peers.
Togetherness and equality are the cornerstones of
education in this school.
This study aims to explore the learning methods
implemented by SD Bestari Utami to create a
harmonious togetherness among students consisting
of two ethnic groups, Chinese and Sundanese. The
scope of this study is limited to learning activities at
SD Bestari Utami which describes the way of
learning and the effort to direct the formation of
togetherness among the students.
2 RESEARCH METHODS
This research uses qualitative phenomenology
method to express the experience of SD Bestari
Utami elementary school managers in applying
quality equity based education to realize
togetherness as one Indonesia among its students.
Understanding of equivalence-based education is
delivered from the point of view of the informant
who experienced it. There is no statistical
calculation in this qualitative research. Statistical
data is only a complement, not the main data as in
quantitative research.
The main data of this study were obtained
through in-depth interviews and observations and
secondary data obtained through documents relate to
the research theme.
Interviews were conducted to 8 informants,
consisting of principals and vice principals, 6
teachers / guardians 1st through 6th grade. Data
collected included background of school
establishment, curriculum, learning pattern, and
learning activities conducted at SD Bestari Utami.
Observations were made to supplement the data
obtained through in-depth interviews. Observations
were made to observe, among other things, the
school environment, either outside the classroom, or
in the classroom; learning activities in the classroom
and classroom that lead students to build
togetherness.
Documentation is used as supporting data in this
research. Documentation is collected in clippings in
magazines, photographs and articles on the internet
related to this research.
Collected data is processed using qualitative data
analysis techniques from Miles and Huberman
(1992) through the process of reduction, data
presentation and verification. The process of
reduction is done by selecting and sorting the data
relevant to the research focus. Interview results are
transcribed and grouped into themes appropriate to
the research objectives. The results of the grouping
of data are then presented in the form of a
descriptive narrative that describes the focus of
research. The data presented is then inferred
inductively. Verification is done by reviewing the
data by comparing the results of interviews with
observations and secondary data sources obtained.
When the data were found to be the same, the
researcher assumed the data was appropriate. In this
study, we also used data checking through the
triangulation of place and time, which is asking the
same question at different place and time to the
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
696

research subject. When the answer was the same the
data is appropriate.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 School Based on Togetherness and
Equality
The school was founded by an educator in Garut,
Christanti Gomulia, a Chinese descendant who feels
comfortable with the absence of differentiation of
treatment from the Sundanese to his family while
living in his current environment. Establishment of
Bestari Utami School is a manifestation of the desire
of its founder to restore Indonesian education to its
place that is education for all without differentiating.
The Bestari Utami School was built with the
ultimate goal of providing education to any child
willing without discriminating their social,
economic, racial, religious and cultural background.
All students have the opportunity to get the same
educational rights without being treated differently
while in school.
3.2 Interactive Learning Method
The process of character education to students at this
time is more appropriate to use learning model based
on social interaction and transaction. This social
interaction learning model is implemented based on
the following principles:
 Involve students actively in learning;
 Basing on individual differences;
 Link theory with practice;
 Develop communication and cooperation in
learning;
 Increase the courage of students in taking risks
and learning from mistakes;
 Improve learning while doing and playing;
 Adjust the lessons with the level of cognitive
development that is still at the level of
concrete operation.
Interactive learning is a special form of school
learning, from the necessity of keeping up with the
transformation in the socio-human activity. These
are methods that help students search, research, find
the knowledge they are about to learn, discovering
themselves solution to the problems, processing
knowledge, in other words they teach the student
how to learn. One of the advantages of these
interactive methods is that they can be used both in
learning and evaluation. The impact of using active
methods as follows:
 It motivates students to think boldly, without
being discouraged by other people's opinions;
 Students participate with pleasure in such
activities;
 They are confident in their own forces.
Teachers are the spearhead of formal education,
which play a main role in building the students’
character. Thus, teachers have to be professional.
Law No.14 year 2005 about teachers and lecturers
mentioned four competencies must been had for
teachers: personality competence, social
competence, pedagogical competence, and academic
competence. According to Hidayatullah (2010),
teachers should be kind-hearted, meaning that
teachers should have a big heart and be relieved and
patient in dealing with the students. The first thing to
do by teachers is knocking and touching the
student’s heart. In teaching, teachers should use their
hearts and be kind with the students.
Interactive learning method is a method applied
in education at SD Bestari Utami as part of the
formation of equality among students. In the process
of learning, teachers provide materials that train
creative children, and dare to express opinions and
appear to present their work. Teachers are required
to be creative in providing learning materials to their
students. They patiently guide their students in the
learning process.
3.3 Sundanese Art and Culture
Curriculum
Being in the Sundanese community in Garut,
Christanti not forget the cultural roots where he
grew up, the Sundanese culture. He wanted to have a
mix between Chinese children and Sundanese
children in his school. Children to have a character
as an individual who appreciates the local cultural
arts.
To realize its appreciation toward Sundanese
society, the composition of students at Bestari Utami
is determined by 70 percent of Sundanese children
and 30 percent of children of Chinese descent.
Determination of this composition is done with the
intention that there is mixing between children of
two different ethnicities. If the composition is not
regulated, it is feared there is an imbalance in
interacting in school.
Davidson et al. (2007) claimed that there is the
role of character in all school achievement, whether
curricular or non-curricular activities. The study was
Unifying the Socio-Cultural Differences Among Students in Primary School Education
697

conducted in 24 good schools in the US. The
findings show that characters consist of two big
parts: performance character and moral character.
Performance character involves the whole values
which enable people to actualize their potentials in
the classroom or work place.
The local culture-based education of Sundanese
is an important educational process in the schooling
system in West Java, so that students still recognize
and appreciate the native culture that is very close to
them. In relation to ethnic education in the education
process at school, Banks describes that in the early
stages of the students need to be introduced first
with the cultural values before the cultural values
outside the community. At the next stage, the new
child is introduced to the global cultural value order.
This process is necessary so that the younger
generation will not lose their cultural identity when
making contact with people outside their ethnic
group. Incorporating Sundanese culture and art into
the curriculum, not as an extracurricular activity, is a
step taken by schools to teach children together to
love Sundanese culture that is very close to them.
According to Parsons (1959), education is a
process of socialization within each individual that
allows the development of a sense of responsibility
and various skills (commitment and capacities).
These developments are necessary in carrying out all
human social roles during their life on earth.
It cannot be denied that nowadays, children
prefer foreign culture rather than local culture. The
granting of Sundanese arts and culture education is
an effort to balance the knowledge of the students so
as not to escape the fire.
Learning art and culture is applied to gamelan
music, which consists of various musical
instruments. Gamelan play is chosen to train the
sensitivity of taste and cooperation between players,
in order to produce good music heard, although
played by many children (see Figure 1).
The Sundanese art and art curriculum is also
applied to the musical performances, which is
followed by all elementary school students of
Bestari Utami. The drama titled “Kabayan City
Boy” presents Sundanese stories with a dialogue
packed in English with a Sundanese accent. It
happened in 2011. All children are involved, without
exception. They play together regardless of the
background of their friends.
Figure 1: Fourth grade students playing gamelan.
Togetherness and tolerance became the main
emphasis in education at Bestari Utami. Students are
directed to build togetherness and tolerance to his
friends. Togetherness is a student strategy developed
through games and rewards of togetherness. Grace is
a learning strategy developed through meaningful
statements, games to pay attention to something
(scenery), games to pay attention to others.
Togetherness in education at Bestari Utami
School, manifested among others in the learning
process, in the form of games, working on projects
together, eating together during breaks and bans
bullying friends.
To build togetherness and equality among
students, the process of learning in the classroom is
done by removing the barriers of bench and desk
bench. Students learn by sitting on the floor
grounded rubber carpet foam. The chair is used as
the base for writing.
Play is learning; basically every child needs to
play in their life. In any learning need to play still
exist. Therefore, while studying, Bestari Utami
School implements the game as one of the learning
methods for its students. Through the game, children
are trained to work with their peers in solving one
problem. They are also required to be able to
maintain coordination between the body and mind in
answering the questions given through the game.
Joint task projects; Periodically, Bestari Utami's
students are given the task of doing project tasks that
must be done in groups. The goal is to train the
cooperation between students, in doing their duties.
Eat together at rest; to establish cooperation at
every opportunity, the school requires students to eat
together at rest. The first to sixth grade students
gather in one open space for their lunch from home
while interacting with their friends (see Figure 2).
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
698

Figure 2: All students gather round to eat at rest.
Prohibit bullying; to stay together, schools apply
rules that prohibit children from intimidating other
students. The goal is to maintain harmony
togetherness in school. Rules about no bullying
threat installed in each class. If rules are disobeyed,
there are sanctions that have been included in the
rules (see figure 3 for class rules).
Figure 3: All students gather round to eat at rest.
Efforts are made by schools to stay together
among students. From the beginning, it instilled the
importance of cooperation and togetherness among
them.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The learning pattern applied at SD Bestari Utami is
an integrated program that directs students to respect
each other's differences, regardless of their socio-
cultural background. When at school, they have
become a unit of elementary school children Bestari
Utami, who must obey the rules set by the school.
This condition is indeed exhausting. However, the
dedication to deliver high quality education to
students encourages teachers to apply the curriculum
with all their hearts with high creativity to encourage
students to be a generation that values differences,
loves togetherness and not forgets the cultural roots
they attend, which is Sundanese culture.
Togetherness in learning in school is in line with one
of the pillars of education in UNESCO (1996) that is
learning to live together and live with others.
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Davidson, M., Lickona, T., Khmelkov, V., 2007. Smart
and good schools. Education Week.
Hidayatullah, M. F., 2010. True teacher: Building strong
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Miles, M. B., Huberman, A.M., 1992. Analisa Data
Kualitatif. Bandung, Remaja Rosdakarya.
Parsons, T., 1959. The School Class as Social System:
Some of Its Functions in American Society. In
Ballantine, J. H., (Ed). Schools and Society: A Reader
in Education and Sociology. California, Mayfield.
Rosala, D., 2016. Pembelajaran Seni Budaya Berbasis
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Karakter Siswa Di Sekolah Dasar. Ritme, 2(1).
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Publishing
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