Parental Assistance in Improving Student Character

Pardomuan Manullang

, Andy Sapta

, Tonni Limbong

1,2

and Janner Simarmata

Student of Doctoral Program Education Technology, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan –Indonesia

Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Katolik Santo Thomas, Medan - Indonesia

Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Medan, Medan -Indonesia

Keywords: Parents, Character, Discipline

Abstract: The problem of this research was caused by the low level of discipline of elementary school students

currently available. Discipline as one of the characters that must be fostered early by the teacher at school

by mentoring parents at home. The purpose of this research is to improve the character of elementary

students, especially in terms of discipline. The population of this study were students SD Negeri 173403

Dolok Sanggul of Humbahas district North Sumatra province in the academic year 2016/2017 with totaling

420 students. Samples were obtained using cluster random sampling method. The study sample consisted of

100 students. Data collection techniques using questionnaires and interviews provided to parents of students

and teachers at school. Research data shows parents' assistance in improving student discipline is

successfully implemented. Significantly increased student discipline.

1 INTRODUCTION

Along with the times and technology, the culture and

character of the nation also experienced a shift. But

the existing shift leads to a bad turn. If this continues

to happen and continues to be allowed, perhaps the

identity of the Indonesian people will also change in

the eyes of the world, and will even be considered

bad. Therefore the culture and character of the

Indonesian people must continue to be maintained.

So far, Indonesia is known in the eyes of the world

as a good person in terms of character, such as

courtesy, caring, honesty, discipline, hard work,

tolerance, and others.

(Lickona, 1991) reveals that there are ten signs

that a nation is in front of the brink of destruction.

This must be considered and avoided by every

nation. These signs are: (1) violence in adolescent

essays increases, (2) bad words are often used in

language, (3) violence is mostly caused by the

influence of peer groups (gangs/groups), (4)

narboka, alcohol, free sex improve in the

community, (5) moral guidelines are increasingly

unclear, (6) work ethic decreases, (7) respect for

parents and teachers decreases, (8) sense of

responsibility as the color of the country is lower,

(9) dishonesty is increasingly entrenched, (10)

mutual suspicion, increasing hatred.

If at this time it is observed in Indonesia, it turns

out that these signs are increasingly clearly visible.

Therefore the formation of character has to be a

serious concern. The formation of the character of

the nation's children must be carried out

systematically and continuously. One character that

needs to be formed is discipline. With a strong

discipline a person is predicted to be able to develop

himself individually and in society.

2 THEORICAL FRAMEWORK

The Indonesian government has implemented

character education starting from basic education.

Education has also begun at an early age. Education

that starts from an early age is expected to be more

successful in the formation of children's character.

(Koesoema, 2007) character education is not only a

mere discussion of integrative dimensions, which

emphasizes the moral and intellectual side of

students. But it is more focused on the formation of

a rigorous and enduring trial, but it also creates

personal curative children both personally and

socially. Character education is also required to be

able to assist the government in dealing with

problems of social diseases that are developing

Manullang, P., Sapta, A., Limbong, T. and Simarmata, J.

Parental Assistance in Improving Student Character.

DOI: 10.5220/0009494403510354

In Proceedings of the 1st Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science (UNICEES 2018), pages 351-354

ISBN: 978-989-758-432-9

351

rapidly. Character education is expected to be a way

out to overcome moral problems extensively.

(Fajarini, 2014) Character education is a process

of a nation in preparing its young generation to face

life and to achieve a better objective of life affective.

Character education also not only discusses the

development of individual human resources, but also

how to be a human being that can contribute to and

benefit society and the nation.

Character education is not only about right or

wrong, but also about how to instill good habits in

living life. It is expected that students have

awareness, understanding, and care and commitment

that can be applied in living everyday life. (Mulyasa,

2013)

Character education aims to improve the quality

of educational processes and results that lead to the

character education and noble character of learners

in a comprehensive, integrated and balanced

manner, in accordance with the graduates'

competency standards in each education unit.

Through learning character learners are expected to

be able to independently improve and use their

knowledge, study, and internalize, as well as

personalize noble character and character values so

that they manifest in everyday behavior. (Mulyasa,

2013).

Reveals that character as a basic value that builds

a person's personality, is formed both because of the

influence of heredity and environmental influences,

which distinguishes from others, and is manifested

in attitudes and behavior in everyday life. (Samani &

Hariyanto, 2013).

3 RESEARCH METHOD

This type of research is quasi-experimental. In this

study using two groups of students who became the

research sample. One group as an uncontrolled

control group in the implementation of character

education conducted by parents at home, and one

group as an experimental group is the group that gets

treatment in the form of supervision and evaluation

of parents' actions in providing character education

to their children.

This research was carried out at SD Negeri

173403 Dolok Sanggul, Humbahas district, North

Sumatra. The population of this study were all

students of SD Negeri 173403 Dolok Sanggul,

Humbahas Regency, North Sumatra academic year

2016/2017. The study population was 420 students

divided into 12 classes. The research sample was

obtained using stratified random sampling

technique.

The data of this study are quantitative data in the

form of data on parents' assistance to their children's

character education at home. The research data is in

the form of interviews between researchers and

parents about the character education assistance

done by parents at home. Quantitative techniques are

used in data analysis. To determine the difference in

the method of mentoring character education using

independent t test.

4 ANALYSIS

Based on the results of research in the form of

questionnaire data obtained data that many parents

do not care about mentoring accompaniment of their

child's character. From the data obtained it is known

that parental assistance in children's education is

categorized as rare. From the survey, it was found

that 65% of respondents, namely parents of students,

were declared not concerned with their child's

character education.

After different treatments were carried out in the two

groups, in table 1 and table 2 it was found that there

were significant differences between the two sample

groups. In the experimental class that was given a

treatment in the form of strengthening the character

education by the teacher and mentoring characters

by parents at home looked better than the control

class. The control treatment class is given by not

giving supervision to parents in providing character

education at home.

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Dimension at

Experiment Class

Item

Lowest

Score

Highes

t Score

Mean

Character

Strengtheni

ng by

Teacher

24.83

2.0

Mentoring

Parents

24.83

1.5

Character

Strengtheni

ng by

Parents

25.12

1.3

Improve

student

character

22.56

1.7

UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science

352

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Dimension at

Control Class

Item

Lowest

Score

Highe

Score

Mean

Character

Strengtheni

ng by

Teacher

18.85

2.18

Mentoring

Parents

18.85

1.75

Character

Strengtheni

ng by

Parents

23.12

2.12

Improve

student

character

18.59

2.15

To determine the significant difference between

experimental class and control class by using

independent t-test applied to the data with a

significance level of 0.05. As seen from table 3, the

results of the independent t-test showed that there

were significant statistical differences between the

mean (t (144) = 0.451, p> 0.05).

Table 3: t test by Sample Groups of After Learning

Model

Group

Experiment Class

139

0.900

0.350

Control Class

5 RESULTS

Character education of each student is not only the

responsibility of the teacher at school. Character

education is even more the responsibility of parents

at home. The formation of child characteristics is

dominated by parents, this happens because the

dominance of parents' genes to their children and

communication relationships that occur between

parents and children play an important role in the

formation of children's character.

But from the research data it was found that

many parents thought that children's character

education was the responsibility of the teacher, so

parents did not pay much attention to their child's

character education at home.

Character education at home is not the same in

the delivery of character education at school.

Character education at home leads to giving

examples. Parents give examples of character

behavior to their children without realizing it. This

happens because children in primary school age are

more modeled on behavior than they get in theory.

(Rachmitasari, 2015) stating that in general

primary school age children will imitate the behavior

of their parents, without looking at good behavior or

bad behavior.

In the experimental class, parents were given

awareness of the importance of character education

at home. Parents are asked to provide character

education at home, the character education in

question is not education as is the teacher teaching in

front of the class. Character education that must be

done by parents at home is to give understanding

and examples to children how to be good.

Parents must give a good example to their

children at home about their character, such as

discipline, responsibility, and others. With this

example, children at home can immediately pay

attention. It is expected that the child can imitate the

example of the good character given by the parent.

Conversely, if parents give examples of characters

that are not good, then children imitate the character.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Character education is not only the responsibility of

the teacher in school but also the responsibility of

parents at home. But from the results of the study it

is known that 65% of parents do not care about their

child's character education at home.

Learning at home is not the same as learning in

school. Character education at home is more to

imitate behavior. Children will be more likely to

imitate the behavior or character of parents at home,

than teachers at school.

For that, it is necessary to instill in each parent

the need for character education at home. Such a

situation will form a good character in students that

can enhance students' affective abilities.

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Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for Character. How Our

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