INTERNALIZATION OF VALUES THROUGH ART AND LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN AS A CULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAM

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1 INTERNALIZATION OF VALUES THROUGH ART AND LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN AS A CULTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAM Asep Yudi Purwo Utomo, Moh. Muttaqin, Zulfa Fahmy Languages and Arts Faculty, Semarang State University inspirate_pyu@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Art and literature as learning materials are very attractive when packed properly. This can be done by understanding the needs of the children because every child has a different desire and motivation towards art and literature. Art and literature are also used as a means of cultivation of value to the children as a part of cultural conservation. The limited interest of youth and students on arts and literature, especially traditional art, is caused by inattractive packaging of arts when they were kids. It also happens to literature which is less desirable because it is considered as boring. Attractive packaging of art and literature can be done in various ways. Teachers as the spearhead of learning provision should be given a simple way in order to achieve the goal of internalizing values through art and literature for children as a cultural conservation. Keywords - internalization, art and literature, culture Introduction In order to live a life, man creates culture. Art as a form of culture has become a benchmark of the existence of a culture. Art becomes a concrete manifestation of culture. Koentjaraningrat (2004: 5) added that the manifestation of culture included (1) culture as a complex of ideas, values, norms, rules, etc., (2) culture as a complex patterned behavioral activities of human in the society, (3) culture as the objects of human work. The first manifestation of culture is the idea / notion which exists in the mind of every cultural actors. The second form is the pattern of human behavior such as wedding ceremonies and the others. The third form is the most concrete because of its physical configuration. It can be observed through the objects of culture. The unity of the whole forms of culture can be reflected in arts. In other words, art and culture have an important role in the society. Of course art and culture is not defined only as sculpture, carving, and so forth. Arts and culture is also defined in the language (literature), songs (rhythm), typical musical instruments, dances, and so forth. The balance between science, technology and art will also generate tactful work according to the local wisdom of each culture. This theory is corroborated by Abidin (2014: 80) who stated that "art and work of art; music, stories, fairy tales, epic, drama, and dance, belongs to the manifestation of culture which develops in Indonesia. Aesthetic value (art) is an expression of values and ideas of a culture. Abidin (2014: 82) also suggested that art refers to the aesthetic value that comes from the expression of human desire towards beauty that can be enjoyed audiovisually. As a creature that has a high sense and taste, humans produce various shades of art, ranging from the simple to the complex embodiment. Art grows and develops in human civilization because basically human requires the satisfaction of feeling towards things that are beautiful or aesthetic, in addition to other material needs. This beauty is expressed through the performing arts, visual arts, recorded arts, etc. The category of performing arts consist of music, dance, and theater. Then category of visual arts consists of fine arts, sculpture, design, crafts, etc. While the art of recording media 193

2 generally includes radio, television, internet, etc. However, the study of art also includes several aspects in human culture such as ritual, circus, cabaret, pilgrimage, the funeral procession, sports, etc. Even in various activities of everyday life, people often use the word art such as the art of cooking (culinary), art of fashion (dressmaking), the art of flower arranging, architectural art, art of management, art of oratory, and so on. It can be felt and seen that art is functional in the lives of people all over the world (Syahrial, 2008) In addition, arts will continue to thrive in a community, either in small group as in rural communities, or in large community such as ethnic group, nation and even the world. The development of art must still be followed by continuity. Almost all traditional arts in the world implement the the policy of continuity and changes as two sides that cannot be separated. Literature is a work of art of which existence reveals life events in the community by using language as a medium (Sutresna, 2006: 2). Literature is a manifestation of the experience of the writer on something (objects, people, or ideas) expressed using a creative language to establsih the illustration of the facts (in Sutresna Effendi, 2006: 4). The experience can be achieved through sensory experiences (what is seen, heard, felt) which eventually would appear in the form of literature. Departing from this notion, literature is inseparable from the values it contains. The values in literature is the result of the expression and aesthetic creations of the writer drawn from the culture of the community (Sumardjo, 1999: 2). The ideal value of the author is in the form of das sollen about the aspects of life values, especially the value of education. A literary work can be considered as good if it contains educative values. Educational values can be captured by humans through various ways including through the understanding and enjoyment of literature. There are four kinds of educational value in literature, the value of religious, moral, social, and cultural education. Those values are of course no different from the values that exist in the real life of a community. In fact, these values are the values idealized by the author to explore a problem that occurs in real life (Sumardjo, 1999: 3). Discussion Culture Culture (budaya) is derived from the Sanskrit word budhayah, which is the plural form of buddhi which means the mind or reason. Culture can be defined as anything related to human reason. Culture also comes from the word budi-daya, which means the power of the mind, in the form of creativity, initiative, and sense (Koenjaraningrat, 2000: 181). In general there are several definitions of culture. Taylor (in Soekanto, 2002: 172) defined culture as a complex that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, customs, and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society. Koentjaraningrat (2000: 180) defined culture as a whole system of ideas, actions, and man's work in the context of a society that used to belong to human beings by learning. Selosoemardjan and Soelaeman Soemardi (in Soekanto, 2002: 173) formulated culture as all the work, sense, and creativity of the society. Honigmann in his book "The World of Man" (1959) distinguished three states of culture, namely (1) ideas; (2) activities; and (3) artifacts. The idea is abstract, it cannot be read or photographed. Its location is in the heads, or in the minds of citizens where the related culture lives. Those ideas gives spirit to the community. Another term to describe the ideal form of culture is customary, or customs (Koentjaraningrat, 2000: ). Activities consist of the activities of human beings who interact, relate and get along 194

3 with one another over time, always according to certain patterns which are based on customary codes. Activities are concrete, happens around us everyday, and can be observed, photographed and documented (Koentjaraningrat, 2000: 187). Artifacts are the total of the physical results of the activities, actions and work of all human beings in the society. Artifacts are the concrete form of objects or things that can be touched, seen and photographed (Koentjaraningrat, 2000: 188). Kluckhohn in his book "Universal Categories of Culture" (1953) mentioned the seven elements of culture that could be found in all nations of the world. The seven element of this culture included (1) language; (2) knowledge system; (3) social organization; (4) living equipment and technology systems; (5) occupational system; (6) religious system; and (7) art (Koentjaraningrat, 2000: ). Although it may vary from one to another, every culture shares the same essential nature. Among the essential natures of culture are (1) culture is materialized and delivered through human behavior; (2) culture has existed beforehand that it precedes the birth of a certain generation, and will not die with the end to the age of the corresponding generation; (3) culture is required by human and embodied through their behavior; and (4) culture includes rules containing obligations, actions which are accepted and rejected, and actions which are prohibited and permitted (Soekanto, 2002: ). Conservation Conservation is an effort or action to maintain the presence of something constantly and sustainably concerning its both quality and quantity. Unnes chose to become a conservation university because Unnes is not meant as a campus that only promotes the quality of education and educational institutions, but more than that. In its activities, Unnes wants to get closer to the environment as part of the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi. The university s task is not only to produce professional educators, but also empowers people around campus so that their lives become more prosperous. Moreover, it invites the people around the campus to preserve the environment in order to make it remain stable and balanced. The rector has also determined to make Unnes become one of the Green Campus who care about the environment. To support the green campus program, Unnes has made various efforts, among them are procuring and planting thousands of trees and implementing waste management, urban forests, lake in campus and bicycle paths. The spirit of making Unnes as a Conservation Campus has been performed by involving the rector as the pioneer, faculty, students, and all community in campus including the gradeners who still actively plant trees in holiday. In the future, the rector said that fossil fuled vehicles are nolonger allowed to pass inside the campus area. They are only allowed to be parked in certain area onlu. Since the past few years, Unnes has been utilizing IT technology in conducting the lecture, such as the less use of paper, both in lectures and various announcements which must be known by the students in campus. This effort is considered quite effective to reduce the use of paper by more than a half. By saving paper on campus, Unnes has indirectly played an active role in reducing wood consumption in Indonesia as a raw material for making paper. In addition to saving paper, on-line system makes the information can be distributed faster, can be read and known transparently by the fellow faculties, rector and students. Furthermore, the rector said that the use of IT is also intended to make all members of the university aware of the use of technology. 195

4 Since the beginning of 2009, Unnes has formed a conservation team. It consists of people who have a big commitment in this case under the direction of vice rector I and III and has been pretty much proven through their work so it is appropriate to identify Unnes as a conservation university. The upcoming programs that will be developed include: Conservation of Biodiversity, Environmental Management, Green Space Management, Green Architecture, Green Internal Transportation, Waste Management, Paperles Policy, and Green Energy Policy. Unnes conservation is not only in the realm of the natural environment, but also in cultural conservation. Cultural diversity which is growing and developing in Indonesia must be preserved. Unnes also pays attention to this effort. Through the tag line of Conservation Campus, the university also attempts to implement cultural conservation efforts. To support the cultural conservation, research on cultural mapping is important. Results of this study will be taken into consideration in determining the future policy of cultural conservation. Children's Literature Conceptually, children's literature is not much different from the adult literature. Both are in the area of literature that covers the life with all the feelings, thoughts and insights of life. What distinguishes it is only in terms of the focus of the provision of meaningful picture of life for children which is decomposed in these works. Literature (in children's literature) is a form of imaginative creations with exposure to a particular language that describes imaginary world, presenting particular understanding and experience, and containing a certain aesthetic value that can be created by both adults and children. Whether it is children's literature is literature written by adults aimed at children or literature written for children among themselves is not something to dispute. Huck (1987) suggested that it does not matter who writes children's literature, as long as the depiction emphasized in a child's life has value for their significance. Children's literature is a literature that reflects the feelings and experiences of children through the eyes of children. However, in reality, the value of meaningfulness for children is sometimes seen and measured from the perspective of an adult. As a work, children's literature promises something for the readers that is the values contained which are packed both intrinsically and extrinsically. Therefore, the position of children's literature is important for children's development. A work with the effective use of language would produce an aesthetic experience for children. The use of language can generate intellectual and emotional responses where the children can feel and appreciate the role of the characters and conflict in the story which helps them appreciate beauty, magic, humor, sadness and injustice. Children will experience how to suffer and to take risks, also will be challenged to envision a variety of dreams as well as to ponder and put forward various problems about himself, others and the world around them (Huck, 1987). Values in Literature Literature is a work of art of which existence reveals life events and life in the community by using language as a medium (Sutresna, 2006: 2). Literature is a manifestation of literary experience of something (objects, people, or ideas) expressed using a creative language so that the realization reflects the facts (in Sutresna Effendi, 2006: 4). The experience can be achieved through sensory experience (what is seen, heard, felt), and eventually the experience of reason would appear in the form of literature. Literature tells us about the concept of literature as one of the disciplines of humanities that will take us towards an understanding and enjoyment of the phenomena contained. Literature is a form of creative work of art placing human and 196

5 their life as the object using language as a medium (Semi Atar in Sutresna: 2006). Departing from this notion, literature is inseparable from the values it contains. The values in literature is the result of the expression and aesthetic creations which is drawn from the cultural community (Sumardjo, 1999: 2). The ideal value of the author is in the form of das sollen about the aspects of life values, especially the value of education. A literary work can be considered as good if it contains educative values. Educational values can be captured by humans through various ways including through the understanding and enjoyment of literature. There are four kinds of educational value in literature, the value of religious, moral, social, and cultural education. Those values are of course no different from the values that exist in the real life of a community. In fact, these values are the values idealized by the author to explore a problem that occurs in real life (Sumardjo, 1999: 3). Speaking of value, of course, each writer might has different ways in expressing their values. Nurgiantoro (1995: 36), stated that there are two kinds of disclosure of the value in the form of fiction, namely direct and indirect. Direct delivery means the value delivered by the author was apparently written, while indirect delivery means the value delivered by the author is implied in the story and combined with other elements cohesively. Internalization of Values in Learning In learning process, in addition to the internalization of values related to children's personal character, it is necessary to introduce components of cultural value system that can be studied through human s self-awareness, which are classified into five components: awareness of life, awareness of work, awareness of space and time, awareness of human relationships with their surroundings or natural environment, and awareness of human s social relationship. Values internalization through art and literature in learning can be done in several ways. One of which is by optimizing various types of art and literature. The type of art that can be optimized in children s learning among others are dance, visual arts, and music. 1. Dance The point of learning dance for children is to introduce physical movements. The movements which are taught to children contain values and philosophy. Thus the children will understand the value of what they do. 2. Visual Arts The point emphasized in teaching visual arts to children is a creative drawing. Creative drawing for choldren generates imagination so that children can express their imagination through their drawings. Thus, the drawings contain message that can be understood by the children. 3. Music The point emphasized in learning of music is tone and voice recognition. In addition, children should be given the songs they could understand and are appropriate to their age. Thus, they can develop the imagination through music. In terms of literature, Lukens (2003: 14-34) outlined the genres of children's literature, namely: realism, formulated fiction, fantasy, traditional literature, poetry, and nonfiction each having various types in detail. 1. Realism There are some stories that can be categorized into realism: realistic stories, animal realisms, historical realism, and sports stories. The most popular type of realism applied in learning process is animal 197

6 realism. This is because animal realism can provide a simple concept to facilitate the children in understanding the plot. Thus the internalized values can easily be absorbed by the children. 2. Formulated Fiction Types of children's literature that can be categorized into formulated fiction is mystery and detective stories, romantic story, and series. Formulated fiction is quite attractive for children, especially detective stories. Those stories are able to arouse the curiosity of children towards the problem in the story. Through this way, the internalization of values would be easy to do. 3. Fantasy Types of children's literature which can be grouped into fantasy are fantasy stories, high-leveled fantasy and science fiction. Fantasy is closely related to the imagination. The children s world is still very close with imagination. Fantasy literature is demanded by children as well as parents. Many fantasy stories have been adapted into movies, comics, cartoon series etc. Parents also often take advantage of this fantasy story as children's bedtime stories. 4. Traditional Literature Types of stories which are grouped in this genre are fables, folklores, mythologies, legends, and epics. This type of literature is very close to cultural life. Fable, folklore, mythology, and epics are traditional literature which almost everyone knows without reading. This literature is spread through oral tradition of the community. Usually propagated from generation to generation, either from parent to child or from the narrator / community leaders to the audience. 5. Poetry Children poetry can be in the form of lyrical poetry, traditional nursery rhymes, lullabies, narrative poems, and personal poems. Children poetry is closely related to the presentation of poetry in noncontextual forms. These poems are commonly sung to facilitate the internalization of values in children. 6. Non-fiction For practical reasons, reading nonfiction can be grouped into the subgenres of informational and biographical books. Nonfiction books are made for the sake of knowledge of children about all kinds of knowledge, from simple local things to things that are more global (general knowledge). Conclusion and Suggestion Conclusion Based on these descriptions, it can be concluded that the internalization of values in children can be done through art and literature. The closest arts to children include dance, visual arts, and music. Children's literature includes realism, formulated fiction, fantasy, traditional literature, poetry, and nonfiction. Suggestion Suggestions corresponding to the topic of the research among others are (1) educators should do variety in delivering art and literature, so that students have a sensitivity towards the value; (2) internalization of values in art and literature must be emerged by filtering the themes of art and literature being taught to the children. Bibliography Abidin, Yusuh Zainal dan Beni Aahmad Saebani. (2014). Pengatar Sistem Sosial Budaya di Indonesia. Bandung: Pustaka Setia. Huck, Charlotte S. (1987). Children Literature in the Elementary School New York:Holt Rinehart. 198

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