Let’s Take Action, Students!

Students are grouped into an intellectual society having critical thinking, analytical thought, creative ideas and opinion to realize and fight for education, teaching and service to community. Students as agents of change are asked to be the controller of the social situation, the criticism of social problems and the actors of bringing changes through real action in society based on their knowledge and experience gained from campus.

However, now students are no longer as the agents of change but being apathetic individuals instead. They have no longer concerns on various problems of injustice and have orientation towards just high achievement index, short term study for quick graduation and job. It is caused by campus’ orientation on academic score and by being part of ‘degree fabrics.’ Such model of campus is actually 'killing' the students’ creativity.

Eko Prasetyo wrote a book ‘Bergeraklah Mahasiswa!” (Let’s Take Action, Students!) as a criticism to students as well as education system. This situation pushed Social Movements Institute (SMI) together with Togamas Bookstore, Tribun Forum, Tribun Jogja, and Stube-HEMAT to review this book on Thursday, September 14, 2017 at Togamas Gejayan Bookstore.

Asman Abdullah, from SMI revealed that there is a criticism written on the book saying that it is hard for students to allocate their time to join organization out side campus in order to finish their study in three and half year. It is a pity because the students will become 'dull' because they have less interaction with their surrounding social reality. Alfath Bagus, the president of Gadjah Mada University  student organization, said that students currently need to have an imagination, so that, they can connect knowledge they learned with actual challenges. While Sulistiono, from Tribun Jogja local newspaper said that the existence of current students were significantly different with students in old order. At that time students were united in great power and had the same 'enemy' and they moved together to bring down the ‘enemy’. Now, students are difficult to be united because they have different interests. Nevertheless, students can still move to answer social problems in society based on their segments, for example, taking part in solving environmental damage or assisting community to improve their economy level.

Next, two participants responded the discussion topic. Mardi from East Nusa Tenggara said that students need to sharpen their analytical skills and need space to do something useful. Next, Anggara, a student from Kalimantan said that students in the city should not only 'speak out' against the government, but do real action, such as initiating activity to reduce education gap in Kalimantan hinterland. It will be more beneficial.

Finally, the decision will be taken by the students themselves, whether studying for good grades just on paper then graduate and seek for job, or studying and doing adventure to find the annoying social reality that needs changes. (ELZ).