PROFESSION IN INDONESIA

This afternoon I discussed "the most coveted job" and "the least coveted job" with my Intermediate 3 students who happen to be high school students, first and second grade. The most coveted job is still like the previous century; doctor. Engineer is not longer a favorite choice then.

Well, in the beginning of 1990s, in Indonesia there was a famous singer Ria Enes that made use of her doll named Susan. In one of her songs, Susan wanted to be either a doctor or an engineer, two most coveted profession in Indonesia. The main reason is of course coz these two professions promise to give the bearer much money. Since the beginning of 1993, the title "Insinyur" (the Indonesian word for 'engineer' was changed into "Sarjana Teknik". There was a joke, then, that Susan no longer wanted to be an engineer coz no more "insinyur". LOL.

Now going back to my high school students. None of them came up with 'engineer' as their career choice. Is that joke true? The title "Sarjana Teknik" doesnt sound cool. LOL. So, doctor now is the only favorite profession among children and teenagers.

I got shocked, though, when I found out that some students mentioned "writer" as the least wanted profession. I simply asked them, "Coz you dont have talent to be a writer?" The said yes. My comment was, "I dont think it very difficult to write. Try to do this. Later after you go home, start writing like this, "This afternoon, my classmates and I discussed the most and the least favorite profession in Indonesia. When I said that I didnt want to be a writer, Ms. Nana was shocked. bla bla bla ..."

I dont think that it is about money why some students of mine didnt want to be a writer. With the thriving business in publishing books--we can see the proof with more and more teen lit and chick lit novels. let's say, or with more publishing companies were established in Indonesia, or we can also see many young writers become celebrities (e.g. Djenar Maesa Ayu, Ayu Utami), to be a writer also promises people to get much money and fame.

Well, I think that in Indonesia, not many people find writing an interesting thing to do. In my experience as an English teacher, my students prefer having "speaking" class, to "writing" class. And during last century, 20th century, many publishing companies, or newspapers or magazine editors, didnt really appreciate new and young writers, so that they didnt consider their works good enough to be published. It could also become one reason why then people didnt find writer as an interesting job.

I have loved writing diary since I was in junior high school. Writing can really help to express ourselves, especially when we think that speaking is no longer enough. With the internet technology, and its blog world, people can express themselves more and more. Everybody needs to do that, right?