Do We Still Need to Learn Javanese at School?

         

In this globalization era, Javanese is still used. Despite this, the existence of Javanese is increasingly concerning. Schools tried to delete the Javanese subject and replace it with foreign languages ​​such as English, Japanese, or French. Many people think that Javanese is the language of marginalized people or ancient people. They admit that they are ashamed to use Javanese and choose to use Indonesian or foreign languages. Then, is it still important to learn Javanese at school? Do we still need it?

Javanese has a very important role in everyday life as a means of communication. The Javanese has a division of language levels (ngoko, madya, and krama) which is quite detailed. The use of the Javanese levels are according to the difference in age, degree, and level of kinship between the person speaking and the person being spoken to. Therefore, Javanese has good language ethics to use and reflect the characteristics of Indonesian cultural customs as an eastern nation.

The fading of Javanese has made the quality of character and manners of young people in Java decline. They tend not to be able to speak fine Javanese, they prefer to speak Indonesian, which is considered easier. Therefore, good and correct Javanese education needs to be instilled from an early age so that the Javanese is maintained and the characteristics of the Javanese people who are known to be virtuous and have good manners are maintained.

School is the right environment as infrastructure to maintain Javanese culture, because students can learn and practice with teachers and friends. The use of the Javanese in learning for a certain time can also improve Javanese skills, so that all school members participate in preserving the use of the Javanese. However, this rule is mostly only applied to public schools and some schools have even replaced it with other languages ​​because Javanese is considered a difficult and complicated subject. For private schools, they have their own rules so some of them don't include Javanese in their lessons.

The opponent of this is, people who consider that other languages such as Indonesian and English are more important for our lives. Those languages are used more often than Javanese. People also prefer to speak Indonesian which is considered easier. Indonesian and English are also used in the scale of national and international. In this case, Javanese is not a good language to speak when it comes to formal occasions such as conferences. As a result, young people start having a mindset that without even speaking Javanese they can still communicate with Javanese people using Indonesian.

In addition, the society culture is starting to change, some parents who live in homogeneous areas of Javanese culture (for example: villages in Central Java and Yogyakarta) think that children who have Indonesian as their mother tongue will look cooler than those who have Javanese as their first language. For instance, some of my neighbors are from young families, who clearly live in the homogeneous rural culture of Yogyakarta, where almost all of the people speak Javanese. They start to be reluctant to teach Javanese to their children as their mother tongue and prefer using Indonesian or even English more often.

This topic will always be debated in our society. Javanese, which over time, eventually becomes less and less spoken. Language is the main means of communication in everyday life and will always keep up with the times. There is nothing wrong with changing times, but at least we as the younger generation can pass on something good to the next generation, one of which is unggah-ungguh in order to build a civilized national identity and culture. Javanese must be applied to all schools in Java areas whether public or private. If Javanese starts to be abolished at school, then where will we learn Javanese? Prioritize national language, preserve local language, and master foreign language.