Self-Management Based on Personal Characters in 5.0 Era
2. Discussion
2.1. Character education
The word “character” comes from Greek, meaning focusing on imple- menting goodness and noble action or behaviour. Character is not inherited, instead, it is built continuously through thoughts and deeds, and action after action [1], [2], [6].
Character is the values of human behaviour related to God, oneself, fel- low human beings, the environment, and nationality manifested in thoughts, attitudes, feelings, words, and actions based on religious norms, laws, man- ners, culture, and customs (Farida, 2012). The six pillars of character are 1) Trustworthiness, which builds one’s integrity, honesty, and loyalty; 2) Fairness, to build an open mind and not taking advantage of others; 3) Caring, which builds one’s attitudes and concerns; 4) Respect, which builds one’s respect to- wards others; 5) Citizenship, which builds one’s awareness of laws and regu- lations, and care about the natural environment; and 6) Responsibility, which builds one’s responsibility and discipline [10].
The three components of good character are: 1) moral knowledge, which consists of six aspects, namely moral responsibility, understanding, perspective determination, moral thinking, decision making, and personal knowledge; 2) moral feelings, which consist of six aspects, namely conscience, self-esteem, empathy, compassion, self-control, and modesty; and 3) moral action, which consists of three aspects, namely moral competence, desire, and habits [6].
In this case, character education is a conscious effort to realize virtue.
The individual quality is not only personally good but is also good for society as a whole. Character education is earned to help a person understand, care, and act based on core ethical values [2], [11], [12].
Hence, it can be concluded that character education is a deliberate at- tempt made to help students understand good values in society. By so doing, they become human beings with noble characters in heart, mind, body, taste, and intention.
The rationale for the character education movement was driven by pub- licly deviant behaviour, such as violence, corruption, impoliteness, greed, immorality, drugs, bad work ethics, and impoliteness [3], [6]. Character ed- ucation aims to improve the quality of implementation and educational out- comes in schools to form students’ noble characters, complete, integrated, and balanced, following the graduate competency standards.
Nine taught character values are: 1) honesty (treating other human be- ings); 2) justice (acting equally and not discriminating); 3) tolerance (equal- ity without looking at different thoughts, races, and beliefs); 4) wisdom (the
act of respects and keep one’s away from harm); 5) self-discipline (avoiding self-destruct and not to be easily satisfied); 6) helping (good deeds); 7) caring (helping others); 8) cooperation (humans do not live alone), and 9) courage (acting decisively and positively towards others) [6].
A study by Harvard University found that a person’s success is not solely determined by knowledge, technical abilities, and cognition, but rather by the ability of self-management. This research reveals that success is only deter- mined by around 20% of hard skills and the remaining 80% of soft skills. In this case, the soft skills are formed through the implementation of character education for students [3], [7].
This study supports Martin Luther King’s statement where he dreamed of a day when all Americans were judged not by their skin colours, but by their noble characters. Among the characters are honesty, justice, courage, and compassion [6].
In Indonesia, the character education consists of 18 values originating from religion, Pancasila, culture, and educational goals, namely: 1) religious;
2) honest; 3) tolerance; 4) discipline; 5) hard work; 6) creative; 7) indepen- dent; 8) democratic; 9) curiosity; 10) national spirit; 11) love of the home- land; 12) likes to read; 13) friendly; 14) peace-loving; 15) care for the envi- ronment; 16) social care; 17) responsibility; and 18) appreciate achievements [6], [13], [14].
At schools, teachers have the power to instil values and character in stu- dents through three ways: 1) compassion, respect, help, self-confidence, and good ethics; 2) ethically becoming a model, showing high respect, and respon- sibility; and 3) becoming ethical mentors, providing moral instruction and guidance through explanations, discussions, and motivation [2], [6].
2.2. The implementation of character education
Policy implementation is both an individual and official action to achieve collective goals [2], [6], [14], [15]. In this case, policy implementation applies basic policy decisions, usually in the form of legislation. It can also be in the form of important executive orders or judiciary decisions [1], [16]. It can be concluded that policy implementation is an action taken by a certain person or group, in the form of laws and orders to achieve the goals that have been set.
There are approaches to policy implementation. Among the approaches are: 1) structural approach, or top-down approach. Where policies must be designed, implemented, controlled and structurally evaluated. This approach emphasizes the importance of command and control; 2) procedural and man- agerial approaches, which develop relevant processes, procedures, and appro-
priate management techniques; 3) the behavioural approach, which emphasiz- es humans and their behaviours as implementers, rather than organizational behaviour; and 4) political approach, which looks at political or power factors that can facilitate or hinder the policy implementation process[1], [8], [16], [17].
2.3. Strategies for the implementation of character education
Strategies for character development is carried out in three ways, namely:
1) planning (character development from various sources); 2) implementation (developing learning experiences and processes in character building that take place in the three pillars of education: family, school and community); and 3) evaluation of results (designed measures for continual improvement) [5], [13].
Marten proposes three stages of effective character learning strategies, those are identification of values, learning values, and providing opportunities to apply the values. The true learning process begins with seeing, observing, and feeling the social environment, and is supported by empathetic teachers where students can become an integral part of social and universal reality [8], [17].
Moral education that teaches pure values as mandated by the current curriculum is mostly carried out by direct teaching. At the same time, these values must be integrated into other subjects. This is burdening teachers be- cause they are required to be exemplary role models [2], [15]. Ideally, charac- ter education is a form of lifelong learning integrated into informal education in the family, formal education in schools, and non-formal education in the community [6]. At schools, character education can be integrated into sub- jects that teach norms and values practised in everyday life [15], [16].
Gufron argues that the integration of character values into learning ac- tivities takes a combination, incorporation, and values implementation that are believed to be good and true. This can form, develop, and foster students’
personalities following the national identity where the learning activities take place [16].
In the integration of character education, it must be considered that 1) School policies and administrative must support through school’s vision and mission, socialization, and filed documents; 2) School condition that includes supporting facilities and infrastructure, clean environment and canteen, and praying room; 3) Teachers’ knowledge and attitudes, including the concept of character education, lesson plans, learning tools, and the integration of character education in subjects; 4) Teachers’ competency, and 5) Community support [14].
Character education can also be presented in the form of cooperative learning to teach moral and academic values at the same time. Among the benefits are 1) teaching the students on the value of cooperation; 2) build- ing classroom community; 3) teaching basic life skills; 4) improving students’
achievement, self-esteem, and attitudes towards school; 5) offering an alterna- tive ranking model; and 6) controlling the negative effects of competition [6].