Believe in Literature: Character Education for Indonesia's Youth

Character education has become a significant challenge in Indonesia, as youths have become involved in all sorts of criminal and illicit acts, including casual sex, narcotics, brawls, street racing, and gambling. Even though character education is recognized as necessary for preparing the country's future generations, the current system has been incapable of resolving the issues facing Indonesia's youths or instilling them with desired character traits and values. This article examines literature's potential as an alternative approach and medium for character education. It provides a detailed map of how literary character education has been conducted, as well as how character traits and values have been identified and communicated by students. Data were collected by observing the learning process in a classroom and conducting interviews with teachers and students. Further observation was conducted to understand students' experiences with character education, both within and without the classroom. This study found that through the application of literature as a medium for and approach to character education, students' cognitive, affective, and psychomotor intelligences were improved. Literature contains specific messages and values that help students attain intellectual, emotional, and spiritual maturity. As such, it may be surmised that textual reading and analysis of literature, as a learning medium, can transfer desired values to students and enable them to contextualize said values. To complement the use of literature, this study recommends the development of alternative approaches to character education that make effective evaluation possible. © 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.