Examples of English Essay or Articles

Islamic School vs Modern School

Composed by: Rendi Afriadi                                                              cause-effect essay

Seeking knowledge is a compulsory deed for Moslems both males and females. Such commandment can be found in many hadith of Prophet Muhammad pbuh and Al-Quran. To fulfill this commandment, many Islamic schools, ranging from traditional Islamic schools to modern ones, are built in all over the globe. In Indonesia, such schools have been introduced since the first time Islam was emerged. Although many modern schools are established in this country today, Islamic schools still exist to deliver the true meaning of Islam to the youth and give them guidance to face the modern world which shows contradictory circumstances with Islamic values. Despite their existence to preserve the religious spirit of the society, some parents are reluctant to have their children study in those schools. Why this phenomenon occurs in Indonesian society is due to the misconception of Islamic schools and the paid tuition of them.

            One common reason why parents not want their children to study in Islamic schools is because of their misconception about the schools. Much wrong information is spread in the society about the Islamic schools. Some say that they are worse than the modern schools in terms of the taught material. They claim that Islamic schools pay more attention to teach the students everything about Islam; there is only little attention to the modern knowledge. Since they are only taught Islamic knowledge, they will have lack insight about modern ones that are needed to face and to live in this modern society. As a result, some parents will doubt the credibility and the compatibility of Islamic school toward this society. Moreover, they will think that their children cannot be success living in this modern society due to the lack of modern knowledge they acquired in Islamic schools. In addition to the material, some perceive the teachers teaching modern knowledge in Islamic schools are not as good as those are teaching in the modern schools. Since Islamic schools focus on teaching Islam, they only select the Islamic teachers carefully not the modern ones. Even, they hire the teacher who has no teaching experience and no sufficient ability to teach, both academic and pedagogic. This misinformation leads the parents of students to be afraid to have their children study in those schools as the teachers teaching their children are not as qualified as those are in the modern schools.

            Another reason why parents are reluctant to send their children to the Islamic schools is due to the tuition should be paid in such schools. People also know that not all the Islamic schools have the bad qualities as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. They know some Islamic schools have the same qualities as the modern ones or even better, whether in material or teacher profile. Though they know it clearly, they prefer the modern schools to Islamic ones since it is unaffordable to send their children to the good Islamic schools. They tuition they should pay in those schools is much more expensive than those in modern ones. Accordingly, they low economic family cannot get their children to study in the good Islamic schools; they prefer the good modern schools which are affordable for them. Furthermore, some claim that the good Islamic schools only provide and suit for the rich families not for the poor ones.    

            To conclude, in spite of the important roles of Islamic schools to maintain and increase the religious spirit of the youth, some parents prefer modern school because they misconceive about Islamic schools and have no enough money to send their children to the schools. Thus, it is important to provide good fordable Islamic schools that all people can study there without spending a big amount of money. It is also recommended that Islamic school erase the misconception spread in the modern society.