Comics belong in the classroom | Gene Luen Yang

Translator: Ajeng Fajriani Nurasieta Reviewer: Lanny Yunita

When I was in the fifth grade,

Saat kelas lima,

I bought an issue of "DC Comics Presents #57"

saya membeli DC Comics Presents jilid 57

off of a spinner rack at my local bookstore,

dari rak majalah di toko buku daerah saya,

and that comic book changed my life.

dan komik itu mengubah hidup saya.

The combination of words and pictures did something inside my head

Kombinasi kata dan gambar menyebabkan sesuatu terjadi di kepala saya

that had never been done before,

untuk pertama kalinya,

and I immediately fell in love with the medium of comics.

dan saya langsung jatuh hati pada komik.

I became a voracious comic book reader,

Saya menjadi pembaca komik yang serakah,

but I never brought them to school.

tapi tak pernah bawa komik ke sekolah.

Instinctively, I knew that comic books didn't belong in the classroom.

Saya menyadari bahwa komik tidak seharusnya ada di ruang kelas.

My parents definitely were not fans,

Orang tua saya bukan penggemar komik,

and I was certain that my teachers wouldn't be either.

dan saya yakin guru-guru saya pun begitu.

After all, they never used them to teach,

Komik tidak pernah digunakan untuk mengajar,

comic books and graphic novels were never allowed during silent sustained reading,

komik dan novel grafis tidak pernah digunakan untuk kegiatan membaca,

and they were never sold at our annual book fair.

dan tidak pernah dijual di pameran buku tahunan di tempat kami.

Even so, I kept reading comics,

Meski begitu, saya tetap membaca komik,

and I even started making them.

dan bahkan mulai membuat komik.

Eventually I became a published cartoonist,

Akhirnya saya menjadi kartunis,

writing and drawing comic books for a living.

menulis dan menggambar komik sebagai mata pencaharian.

I also became a high school teacher.

Saya juga menjadi guru di Sekolah Menengah Atas.

This is where I taught:

Saya mengajar di:

Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California.

SMA Bishop O'Dowd di Oakland, California.

I taught a little bit of math and a little bit of art,

Saya mengajar matematika dan seni,

but mostly computer science,

tapi seringnya ilmu komputer,

and I was there for 17 years.

dan saya mengajar selama 17 tahun.

When I was a brand new teacher,

Saat masih menjadi guru baru,

I tried bringing comic books into my classroom.

saya mencoba membawa komik ke dalam kelas.

I remember telling my students on the first day of every class

Di hari pertama pelajaran, saya berkata di depan para murid,

that I was also a cartoonist.

bahwa saya seorang kartunis.

It wasn't so much that I was planning to teach them with comics,

Alasannya bukan karena saya hendak mengajar menggunakan komik,

it was more that I was hoping comics would make them think that I was cool.

tetapi karena saya harap komik dapat membuat mereka menganggap saya keren.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

I was wrong.

Saya keliru.

This was the '90s,

Saat itu adalah tahun 90-an,

so comic books didn't have the cultural cachet that they do today.

jadi komik belum membudaya seperti saat ini.

My students didn't think I was cool. They thought I was kind of a dork.

Murid-murid tidak menganggap saya keren, tapi malahan dianggap norak.

And even worse, when stuff got hard in my class,

Dan lebih parahnya, saat ada masalah di dalam kelas,

they would use comic books as a way of distracting me.

mereka akan menggunakan komik sebagai pengalih perhatian.

They would raise their hands and ask me questions like,

Lalu mereka mengangkat tangan dan bertanya,

"Mr. Yang, who do you think would win in a fight,

"Pak Yang, menurut Bapak, siapa yang akan menang,

Superman or the Hulk?"

Superman atau Hulk?"

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

I very quickly realized I had to keep my teaching and my cartooning separate.

Seketika itu saya sadar bahwa mengajar dan membuat kartun harus dipisahkan.

It seemed like my instincts in fifth grade were correct.

Tampaknya insting kelas lima saya benar.

Comic books didn't belong in the classroom.

Komik tidak seharusnya ada di ruang kelas.

But again, I was wrong.

Tapi lagi-lagi, saya keliru.

A few years into my teaching career,

Setelah mengajar selama beberapa tahun,

I learned firsthand the educational potential of comics.

saya mengalami sendiri potensi mendidik menggunakan komik.

One semester, I was asked to sub for this Algebra 2 class.

Di satu semester, saya diminta untuk menggantikan kelas Aljabar 2

I was asked to long-term sub it, and I said yes, but there was a problem.

untuk jangka waktu yang panjang, saya setuju, tapi ada masalah.

At the time, I was also the school's educational technologist,

Saat itu, saya juga menjabat sebagai teknisi pendidikan di sekolah,

which meant every couple of weeks

yang artinya setiap beberapa minggu,

I had to miss one or two periods of this Algebra 2 class

saya terpaksa meninggalkan satu atau dua kali pelajaran,

because I was in another classroom helping another teacher

karena saya berada di kelas lain, membantu guru lainnya

with a computer-related activity.

yang berhubungan dengan komputer.

For these Algebra 2 students, that was terrible.

Bagi murid-murid kelas Aljabar 2, hal tersebut tidak menyenangkan.

I mean, having a long-term sub is bad enough,

Mendapat guru pengganti jangka panjang itu tidak menyenangkan,

but having a sub for your sub? That's the worst.

tapi bagaimana kalau diganti lagi? Itu lebih parah.

In an effort to provide some sort of consistency for my students,

Dalam rangka memberikan pengajaran yang konsisten untuk murid-murid saya,

I began videotaping myself giving lectures.

saya mulai merekam video saat sedang menjelaskan pelajaran,

I'd then give these videos to my sub to play for my students.

lalu video itu saya serahkan pada pengganti saya untuk diputar di kelas.

I tried to make these videos as engaging as possible.

Saya berusaha membuat videonya semenarik mungkin.

I even included these little special effects.

Saya bahkan menambahkan efek-efek khusus.

For instance, after I finished a problem on the board,

Contohnya, saat saya menyelesaikan soal di papan tulis,

I'd clap my hands,

saya akan menepukkan tangan,

and the board would magically erase.

lalu papan tulisnya akan menghilang secara ajaib.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

I thought it was pretty awesome.

Menurut saya itu lumayan keren.

I was pretty certain that my students would love it,

Saya sangat yakin murid-murid akan menyukai video itu,

but I was wrong.

ternyata saya keliru.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

These video lectures were a disaster.

Video-video itu gagal total.

I had students coming up to me and saying things like,

Banyak murid menemui saya dan berkata,

"Pak Yang, kami pikir Bapak orang yang membosankan,

"Mr. Yang, we thought you were boring in person,

but on video, you are just unbearable."

tapi di video, Bapak lebih parah."

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

So as a desperate second attempt, I began drawing these lectures as comics.

Selanjutnya, saya mulai menggambar pelajaran dalam bentuk komik.

I'd do these very quickly with very little planning.

Saya melakukannya dengan cepat dan minim perencanaan.

I'd just take a sharpie, draw one panel after the other,

Saya hanya mengambil spidol, menggambar panel demi panel,

figuring out what I wanted to say as I went.

memikirkan yang ingin saya katakan sambil menggambar.

These comics lectures would come out

Komik berisi pelajaran ini

to anywhere between four and six pages long,

biasanya berjumlah empat atau enam halaman,

I'd xerox these, give them to my sub to hand to my students.

saya memfotokopi komik itu lalu menyerahkan kepada guru pengganti.

And much to my surprise,

Dan saya terkejut,

these comics lectures were a hit.

karena komik itu sukses besar.

My students would ask me to make these for them

Murid-murid meminta saya membuat komik,

even when I could be there in person.

meskipun saya bisa hadir di kelas.

It was like they liked cartoon me more than actual me.

Rupanya mereka lebih menyukai versi kartun saya dibanding yang asli.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

This surprised me, because my students are part of a generation

Ini mengejutkan, karena murid-murid saya adalah bagian dari generasi

that was raised on screens,

yang dibesarkan dengan layar,

so I thought for sure they would like learning from a screen

jadi saya kira mereka akan menyukai belajar melalui layar

better than learning from a page.

dibandingkan melalui lembaran kertas.

But when I talked to my students

Saat saya bertanya pada murid-murid,

about why they liked these comics lectures so much,

kenapa mereka menyukai komik yang saya buat,

I began to understand the educational potential of comics.

saya mulai memahami potensi komik dalam dunia pendidikan.

First, unlike their math textbooks,

Pertama, tidak seperti buku pelajaran matematika,

these comics lectures taught visually.

komik mengajarkan materi secara visual.

Our students grow up in a visual culture,

Murid-murid kita besar di lingkungan visual,

so they're used to taking in information that way.

jadi mereka terbiasa memahami informasi secara visual.

But unlike other visual narratives,

Tapi bukan seperti cara visual lainnya,

like film or television or animation or video,

contohnya film, televisi, animasi, atau video,

comics are what I call permanent.

menurut saya komik itu permanen.

In a comic, past, present and future all sit side by side on the same page.

Dalam komik, masa lalu, sekarang, dan masa depan letaknya berdampingan.

This means that the rate of information flow

Artinya, jumlah informasi yang diterima

is firmly in the hands of the reader.

berada dalam kendali pembaca.

When my students didn't understand something in my comics lecture,

Saat ada murid yang tidak mengerti suatu materi di komik saya,

they could just reread that passage as quickly or as slowly as they needed.

mereka hanya perlu membaca ulang sesuai kecepatan membaca masing-masing.

It was like I was giving them a remote control over the information.

Itu seperti memberikan remote control kepada mereka.

The same was not true of my video lectures,

Hal tersebut tidak ada di video yang saya buat,

and it wasn't even true of my in-person lectures.

dan bahkan tidak ada dalam pengajaran yang saya berikan.

When I speak, I deliver the information as quickly or slowly as I want.

Saat saya berbicara, kecepatan adalah kewenangan saya.

So for certain students and certain kinds of information,

Bagi beberapa murid dan beberapa jenis informasi,

these two aspects of the comics medium, its visual nature and its permanence,

dua aspek yang didapat melalui komik, yaitu visual dan sifat permanen,

make it an incredibly powerful educational tool.

menjadikan komik sebagai sarana pendidikan yang sangat berguna.

When I was teaching this Algebra 2 class,

Saat saya mengajar di kelas Aljabar 2,

I was also working on my master's in education at Cal State East Bay.

saya juga sedang menempuh pendidikan di Cal State East Bay.

And I was so intrigued by this experience that I had with these comics lectures

Saya tertarik dengan pengalaman saya menggunakan komik dalam mengajar,

that I decided to focus my final master's project on comics.

hingga saya memutuskan untuk memusatkan topik penelitian saya pada komik.

I wanted to figure out why American educators

Saya penasaran mengapa pendidik Amerika,

have historically been so reluctant to use comic books in their classrooms.

ragu untuk menggunakan komik dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar.

Here's what I discovered.

Berikut adalah temuan saya.

Comic books first became a mass medium in the 1940s,

Komik pertama kali menjadi media massa pada tahun 1940-an,

with millions of copies selling every month,

sebanyak jutaan cetakan terjual setiap bulannya,

and educators back then took notice.

dan para pendidik menyadarinya.

A lot of innovative teachers began bringing comics into their classrooms

Banyak guru inovatif mulai membawa komik ke dalam ruang kelas

to experiment.

untuk bereksperimen.

In 1944, the "Journal of Educational Sociology"

Pada tahun 1944, "Jurnal Sosiologi Pendidikan"

even devoted an entire issue to this topic.

bahkan mengkhususkan satu jilid untuk membahas topik tersebut.

Things seemed to be progressing.

Semuanya mulai berkembang.

Teachers were starting to figure things out.

Para guru mulai menyadari perubahan yang terjadi.

But then along comes this guy.

Namun datanglah seorang pria.

This is child psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham,

Dia adalah psikolog anak, Dr. Frederic Wertham.

and in 1954, he wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent,"

Pada 1954, dia menulis buku berjudul "Seduction of The Innocent,"

where he argues that comic books cause juvenile delinquency.

dia berpendapat bahwa komik menyebabkan kenakalan remaja.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

He was wrong.

Dia keliru.

Now, Dr. Wertham was actually a pretty decent guy.

Dr. Wertham sebenarnya pria yang lumayan baik.

Dia sering menghabiskan waktu bersama kriminal remaja,

He spent most of his career working with juvenile delinquents,

and in his work he noticed that most of his clients read comic books.

karena hal tersebut dia menyadari kebanyakan kliennya membaca komik.

What Dr. Wertham failed to realize was in the 1940s and '50s,

Dr. Wertham tidak memahami bahwa di era 40 dan 50-an,

almost every kid in America read comic books.

hampir semua anak di Amerika membaca komik.

Dr. Wertham does a pretty dubious job of proving his case,

Pembuktian dari Dr. Wertham sedikit meragukan,

but his book does inspire the Senate of the United States

tapi bukunya menginspirasi Senat Amerika Serikat

to hold a series of hearings

untuk melaksanakan pemeriksaan,

to see if in fact comic books caused juvenile delinquency.

guna membuktikan bahwa komik menyebabkan kenakalan remaja.

These hearings lasted for almost two months.

Pemeriksaan tersebut berlangsung selama hampir dua bulan.

They ended inconclusively, but not before doing tremendous damage

Hasilnya tidak meyakinkan, tapi sayangnya berhasil merusak

to the reputation of comic books in the eyes of the American public.

reputasi komik di mata penduduk Amerika.

After this, respectable American educators all backed away,

Setelah itu, para pendidik Amerika yang dihormati mundur,

and they stayed away for decades.

dan menghilang selama beberapa dekade.

It wasn't until the 1970s

Baru pada tahun 1970-an,

that a few brave souls started making their way back in.

beberapa pemberani mulai kembali.

And it really wasn't until pretty recently,

Dan baru belakangan ini,

maybe the last decade or so,

mungkin sekitar satu dekade,

that comics have seen more widespread acceptance

komik mulai diterima secara luas

among American educators.

di kalangan pendidik Amerika.

Comic books and graphic novels are now finally making their way

Komik dan novel grafis akhirnya menemukan cara

back into American classrooms

untuk kembali ke ruang kelas di Amerika,

and this is even happening at Bishop O'Dowd, where I used to teach.

dan bahkan terjadi di SMA Bishop O'Dowd, tempat saya dulu mengajar.

Mr. Smith, one of my former colleagues,

Pak Smith, salah satu rekan kerja saya,

uses Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics"

menggunakan buku Scott McCloud, "Memahami Komik"

in his literature and film class, because that book gives his students

untuk kelas sastra dan film, karena buku itu membekali murid-muridnya

the language with which to discuss the relationship between words and images.

dengan bahasa untuk mendiskusikan hubungan antara kata dan gambar.

Mr. Burns assigns a comics essay to his students every year.

Pak Burns menugaskan esay komik kepada murid-muridnya setiap tahun.

By asking his students to process a prose novel using images,

Murid-muridnya diminta untuk menelaah novel menggunakan gambar,

Mr. Burns asks them to think deeply

mereka diminta untuk berpikir lebih dalam,

not just about the story

bukan hanya mengenai ceritanya,

but also about how that story is told.

tapi juga mengenai penyampaian ceritanya.

And Ms. Murrock uses my own "American Born Chinese"

Dan Ibu Murrock menggunakan buku saya, "Warga Amerika Keturunan Tiongkok"

with her English 1 students.

untuk murid di kelas Bahasa Inggris 1.

For her, graphic novels

Baginya, novel grafis

are a great way of fulfilling a Common Core Standard.

adalah cara yang bagus untuk memenuhi standar Common Core.

The Standard states that students ought to be able to analyze

Standar tersebut mengharuskan murid mampu menganalisa

how visual elements contribute to the meaning, tone and beauty of a text.

bagaimana elemen visual memengaruhi makna, nada, dan keindahan teks.

Over in the library, Ms. Counts has built a pretty impressive

Di perpustakaan, Ibu Counts telah menyediakan koleksi

novel grafis yang mengagumkan untuk SMA Bishop O'Dowd.

graphic novel collection for Bishop O'Dowd.

Now, Ms. Counts and all of her librarian colleagues

Ibu Counts dan semua rekan-rekan pustakawannya

have really been at the forefront of comics advocacy,

menjadi pelopor dalam hal penggunaan komik,

really since the early '80s, when a school library journal article

sejak awal tahun 80-an, saat artikel tentang perpustakaan sekolah

stated that the mere presence of graphic novels in the library

menyatakan bahwa kemunculan novel grafis di perpustakaan

increased usage by about 80 percent

meningkatkan jumlah pengguna sebesar 80 persen,

and increased the circulation of noncomics material

dan meningkatkan sirkulasi materi non-komik

by about 30 percent.

sebesar 30 persen.

Inspired by this renewed interest from American educators,

Terinspirasi dari ketertarikan para pendidik Amerika,

American cartoonists are now producing more explicitly educational content

saat ini kartunis Amerika membuat konten edukasi yang lebih eksplisit

for the K-12 market than ever before.

bagi kelompok anak TK-SD.

A lot of this is directed at language arts,

Kebanyakan diarahkan pada seni bahasa,

but more and more comics and graphic novels

tapi semakin banyak komik dan novel grafis

are starting to tackle math and science topics.

yang mulai membahas matematika dan sains.

STEM comics graphics novels really are like this uncharted territory,

Novel grafis Sains Teknik Matematika seolah menjadi wilayah tidak terdata,

ready to be explored.

yang siap untuk dijelajahi.

America is finally waking up to the fact

Warga Amerika akhirnya menyadari fakta,

that comic books do not cause juvenile delinquency.

bahwa komik tidak menyebabkan kenakalan remaja.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

That they really do belong in every educator's toolkit.

Bahwa komik pantas menjadi bagian dari perlengkapan pendidik.

There's no good reason to keep comic books and graphic novels

Tidak ada alasan kuat menjauhkan komik dan novel grafis

out of K-12 education.

dari pendidikan anak TK-SD.

They teach visually,

Komik mengajar secara visual,

they give our students that remote control.

memberikan kendali kepada murid-murid.

The educational potential is there

Potensi komik dalam pendidikan sudah tersedia,

just waiting to be tapped

menunggu untuk dijamah

by creative people like you.

oleh orang-orang kreatif seperti Anda sekalian.

Thank you.

Terima kasih.

(Applause)

(Tepuk tangan)