Applying Potential, Talents, and Interests in Islamic Boarding Schools

Two years ago, C graduated from one of the favourite schools, the Al-Hasyimiyah Darul Ulum Modern Islamic Boarding School (Pondok Pesantren). However, he did not want to continue his education at university because C was confident that his experience in the pesantren world would let him live wherever he might be. A few days later C summoned the courage to apply for a job as an ustad (religious teacher) at the Al Hasyimiyah Darul Ulum Modern Islamic Boarding School in North Sumatra. 

Through the various tests he took to find this job, he was confident that he surely had the provisions he needed. After one week he received a call from the pesantren to become an ustad. His seven years were not wasted studying in the pesantren world. Considering that in the pesantren he was taught Quran recitation, good and polite manners, and various extracurricular activities such as sports and the arts, and making new things beyond the reach of his imagination. This true story may be just one example of thousands of stories in which potential, talent and interest must be put to use. The pesantren helps by first finding where a person's abilities lie, “as the path” to discovering interests and talents, rather than to spend time, money and energy.  

Fortunately, the world of education has a scientist named Dr. Howard Gardner (1983) who stated that every individual has their own intelligence and learning style that supports them on the way to success. Gardner (1938) divided individual intelligence into eight types, which have now been refined into 10 intelligences each. In short, perhaps in the past many people assumed that the smart child was the one with high marks in physics or mathematics.

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