The majority of Indonesian middle schools focus on students' scoring high in high-stake test. Schools and the regional education office boast of students' achievement on their written tests.

It turns out that when students graduate from high school and continue their study at university, they are lacking in the necessary skills to support their stiudies such as reading academic textbook and writing essay in English. It means that they can't apply their test taking skill in real life situation whether academic, profesional or social life.

It means that ability to take standardized test should not be the end goal of language learning at middle school. Classroom activities should be aimed at more practice to use English.in real communication such as writing emails or exchanging letters with students from other countries. This way learning become more meaningful as students try to communicate well with each other. The advance of information technology should be utilized for this end.

The role of teacher in developing the human resources of a country is often ignored and take for granted. Lecturers are often given credit for the success of someone in their career. This is may be becuase the lecturers are in the final process of one's education.

As a matter of facts, all educators at whatever stage of their students' learning give significant contribution for students' study outcome whether in the realm of academic achievement or character development. Teachers have invested their energy and time to bring out the best in their students.

During my teaching career which has spanned 14 years in an Indonesian lower secondary school, I can observe that teachers should update their teaching skills and knowldge througjh attending seminar, workshop or pursue their study in higher educational institution. This will make them stay tuned to the development of pedagogy and technology and widen their professional network.

In conclusion, instead of competing to get recognition for one's accomplishment, it would be better to keep in track of our own work and collaborate with other educators to improve their countries' education quality at whatever stage it is.

Gadgets are the magic wand of today's generation. Their life is dependent heavily on it. They spend most of their time on it, especially for fun and entertainment purposes. In terms of studying, it has replaced books, dictionaries, and even teachers in many ways. Some students prefer reading ebooks to the hard copy version. However, based on my observation, only a few students make the best use of gadgets for studying purposes.

In my opinion, gadgets especially smartphones are analogous to a knife in their use. If we don't use it effectively and wisely it will do us more harm than give us optimum benefit. For example, some of my students use their smartphones to improve their English language competence through reading comics, watching English video tutorials, listening to songs, and many others. They take note of new vocabulary they encounter. So, when they take a written test, they score highly. On the other hand, most students who use their smartphones mostly for fun are just wasting their time and get no lasting benefit. They score poorly on the written exam and have low literacy skills. 

Based on my students' cases, I can conclude that teachers should tirelessly remind their students to make the best use of their gadgets if they are to get dividends in their investment of buying smartphones. Otherwise, their money and time are spent on something useless.