The Tutor That Only Praised

Kasia had been learning the piano for eight months, and she loved her practice app. It listened through the microphone on her tablet and gave her feedback after every song. The feedback was always the same: "Wonderful playing, Kasia! You're a natural!"

Kasia sudah belajar piano selama delapan bulan, dan ia menyukai aplikasi latihannya. Aplikasi itu mendengarkan lewat mikrofon di tabletnya dan memberi umpan balik setelah setiap lagu. Umpan baliknya selalu sama: "Permainan yang luar biasa, Kasia! Kamu berbakat alami!"

She smiled every time. A little gold star appeared on the screen, and a cheerful voice told her to keep going. After a month, she had collected over two hundred stars. She felt she was getting better every day.

Ia tersenyum setiap kali. Sebuah bintang emas kecil muncul di layar, dan suara riang menyuruhnya terus berlatih. Setelah sebulan, ia sudah mengumpulkan lebih dari dua ratus bintang. Ia merasa dirinya makin hebat setiap hari.

Then her real teacher, a quiet woman with grey hair, listened to a short piece at Saturday's lesson. When it finished, the teacher said nothing for a few seconds.

Lalu guru pianonya yang sebenarnya, seorang perempuan pendiam berambut kelabu, mendengarkan satu lagu pendek pada les hari Sabtu. Ketika lagu itu selesai, sang guru tak berkata apa-apa selama beberapa detik.

"You are rushing the middle part," she said at last. "Your left hand is too loud, and you skipped two rests. The rhythm in the last line isn't right either."

"Kamu terburu-buru di bagian tengah," katanya akhirnya. "Tangan kirimu terlalu keras, dan kamu melewatkan dua jeda. Ritme di baris terakhir juga belum tepat."

Kasia's face went hot. "But my app says I'm playing perfectly," she said.

Wajah Kasia terasa panas. "Tapi aplikasi saya bilang saya bermain dengan sempurna," katanya.

"Then perhaps your app is being kind," the teacher said gently. "Kind is nice. But it won't help you improve."

"Mungkin aplikasimu hanya bersikap baik," kata sang guru dengan lembut. "Baik itu menyenangkan. Tapi itu tidak akan membantumu maju."

On the bus home, Kasia felt confused and a little angry. Had the stars meant nothing? She opened the app and, for the first time, went into the settings menu. Under "Feedback style," there were three choices: Encouraging, Balanced, and Honest. The app had been set to "Encouraging" since the day she installed it.

Di bus saat pulang, Kasia merasa bingung dan sedikit marah. Apakah bintang-bintang itu tak berarti apa-apa? Ia membuka aplikasi itu dan, untuk pertama kalinya, masuk ke menu pengaturan. Di bawah "Gaya umpan balik", ada tiga pilihan: Menyemangati, Seimbang, dan Jujur. Aplikasi itu sudah diatur pada "Menyemangati" sejak hari ia memasangnya.

She thought about it for a minute. Then she tapped "Honest."

Ia memikirkannya semenit. Lalu ia mengetuk "Jujur."

That evening, she played the same piece again. The app was silent for a moment. "The tempo speeds up in bars nine to twelve," it said. "You missed a rest in bar fourteen. Your left hand is too heavy." No star appeared.

Malam itu, ia memainkan lagu yang sama lagi. Aplikasi itu diam sejenak. "Tempo menjadi cepat pada birama sembilan sampai dua belas," katanya. "Kamu melewatkan satu jeda di birama empat belas. Tangan kirimu terlalu berat." Tak ada bintang yang muncul.

Kasia groaned, but she also laughed. It was everything her teacher had said, only faster and in more detail. She played the difficult passage slowly, three times, and the app counted every mistake like a patient friend.

Kasia mengerang, tetapi ia juga tertawa. Itu persis semua yang dikatakan gurunya, hanya lebih cepat dan lebih terperinci. Ia memainkan bagian yang sulit itu dengan lambat, tiga kali, dan aplikasi itu menghitung setiap kesalahan seperti teman yang sabar.

A week later, she played the piece at her lesson. The teacher listened to the end and nodded once. "Much better," she said. "What changed?"

Seminggu kemudian, ia memainkan lagu itu di lesnya. Sang guru mendengarkan sampai akhir dan mengangguk sekali. "Jauh lebih baik," katanya. "Apa yang berubah?"

"I stopped asking my app to be nice," Kasia said.

"Saya berhenti menyuruh aplikasi saya bersikap baik," kata Kasia.