MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Chilean students will assess Piñera road map for education reform before next meeting
Chile's student organizations are waiting for the road map promised for Monday by government authorities following Saturday’s meeting with President Sebastian Piñera for nearly four hours in the government palace. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesGeeeeeeee.......
Sep 05th, 2011 - 03:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0I had a jean jacket like that in the 60'es.......
It was a Lee.....
It didn't look soooooooooo good on me though ;-)
She certainly is a captivating character.....and wears a mean denim jacket.
Sep 05th, 2011 - 07:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0OK, the Government want to take the heat out of the protest incrementally; the ‘students’ want a new (social) system. It was ever thus, the whole world over.
Sep 06th, 2011 - 02:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0(From this article), what, specifically, do the ‘students’ want to be different?
1. ‘Free education’ as a constitutional right.
There is no such thing as ‘free education’; the people pay; the tax-payers. Many more people will need to become tax-payers and pay higher taxes to meet this demand.
2. Improving access to education for low-income applicants; grants and scholarships.
Good in itself, but many more people will need to become tax-payers and pay higher taxes to meet this demand.
3. Greater recognition for the rights of indigenous students.
Good in itself, but are we talking about people with Chilean nationality, or the ‘native Chilean’ community? Do the two groups have different rights?
4. Ending municipal oversight of low-performing schools.
If not the municipal authorities, who should have oversight of performance? The State Ministry of Education? The ‘students’ themselves?
5. An end to ‘for-profit’ educational institutions.
‘Profiteering in schools’ = private schooling, includes religious schools/international schools/foreign & overseas colleges/etc. If corruption is the issue, end corruption; do not deny ‘private’ enterprise the right to educate certain of the nation’s children.
6. Stopping private banks financing tuition loans.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with any bank being used as the Loan Company; all that is needed is good and honest oversight.
There is only one ‘Crunch issue’ here - the right to be educated outside the state system.
But the nation will need to be educated through the media that this 'new world of education' comes at a significant cost,
and it is them, through more and heavier taxes, that will be bearing this cost.
They may choose to do so, and this could become the key ballot box issue.
yes there is a free education, an education provided by the state, laica, libre and gratuita that is for all the people of a country, specially for those that have low incomes.
Sep 06th, 2011 - 08:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Natives from chile have chilean nationality, is a silliness not understanding that.....but as it is a specific comunnity, they may have like mapuches in Arg, a language of their own, so they have to be taught in spanish and in their own language, bilingual, and must be respected its culture as schools of Arg does here.
4. the nation.
5. dont understand the meaning of profiteering or for profit
6. stop the business with private banks fianacing tuition.
Hi, Malen.
Sep 06th, 2011 - 10:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 01. I agree that there is 'Free Education' - albeit, paid for by the people through their taxes. The issue is whether all people in the country should be, at the appropriate time, forced to study only through the state education system. Most nations of the world have mixed-economy educational provisions - some public, some private, some provided by charities, the church, etc.
3. I agree, non-speakers of the national language should have specially funded support to enable them to be effective in the larger national community.
4. Provision should be managed locally (municipal), but quality control and performance measures should be integrated at the national level.
5. ''For Profit' means that a person, company or agency should be able to set up a school, college, language or technical facility that people can pay fees to attend. High performance - measured against state norms - ensures their viability, throughput, and allows them to make a profit from the enterprise. Monitoring for quality by the state or its agent is essential.
6. If I want some education - a language course, for example - and I need to pay the fees up front, I have to borrow the money. My bank lends me the money, and for this I pay the loan fee as interest; a convention accepted and acceptible across the world.
I have been in this business for much of my working life and it seems to work.
Hope this helps.
Free education can only happen when the teachers promise not to get paid, and students get no benefits that are profitable
Sep 07th, 2011 - 12:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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