america-wakiewakie:

Chilé Is Doing Something Huge For Its Students That We Wish America Would Do | ATTN

Imagine if the US Congress agreed to make higher education tuition-free and funded it by increasing taxes on corporations. Pure fantasy, right? Well the government of Chilé is doing just that.  

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has made overhauling the nation’s education system a key goal of her administration.

“In March 2016 we will start with free higher education now that we have the resources,” said Rodrigo Peñailillo, Chilé’s Minister of Interior in early December following approval of a corporate tax hike that will generate $8.2 billion in new revenue.

First, a little background.

Chilé’s economy looks impressive on paper, boasting the third highest per capita GDPin Latin America, but Chilé also has the highest inequality in the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Nowhere is this disparity more apparent than in its schools.

From high school through college, Chilé’s education system is the most expensive in the world. This is a legacy of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose reforms dismantled public education and replaced it with a market model that privatized many institutions.

As a result, students can not afford to graduate, and even those who attain degrees seldom earn enough to pay off their debt. Apart from a few elite, selective schools, outcomes are dismal. Chilé’s primary school system ranks 119th of 144 countries. Its higher-education system ranks 91st overall and 117th in math and science.

The reason families pay so much out of pocket is simple: Chilé’s schools receive the least public funding of any of the 34 OECD member nations, according to a report from 2011.

So how did things change?

Chilé’s new direction wasn’t conceived by politicians in government offices. It started with students in the streets. Demonstrations began in 2006 during the Penguin Revolution, so named because of the black and white uniforms worn by students declaring that “education is a human right.” Students achieved minor tangible victories, but their ultimate goal of free education remained elusive.

(Read Full Text)