Riots in Chile: Why Dont American Students Care about Tuition Rises?
I lived in the city of Valparaiso, Chile for a period of approximately 4 months (with interspersed periods of travel), and during that time I personally witnessed two riots and experienced the aftereffects of two others. We are talking riot police and almost military looking buses (like the picture above), water cannons, rock throwing, and tear gas in the streets. I remember the first time I noticed the aftereffects of one of these riots. I was walking to the gym I had a brief membership at, and on the way I started to sneeze, my eyes and nose watering and burning. I saw business people, school children, shop owners, and mothers with their babies walking with scarves and shirts over their faces. After five minutes, it became too much for me and I went home. I told a volunteer at the hostel I was working at. I said to him:
"Pedro, I was walking down the street and I think the police had shot off tear gas. It really burns!"
His response?
Tear gas? Yeah, probably, happens all the time.
The Problem
Somehow, tear gas in the streets of Valparaiso had become normal. It was something that people hardly even noticed anymore. What was the cause of this? In Chile, student protests over rises in the cost of education regularly turn into clashes with the police.
So I decided to learn a little more about the issue. I was curious what the deeper issues were causing this outpouring of anger and rebellion. In summary, the following are the greatest points of contention:
- In Chile, graduates pay three to five times more of their income in student loans than their peers in OECD countries. (Elacqua, 2012)
- While there are new programs that help pay for tuition and fees for students in the most vulnerable households, many more students in need are not given aid, and many are not even eligible. (O'Boyle, 2016)
- Many feel that the "reforms" being enacted by the government simply aim to help students and families cope with the inherent issues within the system, but do not address the issues themselves.
Referring to a new bill that creates a program that helps low income students pay off their tuition debts, Marta Matamala Meijia, spokesperson for the Confederation of Chilean Students, said
It isn’t the reform that we were discussing and proposing. hat we want is structural reform that enshrines education as a right. The president’s measure is a broad scholarship that pays tuition and taxes, but doesn’t cover other expenses that students have to pay, such as books, transportation or food, so there’s a whole series of costs that are out of the program’s range. (O'Boyle, 2016)
The Riots
One day, my friend Tom and were wandering around Valparaiso checking out the sights. We were just walking around, minding our own business, and doing nothing in particular. We walked into Plaza Sotomayor in downtown Valpo and were stunned by what we saw: at least 5000 students in the middle of a full on protest with banners, drums, singing, etc. Considering we had nothing better to do, and since we felt we were witnessing true Chilean life, we decided to hang around and see what happened. We followed students for an hour or two as they marched through the streets. Everything was going well, until we came to another square where police had put out metal fences to keep the students from marching further. Here, things began to escalate until full riot police were deployed. I have videos of the events, but unfortunately dont know how to upload them so I will just include some screenshots.
Clearly, they take their education reforms very seriously.
Now Heres the Kicker
The cost of education in the United States over the past decade has grown even more sharply than that in Chile. Except nobody seems to care. Since 2005, average tuition for private institutions has grown by 59.4%, average tuition for public out out state institutions has grown by 66.1%, and average tuition for public schools for in state students has grown by 81.9%. (Mitchell, 2015) Keeping in mind that the increase in the CPI (consumer price index) during that period was only 22.5%, those tuition increases are astounding. (US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics)
(Mitchell, 2015)
I believe that this sharp contrast between countries speaks to a deeper malaise within the American people: Apathy. This apathy does not only apply to education costs, but also to racial injustice, environmental degradation, corporate exploitation of resources (including human ones), incompetent political systems, and the overall degradation of the countries social and political infrastructure. And the root of all of those problems, in my opinion, is a decrease in empathy and an increase in apathy.
I truly believe that the first step in fixing these issues is to take a lesson from the students of Chile. I am not promoting going out and rioting. But I am promoting caring enough to speak up about the issues that matter. If a broken political system leaves the people with no route to a better future, I want there to be an American population that cares enough to join together and do something about it. Ultimately, educating yourself about the issues is the first step towards addressing them, so thanks for reading.
Sources:
“Consumer Price Index Data from 1913 to 2016.” 2008. US Inflation Calculator. July 19. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/.
Brendan O’Boyle | January, and 2016. 2016. “Free College in Chile! So What Are Students So Mad About? | Americas Quarterly.” Accessed July 1. http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/free-education-frustration-chiles-student-activists.
Elacqua, Gregory. 2016. “Education: Chile’s Students Demand Reform | Americas Quarterly.” Accessed July 1. http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/3287.
Mitchell, Travis. 2015. “Chart: See 20 Years of Tuition Growth at National Universities.” Tableau Software. July 29. http://public.tableau.com/views/HistoricalAverageTuitionTrendedit3/Sheet1?:embed=y&:showVizHome=no&:host_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F&:tabs=no&:toolbar=yes&:animate_transition=yes&:display_static_image=no&:display_spinner=no&:display_overlay=yes&:display_count=yes&:showVizHome=no&:showTabs=y&:loadOrderID=0.
The "get good grades, go to university, and get a good career at a stable company" model is obsolete. Young people today are buying into an outdated strategy that no longer works for most. They just end up getting lured into a debt trap that they spend the rest of their lives struggling to get out of. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have figured the scam out early in life so that I was able to avoid it. Most aren't so lucky. :(
Unfortunately, in many ways university provides the education many need to acquire the critical thinking skills necessary to be able to deduce that reality. Luckily there are many free options for educating oneself available now (as @samupaha mentioned below), but I think the task at this point is creating an environment where more people can utilize and benefit from them.
Agreed. That's exactly what we're doing down here with Fort Galt. The idea is to make an environment where people can come and get a taste of what it means to start a business and take charge of your own destiny. It has been legally classified as an educational institution.
Apathy is pretty much the word to use here. I think US citizens are grown up taught that the government will ream it up their butts and there is nothing to do about it. What happens instead is that students then do it to themselves in a multitude of ways (overwhelmingly voting for Obama, for instance, and agreeing to policies that lead to higher debt for everyone later down the road).
Also, I can say that it is 'administrative' costs that eats up the majority of the 'increase' in education. Mostly in the salary of university Presidents, Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Provosts, Deans, etc.
I would definitely agree that its systemic and partially taught as a way to view our world.
I find it absurd that people are complaining about education costs today. Hasn't any of them ever been on the internet?!
Nowadays you get learn pretty much anything for free. Some subjects might be difficult to learn alone, but most of what's taught in the schools can be found online. In many occasions the quality is even better than in universities because you can choose the material that is best for you, and avoid the material that professor wants you to buy only because he gets comission.
While I see your point, I think that this approach misses two of the broader issues.