Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Education system in Chile

It's not unusual to be walking down the street and find several public schools on strike anymore. So it seems that the students will raise again to claim for their alleged "rights". However, there is a side of the story which is kept untold among the majority of people, probably due to the lack of knowledge to fully understand it. Therefore, I would like to speak for all those people against the student strikes and riots which are turning more violent than ever. First off, it's obvious that the current economic and social situation of the country is critic, mainly due to the income disparity between the richest part of the population and the poorest ones. This makes Chile look like a medieval fief with rigid and unchangeable social classes. That's the reason, the very fair reason why the people are sick and tired, so they're starting to say "it's enough" "stop". Notwithstanding that, the solution for income disparity to decrease for the purpose to reach a better education and thus possess a better academic and social level is not easy, and it's definitely a long but eventually fruitful process. Unfortunately many secondary and college students think that a free State run education would ensure the plurality and quality they are looking for. It's not hard to explain that the lack of incentives to make the school more efficient will make it fail to improve and thus give a better service. Besides, it would be against individual responsibilities from the children's parents to have the freedom to choose what educational place they want for their children, either a dogmatic, religious, linguistic, ethnic or other. Another disadvantage that goes evidently along with a State run education is the infernal bureaucracy which is generated because of the state run policies which in fact contribute to get in corruption. Having said that, the only possible way out is to understand the market. That means, the Government should do public propaganda to spread the knowledge of a free market economy, in which the people know their rights as consumers so they understand that they play a fundamental role in the economy, because they represent the "demand". This way will allow parents to have the freedom to choose the right school for their children and they will know it will be efficient and incorruptible(unless not at the dramatic levels of a State run education). On the other hand, Friedman was wrong when he said the market was able to totally regulate by itself, because that leads to a imminent self destruction, accordingly it's necessary to establish an institution whose job is to monitor the rights of consumers.

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