Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
I have supported the movement from the start
even though my son is about to finish his schooling, I'm think about the future.
In the time of the dictator this law was made by the government and that's when it all started.
So I feel like a participant in the movement since the beginning...that it is completely unfair
and I think that it has gone too far and that's what we're fighting for: a society that is more just,
integrated, and that education is accessible to everyone...Not that we have to worry about
what our children are going to study according one's income. **And what is the most important thing that should change
in the educational system in Chile?** I think we need to humanize it.. I think we are only teaching our kids
how they can study to earn more money. I think education should start with how we act towards others as politicians, as well as being active participants in forming a united country.
Also there should be more progress because the way the education system is set up now, it doesn't promote research or anything like that.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
I think it is necessary that people protest in order to reclaim the basic rights of our society.
Also recognizing that this is a process that started in 2011 and its a long process so we have to constantly be going to the streets
and not just trusting the electoral system which is quite oppressive, that's why it's important to go to the streets.
**And in your opinion what is the most important thing that should change in the educational system in Chile?**
Well, I think that what we need to change here is this whole question of self regulation of the economy because
the economy is not set up according to what our society actually needs.
In order to make an educational system that truly contributes to society we must create a public education system.
We don't have that here because the economy regulates everything so the only thing that is certain about the future is that it is based on the economy.
I don't think we can create a society like that and it's clear that after the last 30 years of an education system like that
And we haven't achieved any results, I think it's time to change that
I mean, I don't think it's every going to change but anyway...
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
Like most Chilean citizens, I am in favor of the changes the student movement is demanding
of free and quality education for everyone, that education should be a right and not a commodity.
**And what is the most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
Exactly that...that education should be accessible, equal, free and good quality.
Not like today that it is considered even by our president to be be like a product to make a profit...it shouldn't be like that.
Education should be a right to society just like health and social security.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
Because I support 100% free and quality education for all Chileans no matter what your economic circumstance may be.
**What is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
First of all that the politicians and the way society is set up, which is inhibiting the country, understand that education is a right
and that it shouldn't have to do with the economic status of a person.
As long as the politicians and the people who are in power don't understand that, things are never going to change.
That is why it is good that people come to these protests so that by popular force we can make them
understand that the problem is that how much you have depends on your quality of education.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
I think it's a place to express one's self, not only where people come together, but can also share opinions
and actually create a vision of community. It is not happening because we need to go vote or anything like that,
it's just to share ideas and other things...to create a community.
**What is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
Honestly, in my opinion I think free education and how we are accepted into the universities is important but
before that I think it's important how we are educating the teachers that are teaching our kids in schools.
I think it's a topic that is affecting us and personally it is the most important thing: that our children in schools are getting a quality education.
**Ok, Can we see your sign?**
**Sign: I'm fighting so that my children are born into a beautiful and fair country full of love called Chile.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
Well, first of all because I'm on Student Council so I have to come but really...this has been an issue since 2011
that we keep driving with the same force as always...
we're going to continue, especially next year which is an important year for the student movement.
There are certain reforms that different political candidates are proposing but it's important that
they are going in a directions that we've supported since 2011, that the mobilizations
continue, and that these reforms go in the right direction.
**In your opinion, what is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
Two things: First, to eliminate shared financing of secondary educational institutes,
as well as for the government and individuals to stop making money off of public resources.
Secondly, university for everyone should be free, and everyone should be able to access our universities.
Those are the issues that I think are most fundamental.
Why did you come to the protest today...besides to sell brownies?
Because it's necessary...you have to fight
in order to make a change...That's just how it works.
It's a non institutional way to achieve something, you know. In this case we're protesting for
free education but in the end it's for a lot of things that we need to fight for because
here in Chile...Chile is a country with lots of inequality where the health and social
security systems are awful, the education is poor....you know...so these protests are
like a reaction to everything that is happening in the system, a system that is extremely
unequal and violent towards the people.
**What is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
The issue with free and quality education.
Our current education that we receive from elementary school up until college is not
good. It's something really socially limited -- the level of your education is directly
related to how much money you can spend on it. The people with good education have the
means to pay for it.
Why did you come to the protest today?
Because in some way, although it may be small, I want to help the movement that all started
a while back when I was a student.
And..In your opinion, what is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?
The high costs that the families have to pay without a doubt is the most urgent problem, or the most evident. However there are other
issues that are still very important like...the question of why are we educating? and who
are the owners of the private universities because even if they may not be benefitting
financially, there are certain political and groups in power that use education as
a way of perpetuating their ideas like the Church, Opus Dei, the Legionarios de Cristo,
and other institutions...These are the ones that keep promoting the same public education
that has existed in Chile that, although it didn't achieve much, educated to form a more
integrated society, but not a democratic one.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
Well, we've been fighting for about three years now. Its a long fight for every young
person in Chile for a free and public education. This fight has mobilized thousands of students
in this country. This is just another day in our fight and our rejection of the country
to privatize politics that is supported by the Concertacion government as well as the
right wing government. They have permitted, following the political view of the former dictator
that education and our general rights to health, housing, and social security to
become a business based on the company owners making a profit, who are chileans as well
as foreigners. That has provoked a large discontent in society based on the debt families have
to deal with, and the social oppression that many working families have to deal with in this country.
**In your opinion, what is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
Well, the public education system in Chile is completely bankrupt, in other words, public education doesn't exist in this country...
The private universities are the dominant means of education here.
The public universities are deeply precarious, and us students are part of a common revolution for us to take over
and recover free education. It's a task that the working class of our country have
to completely recover the economy. Only a government made up of working class people under their own direction
carrying and leading the masses and the most exploited
sectors of the country, not only are they going to be able to reestablish the education
system to serve the working class and the people according to the needs of society,
but also public and free health care, public housing, and a government that benefits us
and not the large business owners of this country.
**Why did you come to the protest today?**
For the cause and everything with the teachers,
for fair salaries, and also to be able to work with dignity.
We also want to support the idea that the children have the opportunity to go to school
with equal opportunities which has a lot to do with political and economic issues.
**And in your opinion what is that most important thing that should change in the education system in Chile?**
The thing that should change is the issue of why are we educating.
Education should be more participative based on the human being,
on the person and not on a fight to get a certain result or that they're so exhausted
trying to get a good score on standardized testing and forget the human part which is
the most valuable part.