Summary: The 2011 Chilean Student Movement

I will be analyzing The 2011 Chilean student movement against neoliberal educational policies by Cristián Bellei, Cristian Cabalin & Víctor Orellana. The authors take the time out to analyze the movement from students in Chile and their protests for more assistance in funding from their government in regards to higher education. The article not only talks about one instance when the students protest, but multiple instance and their persistence to receive their educational needs whether coming from a wealthy background or less fortunate background.

Chile has the second most expensive private university system of any OECD country, after the United States. And due to the lack of financial aid, Chilean families shoulder 85 percent of the cost

First, from preschool on, it’s extremely segregated by social class. For example, rich kids go to school with rich kids, and poor kids with poor kids. In 1981, Pinochet’s dictatorship instituted a voucher system to fund primary and secondary education, with the government giving every public school, and every subsidized private school, a set monthly payment for each of its enrolled students (O’Neill, 2014). O’Neill also states that there is a gap between the way children perform on test. Another flaw the writer talks about how the cost for secondary education is too expensive, like in the 2011 Chilean movement article. O’Neill emphasizes those who drop out as well as those who attend less prestigious schools are unlikely to earn the income necessary to pay off their student debt (O’Neill, 2014). Public education and the right to education have sorely deteriorated (Oliva, 2010). In Chile, education has been commodified, whereby parents are held responsible for their children’s education, while the State plays a subsidiary role (Oliva, 2008). Cabalin quotes that “this is a consequence of the neoliberal policies implemented during 1980s that later were scarcely modified by the democratic administrations” (Cabalin,