Blog Post #8 Education Protest Grip Chilean Capital

For the past two days students in Chile have be protesting to demand that the government fund quality public education for all. Yet, students haven’t been giving the results that they wish for. Therefore, violence has arisen. Around universities and within the capital of Santiago, vandals have been burning garbage, setting buses on fire, causing massive traffic jams and rioting in the streets to try and get their point across to President Sebastian Pinera. This protest is the latest phase from the moment the students started in May. It is one of the largest protests the nation has seen dealing with educational reform. As of now, only 40 percent of Chilean students qualify for free education, which is based on their parent’s income. Although Pinera government has offered scholarships to some of the needy, it still hasn’t done enough.

This is a social issue because although the students are taken part in this protest it is affecting more than just them. The parents, government officials, citizens of the area are all affected by the actions of the students. Another reason why this is a social problem is because while it does threaten what we believe society to be, there is a solution that can come out of this problem. If the government officials work together and use the tax payers money in an efficient way they can create more need based scholarships and different programs to help students be able to go to school for little to no money. This article somewhat scares me, because with education not doing so well in the United States, students could get the idea to do the same thing. I applaud the students in Chile who want to succeed academically in order to make a better life for themselves and their families. While the tactics they are taking are a bit extreme, they are still fighting for their rights of a quality affordable education. I feel that the students in the U.S should be thankful for what we do have and pray for the students in Chile to get the change they wish to see.





http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/10/20111018184910263654.html

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/outbursts-of-violence-after-1205708.html