Educational situation in Chile (text abridged from the Spanish original)

Anlisis & Opinion 04/19/2011

Chile: poor education and classist oriented

Roberto Pizarro Economist at the University of Chile, with postgraduate studies at the University of Sussex (UK). New Economy Research Group. Was dean of the Faculty of Economics, University of Chile, Minister of Planning and rector of the University Academy of Christian Humanism (Chile). The incorporation of Chile to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has become a boomerang. It laid bare the weaknesses of the model of growth without proper distribution. A few days ago a study made by the Organization showed that Chile has the highest income inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.50 compared to the average of 0.31. Now, the OECD says that Chile is the country with the highest social segregation in schools; in other words, education is classist. The Duncan index, which measures the degree of social segregation in schools, is 0.68 for Chile, while the OECD average is 0.46, and the Nordic countries reached 0.35. Simply put, young Chileans from different socioeconomic levels are separated at their headstart according to the levels of their family income . The neighborhoods and districts in Chile are configured according to social strata and children from the families with more income (in Vitacura, Las Condes and Providencia, for example) have better levels of education, measured by test scores (El Mercurio , 04/17/11). More and better resources for education, including teachers, are concentrated in these communes. Social segregation divide schools and also the stresses. The economic model hub, the retreat of the State from education, a school system based on profit have seriously affected the Chilean educational sistem. The children of low income families in public schools share the economic shortages of their parents.

The Chilean educational system, instead of teaching all children the same and encouraging social development by promoting a common language and values, has become an instrument of exclusion and widening inequalities. The college-level education is not better either. Indeed, a 2010th chilean National survey, conducted by the Institute of Youth, reported that six out of every ten graduated workers, technicians and professionals did not have a job related to what they studied. At the same time, according to a ranking of the OECD, the tuition fees paid by students in Chile more than double the one in the United States; three times more that of Mexico; five times more than in Spain; eight times that of France; and 20 time mirem than in Denmark - without mentioning here the countries where universities are free. Therefore, the high cost of higher education, covered largely by students, is exploitative for poor families and not conductive to a better empoloyment afterword. Without a radical reform in education, class division will increase and better education will remain reserved for the sons of wealthy families in Chile, with the highest scores when accessing the best universities. The descendants of the owners of economic power and political elite will be assured jobs in the administration of economic and political system they control. Meanwhile, poor education persist for 90% of Chilean children in the municipal schools and in the subsidized private ones. Those entering higher education with low scores on the PSU test, will enter low-quality universities and obliged to consider professions without market demand. The Army of unemployed professionals will grow. The future of children in Chile will continue to be marked by they birth. The demand for a decent education in Chile, without discrimination, for all children and young people from rich and poor families, is just and necessary. At stake is the country's economic development, as the current system is unworkable.