Higher Educational System in Colombia, Chile and in the United States(2nd version)

The reform of the “Ley 30” presented by Santos, the Colombian’s president, is trying to privatize the public education. Thus, Colombian public universities would become into profit-making institutions. Today many families are in debt with Financial Educational Systems as Icetex. The new reform would involve a substantial increase in educational loans to many young students and their families, to have access to higher education. It is illogical that in a country where citizens pay taxes, government does not provide free and quality education at all levels for its citizens. However, in governments like ours, tax money is used for other purposes, such as, war and weapons purchases. While another part of the money is stolen by white-collar thieves. The reform does not supply a better education, greater coverage and less the resources required by public universities, most of which have large deficits. If the “Ley 30” is approved, we will have the same dark panorama of the higher educational system in Chile.

In Chile, after several months where thousands of high school and university students have been protesting to call for a reform of Chile’s unequal education system, Mr. Pinera, the Chilean President, has stubbornly rejected the students’ demands. They have been demanding more resources for education. They wish an education system with quality, social integration and above all free. Students’ arguments are based on a lot of inequalities as a result of the currency neo-liberal model installed under the dictatorship. Although, students are aware of the risk to loss their academic years, semesters, scholarships, and in some cases subsidized loans, they are willing to lose them in order to get a free education for Chileans. While the government reconsiders its position and it is willing to negotiate, students will continue with massive march as a sign of disagreement with the current educational system.

On the other hand, the United States is the best example of how the privatization of public education leads to its citizens to bankruptcy. There are many families that have been spending their savings for their children’s education. After, students would take out private loans in order to fund their undergraduate education. In many cases, students choose profit careers instead of those they truly enjoy to be able to pay their debts after graduation. But even with this precaution, many fail to achieve what they dreamed and are unemployed for months, and while they are waiting to get a job, their student loan bill continue to increase.