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You gotta wonder why/how ANY public official in a democracy can attack public education--it is so fundamental to democracy, helping to create a population that is not only able to participate in modern public life, but has also been educated in the history, laws and ideals of self-government.
Public education is ESSENTIAL to the very idea of self-government in the modern world.
In order to grasp how a politician like Pinera--or the fascists in this country--can assault public education, you have to understand that they are NOT loyal to their democracy or their country. They often parade as "nationalists." They are NOT "nationalists," even in the rightwing/fascist sense of xenophobic self-puffery and antagonism to others. They are CORPORATISTS, and are following a transnational corporate agenda of weakening national states--weakening the ability of self-governing people to charter, regulate and tax corporations and the super-rich. They WANT an illiterate, ignorant majority population, with a pampered elite, nurtured in their charter schools, as the "trained monkeys" for the lower rungs of corporate rule, while the super-rich--who send their offspring to posh private schools--run the world.
When I was young, university education--in California, where I was raised, and in many other states--was free. FREE! This vast and awesome educational enterprise, generated out of the "New Deal," was beginning to create a population that questioned "authority"--for instance, the Vietnam War--and that resisted its injustice and its horrors, on many issues--including the U.S. supported slaughters in Latin America, U.S. corporate evil-doing in Latin America and other places, segregation, lack of voting rights and bigotry against black citizens here, and more. Not only were public elementary and high schools free--and very high quality--but state universities were free and also very high quality. And, I think as a direct result of educated young people beginning to understand our country and the world, the assault on, first, public university education, and now, all public education, began.
There were two milestones in California, as to dismantling its public education system: first, the imposition of "fees" at the Univ. of California (which of course immediately began to escalate into a form of tuition and now is totally out of control); and second, the P.R. sale of the notion of a state lottery to fund the "extras" in public elementary and high schools (science labs, the arts, sports, etc.) The latter contained a double-corporate agenda--both accustoming people to the idea that becoming an instant millionaire was possible (so important to creating a "nation of sheep"), AND creating a lootable "pot of gold" to be used in state budget flummery to disguise the egregiously unfair, pro-corporate, pro-rich tax system. Now all the "extras" in public schools are going or gone--so much for the P.R. bullshit about the state lottery--and a university education has been put out of the reach of the poor and out of reach even for much of the middle class.
Who benefits from a free, high quality education system? The people and democracy itself. Who benefits from an illiterate, ignorant majority controlled by a pampered elite? Transglobal corporations and war profiteers and their fascist lackeys in government.
This assault on public education has been systematic and very focused. Its object is to DESTROY democracy and the natural progressivism, peacefulness and sense of justice of a well-informed, well-educated democratic people.
I am appalled to see this CORPORATE attack on public education beginning in Chile. Next we will see Diebold/ES&S 'tabulating' all their votes with 'TRADE SECRET' programming code, and they will be as fucked as we are. And I fervently hope that they throw this guy out. Latin America is pretty much the only bright spot in the world, on democracy and progressive values, precisely because the Left has rejected this and other "neo-liberal" corpo-fascist ploys and has been very successful at winning elections and turing things around in Latin America on many fronts, including the right to an education and protection of "the commons."
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