This website/blog was initiated as part of a final project for a course, Popular Culture in Latin America, at Oberlin College. There are several motivations behind this project. One is bringing to light alternatives to the way higher education exists in the US, and complicating current debates about the purpose of and cost of higher education in the US. The discussion/debate around higher education in the US is often framed in a narrow way. It is often assumed that for quality education high cost is inevitable. Additionally, conversations about education in the US are often US-centric and leave out the possibility of learning from and applying concepts and educational models from other countries. Many alternative models of higher education that already exist in the US are also often left out of the dominant narrative as well. Here, we hope to provide a few examples of universities, educational systems, and student protests in Latin America, in the hopes that it will broaden the conversation and be part of the project of searching for alternatives to current US systems of higher education. A second, equally important, motivation is to bring to light the ways in which US systems of education and privatization have been exported to Latin America. Students in the US are protesting the educational systems that the US played a role in exporting abroad, and the way privatization plays out in Latin America can have similar ramifications in the US. There are in many cases large protests against education privatization in parts of Latin America, where this privatization and increasing cost has been normalized in the US in many ways.
This project has many limitations. As students at Oberlin, we do not have access to extensive internal knowledge about education, particularly alternative forms of education, in Latin America. Additionally, it can be easy to idealize other educational systems outside of the US. Educational systems outside the US that US students may idealize may be seen differently by students within those systems. There are undoubtedly going to be issues with any system. However, although we were not able to talk directly with students in all of the examples we raise, we have been in communication with friends/acquaintances. We intend this space to open up dialogue between students at Oberlin and outside of Oberlin and that it will continue to evolve. This project only serves as an entry point into exploring a few other models/systems of education that exist, both those that stimulate thinking and curiosity about free education systems and those that shed light on the effects of privatization and high cost. We also hope to decentralize the idea that the US has the right or best ideas about education.
The protest summaries do not reflect comprehensive histories of these countries and their struggles, nor do they adequately explain the role of U.S. imperialism in government corruption and excessive use of force by the police. These case studies are meant to demonstrate a collective struggle to resist privatization of education. The mass mobilization of students in Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, and Chile to maintain the right to education for all lies in stark contrast to the normalization of high cost privatized education in the U.S. We attempt to provide sufficient context and detail protest strategies of students fighting not only college administrations but Ministers of Education and Presidents. We also aim to provide alternative protest narratives to those featured by mainstream media. Let us as a community of students, engage in cross-cultural dialogue about organizing techniques and support student struggles apart from our own.
It is important to recognize that the countries in Latin America we are pulling examples from have very different histories, economies and social realities than the US, so applying what we see in these examples directly to the US may not always work. It is also important to recognize that in many cases university system function as a businesses.
Note: the title and the concept behind it was taken from Rebecca Solnit's book "A Paradise Built in Hell"
Solnit, Rebecca. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disasters. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.
This project has many limitations. As students at Oberlin, we do not have access to extensive internal knowledge about education, particularly alternative forms of education, in Latin America. Additionally, it can be easy to idealize other educational systems outside of the US. Educational systems outside the US that US students may idealize may be seen differently by students within those systems. There are undoubtedly going to be issues with any system. However, although we were not able to talk directly with students in all of the examples we raise, we have been in communication with friends/acquaintances. We intend this space to open up dialogue between students at Oberlin and outside of Oberlin and that it will continue to evolve. This project only serves as an entry point into exploring a few other models/systems of education that exist, both those that stimulate thinking and curiosity about free education systems and those that shed light on the effects of privatization and high cost. We also hope to decentralize the idea that the US has the right or best ideas about education.
The protest summaries do not reflect comprehensive histories of these countries and their struggles, nor do they adequately explain the role of U.S. imperialism in government corruption and excessive use of force by the police. These case studies are meant to demonstrate a collective struggle to resist privatization of education. The mass mobilization of students in Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, and Chile to maintain the right to education for all lies in stark contrast to the normalization of high cost privatized education in the U.S. We attempt to provide sufficient context and detail protest strategies of students fighting not only college administrations but Ministers of Education and Presidents. We also aim to provide alternative protest narratives to those featured by mainstream media. Let us as a community of students, engage in cross-cultural dialogue about organizing techniques and support student struggles apart from our own.
It is important to recognize that the countries in Latin America we are pulling examples from have very different histories, economies and social realities than the US, so applying what we see in these examples directly to the US may not always work. It is also important to recognize that in many cases university system function as a businesses.
Note: the title and the concept behind it was taken from Rebecca Solnit's book "A Paradise Built in Hell"
Solnit, Rebecca. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disasters. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.