Chile: Students protest against education costs

On Thursday the protesters marched past the presidential palace in the rain. The protests organized by the Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech) were against increasing education costs and profiteering in education. Compared to last year the student movement had been relatively quiet.

Spokesperson for Confech Gabriel Boric said:“The government is right to be worried because we are dealing with a minister who bows to business,” “We want to say that while this happens, we will not be quiet. We went from a military dictatorship to a market dictatorship.”

Education in Chile is paid for primarily by citizens. The protesters are demanding reforms that would have the government shoulder more of the costs and replace private for profit schools. In Chile seven different universities are under investigation as directors and executives are accused of putting fees into their own pockets! The protesters are demanding free quality education.

As in other places a smaller group broke off and engaged in vandalism. Although the main march was peaceful police nevertheless called it the most violent of three this year. They said 250 protesters were detained and 20 officers injured. Other cities in Chile also saw demonstrations. For more see this article.

Free University Courses on the Internet

I just happened upon this list of free courses on the Daily Kos. There are plenty of courses covering many subjects at many top notch universities.

 

Yale University Prof. Tamar Gendler lectures on Aristotle: Virtue and Habit

 

Of course most of these courses do not lead to any certification but a few do offer a certificate indicting a course was completed. Just as a sample I have appended one of a series of lectures by the head of the Yale Philosophy Department Tamar Gendler. The students do not seem to appreciate the humor of the t-shirt text with which she starts her lecture.

Aside from Yale, MIT, U. of Michigan, Notre Dame, U. of California and many others offer free courses. Outside the U.S. there are many resources as well including the University of Capetown. If you are just interested in learning and not paper credentials the Internet is a treasure trove of free quality material. Again the link to the list is here.