Learning in Chile — and the Impact on American Education Reform
What can be learned from Chile’s unique education system? An American visits the “thin country” to find perspective for US educators, families, & policy makers.
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.” — Terry Pratchett
After spending seven years working at a for-profit education services company I have decided to shift gears and refocus my energy on what I have come to believe is one of the most pressing changes in American (and global) public life — the reform and privatization of public education. My goal is to provide educators, policy makers, students, their parents, and the general public with the information and motivation to make informed decisions on the forms of schooling they want in the US.
My main focus is on the interaction between private companies (especially education media companies) and public schooling systems. To begin this journey I have decided to travel outside the US and provide myself, and hopefully my readers, with some perspective on how things work in other parts of the world. I have come to Santiago, Chile to better understand how the Chilean voucher system works and doesn’t work for families, educators, and other stake holders. More specifically, how private education companies work within and exploit the Chilean national education system.
Why Chile?
The US education system at all levels (K-12, Higher Education, and vocational education) continues to privatize. Public policy and private corporate leaders alike are looking toward foreign schooling systems for inspiration as privatization expands. The Chilean voucher system was the first nation wide voucher program in the world. Started in 1981, all public municipal schools, non-profit subsidized schools (similar to what US citizens might call “charter schools”) and private primary and secondary schools, receive funding via vouchers given to Chilean families by the national government. US school systems, policy makers, and private companies are in many ways shaping the future of US schooling along Chilean lines.
Primary examples of privatization in the US include the more than 15 states that allow some form of voucher systems at the municipal or county level, the vast expansion of charter based K-12 schools outside of the traditional public system, the extensive array of for-profit higher education options for tertiary students and workers, and the continued, intimate involvement of private companies servicing education organizations and education focused government bodies (think Pearson Education’s teacher certifications, Navient’s federal student loan servicing, and Purdue’s “purchase” of Kaplan). Chile is both an inspiration to and a harbinger for how education is and may continue to change inside the US. Understanding the Chilean system and how it promotes, utilizes, and copes with privatization is valuable to understanding where US education is headed.
Returning Echoes
Beyond being the first universal voucher program, Chile’s system also has the particular distinction of being the first successful execution of Noble Prize winning economist Milton Friedman’s free-market vision for public education. Friedman and his Chilean disciples, known colloquially as “The Chicago Boys”, formulated and promoted the voucher system in the years following Chile’s 1973 military coup lead by Augusto Pinochet and supported by the US government via the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The fact that US education reforms are being inspired by the same economic policies utilized by a military junta (that the US helped create) should not be lost on anyone. School reform in the US is a case of returning echos — American ideas on governance returning home decades after being first utilized abroad, in this case by harmful actors.
Furthermore, it should also not be lost by anyone that ideas and the promotion of ideas have real life consequences. During a recent broadcast of the radio program “Planet Money” from NPR, a young Chilean and the program’s host aptly likened the involvement of the Chicago Boys in the Chilean political upheaval to scientists performing a laboratory experiment on a living subject — “you learned it, we lived it”. During the 1973 coup, and the years following, Pinochet and his regime murdered thousands of people and tortured tens of thousands more. Former Chilean military personnel are still being prosecuted for both their confessed and alleged crimes.
In no small part the current Chilean education system is an outcome of the regime’s coup — the reforms promoted by the Chicago Boys and taken up by Pinochet would not have happened otherwise. Educators lost livelihoods, labor unions were decimated, schools closed, reopened, and changed over the course of more than 35 years, counting both the military regime’s initial reforms and subsequent reforms after the return to democracy. All the while, students and their families had to adapt accordingly — for better or worse. As a researcher of the Chilean system and an outsider (a US citizen nonetheless) I have to be mindful and respectful of that complicated history.
How?
In order to cover Chilean education I will need to rely on a number of strategies and reporting forms. I will be connecting with Chilean and regional educators, researchers, journalists, activists, business professionals, and hopefully policy makers.
First and foremost I will need to equip myself by learning as much local Chilean Spanish and understand the history of Chilean education. Besides making connections with sources and advocates this first step may be the most difficult aspect of my time here.
My correspondences may take many different forms: history summaries on Chilean education, policy briefs featuring analysis of current and past reforms, perspectives on how Chilean reforms are inspiring American ideas on education, interviews with educators, business leaders and students, and news articles on current events and trends in Chilean learning and teaching.
I look forward to making the most of social media and leveraging a variety of different tools to reach a diverse set of audiences connected to global and local education.
Follow My Journey
The uniqueness of the Chilean national education system, its roots in the philosophy of an American economist, and the measure of recognition it holds for current US education reformers makes it a worthy subject of study. In the coming months I look forward to creating and promoting informative dispatches, insightful interviews, and actionable policy briefs on education inside Chile.
Please follow me here and elsewhere. And please feel free to connect:
Twitter: @keithbevacqua
Instagram: @kbinchile
Facebook: KB on FB
Medium: Keith Bevacqua
