Aún más

Everyday ups and downs.

I went to the Cine club last night with Jessie. After misreading the schedule online, I arrived expecting Midnight in Paris, a romantic comedy featuring Owen Wilson. What they were actually showing was Ajami, a gritty, faux-documentary about urban violence in Jaffa, Israel. It was stark, bloody, melodramatic, and infinitely better than sitting through two hours of Owen Wilson prancing around in France.

At the movie, we met a couple of grad students from Mexico and Honduras, a Romanian expat, and her Valdivian pololo. We went out for drinks afterwards, and I realized how extremely pleasant it is to speak Spanish with people I can understand without difficulty. That is not to say that the Mexican or Honduran (or Romanian) accent is necessarily clearer than the Chilean accent. In truth, I think that socio-economic status makes more difference than nationality with respect to proximity to "standard" Spanish. Most importantly, perhaps, these were cosmopolitan folks. All of them had lived and studied in foreign climes and, hence, had developed the sensibilities (and patience) peculiar to international socializing. We had an interesting conversation with them, exchanged contact information, bid them goodnight, and returned to the frustrating world of everyday, nigh-indecipherable Chilenismos.

In other news, I was extremely disappointed to learn that I slept through the rugby world cup final (the time difference with New Zealand is problematic). What a shame to miss out on the grand French defeat. No matter; the two local teams will be facing off today in the field behind my house, and I definitely won't miss that game.

Here's another chunk in my continuing series on the student protests:

Chunk 3: Frustration.

So what exactly are the problems compelling the students to mobilize, strike, seize their schools, throw rocks, burn buses, and the like? As we saw in the last chunk, income inequality is a big problem in Chile. Education is commonly seen as the best way to combat said inequality (although whether or not this belief has anything to do with reality has yet to be conclusively demonstrated). Imagine the frustration, then, when the tool to fight inequality is beset by problems of inequality. Here's a quick rundown of issues:

• The biggest problem is cost. Chileans think university education is too expensive. Students can graduate with debt of the same order of magnitude as the price of a new house. Families typically assume the costs of education and go into debt as well.
• There are also problems in the credit market for students. I've heard lots of people complain that interest rates are too high, and it's too hard for students to get loans.
• There is a big problem with what economists call asymmetric information. Private universities are big, profitable business in Chile. Lots of new schools are popping up, especially in Santiago, without bothering with things like accreditation. Some well known schools offer majors that don't have any application in the job market. Students and families don't know which is which. Thus students go into debt studying at these institutions, thinking they will be able to land a job after graduating, only to find their degree is next to useless.

Note that none of these problems affects the wealthier families. So there you have it: essentially another narrative about the rich staying rich, the poor staying poor, and some people getting rich by swindling the more vulnerable parts of society.

End of Chunk 3