Andres has not had school for four weeks. Not because he's on summer break like our schools are (it's winter in the southern hemisphere), but because the students are on strike. They are on strike to bring reform to the public university education system in Chile. They want the cost of education to be lowered (many are actually calling for it to be gratis or free, but I'm told they don't expect that really to happen) and the money for education that comes from the government to be distributed more equally among the different universities. I don't understand a lot of it because I really can't imagine something like this happening in the U.S.- I feel like our government would laugh at us and fail us all for the semester, all while keeping our tuition money. But I do support Andres and his classmates and I hope the Minister of Education meets some of their demands (yes, they have demands!).
My observations on the student-led strike and protest marches (and please remember that these are my personal opinions and I realize that I am not expert by far on these matters, especially since I am not there):
Most of the professors support the students being on strike
It seems most everybody supports the students. I haven't heard one person speak out against them being on strike. If you look at the pictures on Eileen's blog you'll notice that family members, including grandparents!, come out and march with the students
Students in Chile are taking on more debt than I realized. With the amount of student loans they're taking on and the lower cost of living there (which also means a lower salary than here), they will be paying off that debt for many, many years
It amazes me the power these students have. They have shut down their universities. And it's not because they don't want to go to school or because they want to waste their education, but because they think it is extremely unjust the way their education system is run, especially the profit end of it. They are getting the attention of their government and the government (and the whole country) is listening, even if the Education Minister has not done anything yet
From what I've seen and heard about, the youth in Chile seem to protest or have marches a lot. Way more than here. And sometimes those marches seem pointless to me and the violence and destruction that comes from them seem pointless. This is not one of those pointless protests or marches. This is important. And the pointless violence, harm and destruction seems to be coming from the government.
I saw this youtube video (see below) today and the university students staged a flashmob dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller. They dressed up as zombies and had signs that said "I'm dying from debt". I think this was a very creative way for them to make their point and it seems very well organized with a high number of people participating. I'm impressed.
Okay, that's enough from me. I'll send you to recent posts from two bloggers who are actually in Chile. I really recommend that you read Abby's words and see her pictures here and here. And Eileen's here.
I wasn't going to have a second post in one week having to do with money but with everything going on with the government it's just been on my mind a lot and I cannot resist. Also I found a link from Kyle's blog today to a wittily-written blog called "Punch Debt in the Face." I fell in love. Seriously, check out this guy's website. And thus you get another post about money and finances- both personal and government.
Let's start with personal finances. I went to an amazing college where I got a fantastic education... but it also came with a boatload of debt. No bueno. I think I'm going to be really honest on here and give you actual numbers in hopes that a youngin (or a parent of a youngin) might be reading this and learn a lesson. To go to my private university I took out about $65,000 ($15,000 federal, $50,000 private) in student loans. By the time I graduated the total amount was $85,000(!) from the four years of collecting interest. Now that I'm out of college and in the real world that gives me a payment of $740 every month. That's A LOT for a young college grad. In the past 2+ years I have paid about $22,620 on my student loans yet the net amount of them is still $75,000 because about $12,000 has gone toward interest. If I had known this going in I would NOT have gotten student loans. Yes, I would still have wanted to go to my university but I probably would have A) gone to a community college/public university the first two years and B) worked first to save up at least half of the money for tuition before attending. These loans and their payments are going to be with me for the next 10-15 years unless I make extra payments, which I plan to because when I graduated I set a goal to have them all paid off by MAY 2018 (now that it's in writing in the public sphere I expect to be held accountable).
Now having this much debt (as you're applying for student loans people will tell you this is good debt- that is a lie, no debt is good debt) often times heavily weighs on me and can get me down. However, today is not one of those days. Today I have hope for two main reasons. One: I know I can get this debt paid off because I know people who are doing it and when that day comes it will be GLORIOUS! One example of someone I know paying of debt- my parents! My mom has been doing an awesome job of inspiring me because she's done it herself and my dad gives me endless support and says he's so proud of me with how I'm budgeting now. Another example- an RD (resident director) I know from college from when I was an RA (resident assistant). I woke up this morning, checked Facebook, and in the news feed was his post about him and his wife paying off the last of their debt just TODAY! Way to go Vince and Cay! You can read about their debt-free journey here. Two: Confidence in God. A couple of weeks ago in Adoration I was talking to the Lord about how much my debts were weighing on me and on my decision to move to Chile. I remembered Matthew 6:24 that says "You cannot serve both God and mammon [money]." I confessed to God in that moment that I feel like my student loans have me enslaved to money and that while I am money's slave I cannot (fully) serve Him. That was two weeks ago. Then last week I was back in Adoration re-reading my journal entry about that and I had a revelation: even while still having these debts I can have freedom in Christ. And that's partly what helped me to decide (again) to move to Chile. In doing that I would be totally placing my finances and trust in God. And fully trusting in Him gives me freedom and releases me from the slave chains of debt.
I know this post is getting a little long, but I have to get in my two-cents about the Government's finances and debt. Over this past month I feel we have been hearing non-stop about the government's budget and their fiscal (ir)responsibility. I believe that as a country, the U.S. has been recklessly spending. Yes, I put a lot of blame on congress and the leaders of our country, but I also blame me and my fellow citizens. Our consumerist and capitalist attitudes (not always a bad thing) led to some (a lot?) of this and it is not until our recent past that we have started letting congress know that we don't like how they're spending money we don't have. We should have held them responsible and spoken out years ago! But what's been done has been done and now congress needs to work together to come up with a serious plan to get us out of the major debt we are in. While I'm glad we averted a government shutdown, what they have come up with so far is not nearly enough. And as I leave you, I encourage you to check out this article which compares the government budget with a family budget and shows in numbers how their reduction of debt by 38.5 billion isn't doing much.
