free-dom
I headed outside for a walk 3 days ago, trying to break up the monotony of a solitary Sunday. The previous weekend when I did this I stumbled upon a 3-foot lizard (see numbers/coastal preserve). This time I found a navy sailing vessel docked a few blocks from my house. As I approached, I saw a few civilians wandering around the decks – I wondered if the navy was giving tours. When I reached the boat I saw people freely coming and going across the gangway. There were some vendors selling nuts and ice cream on the dock, but nobody taking tickets. I must have wandered around in confusion for five minutes before finally getting it through my head: it was free! I walked onto the ship and explored the deck and bridge, thinking the whole time that I was about to be stopped.
I found myself wondering how the government can afford to provide services like this for free – don’t they need to find new revenue sources with the economy in such trouble? But an Argentine friend told me that, actually, more events and activities are free now than a year ago, because people can’t afford to pay as much.
Maybe it’s too American of me, but I find myself wondering if people sufficiently appreciate what they are getting when it’s free.
Of course free boat tours pale in comparison to free health care and free education.
Before I left nyc, I talked to an Argentine who told me that people don’t take education as seriously in this country precisely because it is free. Certainly people here take a long time to get through college– 7, 8 years doesn’t seem to be terribly uncommon. Many of the friends we have made who are our age are still finishing up at the University of Buenos Aires. They take a few classes each semester while working.
I wonder if free education will survive the current crisis. So far the option of charging for education doesn’t even seem to be on the table (as far as I know). But it is one of the steps Pinochet’s Chile took to bring in government revenue, beginning in 1981. In Chile, collecting money for classes was accompanied by a host of other changes designed to prevent educational institutions from breeding anti-regime ideas. For example, military officers were put in charge of all universities, including private ones. Although drastic measures like this were eventually reversed, the universities have continued charging. Constable and Valenzuela (Nation of Enemies, again) quote the apparently leftist sociologist José Juaquín Brunner as saying “Today you won’t find any serious people on the left who defend the old tradition of free state universities… The fact is, there must be some payment. The lack of scholarships is leaving many poor but talented kids outside the system. But everyone realizes that, in the past, the state was subsidizing rich students.”
This perspective has not made it across the Andes to Argentina.
It’s hard for me to say who I think is right. Nobody is unbiased on this issue. There seems to be a large cognitive adjustment that takes place when a person has to start paying for a government service that was previously free. At first it bothers him, but then he just gets used to it and presumes it is as acceptable as it is necessary. I remember how annoyed I was when the US started collecting fees at its National Parks, but the idea has slowly wormed its way into my brain and it now seems normal to pay at the entrance gate.
In New York, the City started charging for public recreation centers in the fiscal crisis of the early 90s. The Parks Department had to have the idea forced on them at the time, but these days everybody at Parks supports the policy, and managers from the Commissioner to center manager levels protested when, this summer, the department was forced to cease charging at a small number of centers receiving federal funding. Managers told me that nobody cares about the center if they don’t have to pay. The customers, for their part – although unlikely to protest the elimination of a center fee – seem unbothered by having to pay.
This is really all just a buildup to a discussion of my current situation: As of about today my vacation time is exhausted and I am no longer on the New York City payroll – I’m officially out of work. This is leaving me feeling somewhat illegitimate, accustomed as I am to finding bi-weekly tokens of appreciation deposited in my bank account. This is not to say that I need to be earning to money to feel that my existence is justified – no, I could also be spending money. Going to and American school, for example.
But when no money is being paid to or collected from a sponsoring institution… am I officially wasting my time? Does anybody appreciate a less structured life? I do, theoretically, but it’s hard to adjust. It was quite validating to earn $12 pesos on Monday teaching English. (That’s almost enough to drive a car across the Triborough Bridge.)
previously there was voices
afterwards you have dream
¿Por qué motivo la educación pública debe ser gratuita no solo aquí o en Francia, sino en todos los países?
Por múltiples razones, entre ellas:
1. Porque asegura la igualdad de oportunidades a toda la población y debe estar al alcance de todos.
2. Porque asegura la libertad de pensamiento y el debate permanente de los grandes temas nacionales, internacionales y planetarios.
3. Porque el futuro mediato de una sociedad no puede confiarse a la formación brindada exclusivamente por los colegios y por las universidades privadas ya que estos persiguen sus propios intereses individuales que no tienen por qué ser necesariamente los de la sociedad en su conjunto.
4. Porque gracias a la coexistencia de la educación privada paga con la educación pública gratuita, los argentinos, a pesar de llevar décadas de empobrecimiento económico, seguimos siendo los más educados entre todos los pueblos de América Latina.
¿Por qué tardamos 7 u 8 años en recibirnos?
Alguna de las razones:
1. Porque los contenidos y la exigencia de las diferentes carreras de la universidad pública son más altos y profundos que los de las universidades privadas.
2. Porque es posible dejar una carrera para trabajar un tiempo y luego retomarla.
3. Porque muchos estudiantes hacen dos carreras diferentes en forma simultánea.
4. Porque la universidad ya no es solo patrimonio de los adolescentes sino también de personas adultas que han decidido volver o comenzar a estudiar pero que deben mantener una familia.
Por otro lado, cabe preguntarse ¿no es una paradoja que, en un mundo signado por el cambio permanente y por un dinamismo abrumador en el avance del conocimiento, se piense en terminar rápidamente el ciclo de estudios cuando en realidad debiéramos estudiar toda la vida?
En síntesis, sé que para quienes han construido su imaginario inmersos en la cultura neoliberal, es muy difícil comprender el tema de la gratuidad en ciertos ámbitos.
Pero sucede que si el mundo sigue privatizándose, los seres humanos tendrán que pagar, en un futuro no tan lejano, hasta por el aire que respiran, tendrán que pagar por ser, por existir. ¿Y quién tiene el derecho de ponerle precio a la existencia? [submitted on 28 Feb 03]
The last night in the city, we decided to take a sail on the historic Schooner Pioneer. At about 9:30 pm, we departed from Pier 16 at South Street Seaport for a sail into New York Harbor. The ticket, $18. The windbreaker, $50. The glorious night view of the financial district skyline with all its lights turned on, priceless. But nothing for free :(
-- Those were the times when 1 peso = 1 dollar :((
-- Must do: I've never visited the Fragata Libertad. Instead, I have been on the Fragata Sarmiento (1 peso ticket and welcome aboard!). Next time, will be Fragata Libertad turn. [submitted on 04 Mar 03]