La Revolución de los Pingüinos: Educational Reforms and the Chilean Winter

Abstract

Chile faced tumultuous changes throughout the twentieth century that challenged both political and social norms. Democracy had already been established in Chile, and constitutional changes had inflamed protests under the socialist reforms of Salvador Allende. However, the 1973 military coup of Augusto Pinochet brought many changes, including changes to the free universal educational system established by Allende. Pinochet was unseated, but laws passed during his reign created systematic problems in Chile's education system and years later saw students organize in a movement to reform Pinochet's education laws. By taking a look at these policies of decentralization and support of private education, we can connect present events in Chile such as the student protests that occurred in 2006 and 2011 that came oo be known as,"La Marcha de los Pinguinos."