Re: “In the News” post 2: Student Protests in Chile

Comment: It’s kind of amazing to me that this movement is in its fourth month. I think the divide in funding is a real problem for most education systems.  I was speaking with the local union president for the Surrey teachers association yesterday and we were talking about the current job action happening in the province and I found out quite a few interesting things. Because of government cutbacks to funding a lot of the money is coming from parents who fundraise and it is a real problem in Toronto right now that a school in rich neighbourhoods have fundraisers and raise close to a million dollars for their schools, while people who live in poorer neighbourhoods only raise maybe ten thousand dollars for their schools. So it’s really unfair to the kids who go to school in poorer neighbourhoods because their schools A)Don’t have enough money from the government in the first place and B) Parents and neighbourhoods can’t afford to donate more money.