Highschools and baby care

Today, sunday the 22th of November, a story about a girl was posted in the news. She got pregnant in 2002, while she was still in highschool, and the directive board of her school considered it so scandalous that they didn't took too much time to kick her out. Madeleine (that was her name) got in touch with a lawyer that took her case and started talkig to people, going every day to the Education Ministry, demanding that she was re-intergrated to her school. After a lot of fights she was finaly let back, and her teachers where obligated to recieve her delayed papers and to let her pass her course. Madeleine's case was so known all over our country that it became a statement for the rights of teenagers mothers, and from that year by law any school can expelle students for the only reason of being pregnant, and also that they have to create special, more flexible criterions for them to be able to pass their courses in the time they have.

The story also speaks about after that year, and because of the public treatment that Madeleine's case, a lot of schools in Santiago and some in other cities have incorporated baby care centers for the teenager mothers to be able to go to class with out having to let her babies at home or away from them. I think this is a very good move forward for all women, but specially for our country, to give evey one the chance to develop them selves besides their sex.

My Faculty Facilities

Currently, my faculty facilities are a lot better than they were when my generation entered to colledge. Today there are data proyectors in every class room, and there are two more computer labs so now is a lot eazier to find a free pc to wonk on. But, not everything is that great, we still have a very deficient library, we've always needed a study and reading room that is quiet and comfortable and eaven though last winter vacations a new "study room" was innagurated, when we saw it we realized that it was only our old casino, that they now keep open in the afternoons for students to go wonr there. Besides, our careers keep growing and geowing every year, and the class rooms are starting to be too short in number, some times if we need to plan an extra class or some other activity, all the class rooms are ocupated and that makes very difficult to have good iniciatives.

I thik the first steps to deal with this situation, and what I would do if it was in my power, it would be to potenciate colective spaces, where the students, the staff and the teachers could sit and read a book or work or whatever we all need. I would build more class rooms to make shure that if more classes are needed or other activities are being proyected, they have a place to develop.

Election Day

Well... I'm not registered to vote, eaven though I've asked my self a lot of times if this is the right desition, I just can't legitimate such a corrupt sistem like the one we have. I mean, I like politics, I think it's important to get involved in what in going on with our country, but I don't think voting is the best (and eaven less the only) way to do this.

I've noticed that electoral campaings have become dirtier and dirtier over the years; politicians don't eaven care to hide their lack of moral and ethic values any more, and all the drama that we see in the campaings are clearly a lack of respect with the people that still believes in them, it's like they think we're stupid!! I don't know what qualities a president should have, but I am sure that it's not right that people that have allready done a bad job, or that have private intesest that could be beneficiated with the position, should run fot it.

When I was a child I had the idea of becoming a diplomatic, I liked the idea of traveling around the world meeting people, but a little later I realized that that job is a lot more than just talking and smiling, that you have to compromise a lot of your own to do it, so it didn't seemed a good idea after all. But now, I've thaught a lot about working in the State, and the idea of the Ministry of Work or MIDEPLAN seduce me a lot, I think those are places where an anthropologist could make a diference in hoy things are done in our contry and contribute to the lifes of people. I think in Chile the problems that need an immediate solution are the quality and the way public education is handled, social houses, work conditions, the distribution of welth and the quality of public health sistem.