6/5-  Introduction: "Chile: Youth, Public Education and the Challenges of Globalization"

As a part of the graduate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, a study abroad component was incorporated as an essential learning experience for students in the Global Studies in Education program.  Dr. Cameron McCarthy and two PhD candidates, Michelle Castro and Christian Cabalin, designed and organized our study abroad trip to Santiago, Chile and surrounding locations.  We focused on topics about Chilean youth, public education and the challenges of globalization.  We examined the current educational paradigm in Chile in relation to history, economics, media and political movements while taking into consideration the main stakeholders.  Many of our lectures from top experts were about these topics as well as the creative mediums that helped determine the current Chilean path in global contexts.  This blog includes my interpretations of select readings, lectures and trips that helped build a comprehensive understanding of the Chilean educational system and the actors that paved the way for the contemporary Chilean milieu.  Ideas and direct words are taken from a journal that I kept during my travels.  My main interest is how creative individuals and journalists helped shape Chilean politics through public art and journalism forms.  These may include any forms such as audio, visual, media, murals, radio, television, etc.

(Google Images, 2012)