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1/3/1989 - Reading, Rioting and Rithmetic by William L. Melvin

NOT FOR PLJ BICATION ITHtrl WRITER SCONSENT INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWOIDAFFAIRS WLM January Qulto ECUADOR Reading Rioting Rithmetic Peter Bird Martin Executive Director Institute Current World Affairs Wheelock House heelock Street Hanover NH 03755 Dear Peter Milar Ecuadoran slumps chair thinks present lifestyle university student National Polytechnlc Institute Quite There lines worry eched along Milar sighs Yes others young future But university degree enjoy prestige That Milar should before something hectic schedule forces juggle hours working night watchman hours attending electrical engineering lectures I study sleep Milar noting would afford higher education without Milar parents typical lower middle class Ecuadorans divorced Milar I0 Milar mother maintain alone child still colegio school while Milar fends himself Milar natured philosophical about situation It could worse admits mother studied Central University Ouito always encoulaged Many friends parents campesinos means attend university Although moral support books In Milar science texts imported carry stiff price Texts devoted engineering S US S sucres common elementary calculus books S Milar jokes Here trained respect science ilvention cannot afford respect copyright None We photocopy almost everything Some professors Not Ecuador youth share Milar diffidence November streets colonial Ouito setting bloody filled confrontations between students drivers national police The demonstrations provoke gasoline price hikes which President Rodrigo Borja gradualist approach curing Ecuador inflation ridden economy spurred National Transport Council William L Melvin Fellow Institute studying South American Indian societies Andean affairs Since Institute Current World Affairs Cranc Rogers Foundation provided lotto fellowships enable outstanding young adults outside Uniled States write about international areas issues Endowed Charles R Crane Institute supported contributions minded individuals foundations authorize private cooperatives raise passenger fares sucres norma weekday routes Students before sucres board asked InterprovJncial fares alowed across country Since private provide public transportation Ecuador WLM comparable Bolivia result chaos Young protesters student leaders Central University Federaci6n EstudiantJl Ecuatoriana FESE resorted violence vowing For sucre fares C burned The students their promise three buses dared attempt passage through udent barricades center around Central University campus badly damaged throwing tumults ensued Several students injured bystander before President Boja intervened police forces colegios Quito provided majority youthful manifestantes And student outrage spread provinces youth years raduating killed Army engineers kindly havJng their blocked Pan American Highway south Quito Ecuadorans usually themselves while proclaiming Andean nation avoided violence common neighborin republics Colombia Peru shocked vehement intensity November riots After initial shock wondering colegio university students building barricades instead burying their noses books Even before riots began Oswaldo Dvila Andrade former planning chief Consejo Nacional Desarrollo CONAI E sobered educators criticized acically admissions university system become overburdened sudens compared D research preceded similar warning Dr Estuardo Ael prominent Ecuadoran educator studied Rome Paris before settling teach Central University angered radical collea argued ainst irrational politicization public university education Ecuador recen Autoc _i_ti earlier Arel Dhvila blamed unhealthy focus politics anywhe students entering Central University finish their chosen courses study Experts whose evaluate improve Ecuador university education enerally agree something often bitterly opposed their ideas reform Soc Niicanot Jficome combines teaching duties Central University education officer CONADE You remember remarks universities South America never productive forces society Instead universities Soutl America particularly since struggled contradiction society During years military dictatorslip universities refugee democracy course Marxism continent We complacent ptovidlng opposition And Chile December election Particle Alwyn replace General Augosto Pinochet continent nearly dictator iQuchsveresalira lascallesaprotestarfuriosamenteporel costode lavida opero sbloendiasyhorasdectase How protest uriousl against living right during classtime Taken Ouito daily C_onhe November ships Paraguay berne confusing exception There remain however undeniably golden opportunities students their anger against United States University students Gua yaqull Ouito wasted bombarding U S Embass buildins Ecuador paint balloons after U S invasion Panama reached country December But U S troops catch Panamanian caudillo General Manuel Antonio NorieEa where students Ecuador appointed conscience shootinE stops Most likely students unemployed One recent editorialist summed countrymen feelings wrote People believe driver lawyer This belief backed Oswaldo Dvila Dvila reported public university students represented disproportionately among country unsuccessful seeking adults That saying considers official oyment underemployment hovers around And enius flgure Very students wealthy families explains raduate mufiec connections public ministry private company Grades matter family pedigree In students while studying Newspaper advertisements regularly students unwelcome apply Since Ecuadoran labor requie employer basis jornales shifts little desire exists hourly Thus employers demand prospective employees commit themselves complete workweek Then students suspect because businessmen fears students become troublemakers trying exhort fellow employees strike higher wages If muheca reason public university students poblem could essed easily Anonynous civil service exams equal opportunity legislation these measures attacked discrimination elsewhere might effective Ecuador But crisis deeper strikes heart education quality versus quantity In opting provide university education without selective criteria Ecuador education icymakers lowest common denomlnator common Indeed Since university entrance examinations abolished number students matrtculating public universities crown average To demand universities created Where there universities And vocational schools proliferated madly totallin though InterAmerican Development Bank recommended unpublished repot Ecuador Education Ministry worthy Given flood students public universities professors rarely attend students needs It professors often appointed correctness political views outstandin published scholarship The utral thinkers persist teaching increasingly Ecuadoran students prepared challenes learning One Central University ofessor writer tidal simply could paces readin semester If asstn students claim purchase photocopies Admittedly sucres pages especially family etting inisum montl salary S But decline teaching standards hence learning linked habils inculcated secondary schools Before entering university public school students broua memorizing trivial details history literature little resemblance coKnitive thinkinff Te Central University professor concludes My suden confuse class attendance rigorous process reflection And Until Aucust enthuslatic students could enroll Central Universit price cigarettes sucres After years frozen tuition rates institution flnally moved raise maticu lation annual S O00 Other institutions behind Central University example fearful student violence strikes Hopeful engineers still sucres right attend classes National Polytechnic Institute Even substantial increases tuition imposed Central University public education expensive prlvate schooling The Jesuit Order renowned quality teaching deficits charges S month attend Catholic University Quito This monthly quota addition initial S matriculation semester spread reflects tuition rates depend family sincome If Ecuadoran students paying public education Soae prominent educators would prefer answer question Dr Tlberio Jurado Reczor Central University stated publicly recent interview The university crisis financial structural Dr Jurado position sitting mountain university reached S billion institution alone Actually economy lived seemingly endless revenues early fueled wasteful spending See WLM Government budget outlays universities still formulated largely headcount basis This curious phenomenon autonomous iversities whether Outto Cuenca began fabricate statistics meant particular university The universities became eflect small fiefdoms which rectors ruled competilion their colleagues eager snatch highest budgetary allocation Would refor feeling effects dubious largesse Complains Guido Rivadeneira Director Investigations Consejo NacJonal Universidades Escue Politecnicas CONUEP Almost reliab exist where Ecuadoran universities decades where should future Despite padded figures eveal university system vested interest attracting students could dream educating properly government funds allocated public higher education remained nearly constant terms since S billion decade compared S billion But constant budgets growing udent meant money research The Untied Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization UNESCO estimates money spent scientif research should measure least nation gross domestic product GDP According eJiminary study released CONUEP Ecuador close UNESCO target tesearch funding GDP By spending research dipped O GDP adjusted inflation Such trends bother Fabian Carri6n chief technical development Ecuador Conseo Nacional Ciencia Tec oloEla CONOCYT Ecuador would pressed replicate export rowth model Asia Four Tigers close Brazil Carri6n blame internal market small enerate domestfc interest research coupled commodity based export economy cacao bananas whicl private companies found cleaper faster utilize services foreicners technical difficulties Of course hardly expect Ecuador private sector bullish joint research ventures public univer sities given occasionally histrionic nearly always business views forth public university students administrators alike Leonardo Vicufia Izquierdo economist Vice Rector University Guayaquil compiled series speeches short volume titledLY Desaro Io In speech Dr Vicufia lashes companies funding petrochemical research laboratory campus That economist railing against evils transnationa companies capitalism another address different audience The Ecuadoran private sector wholly unresponsive needs training Fabian CarrJ6n quick point As reserves depleted public private sectors beginning realize cooperate The CONOCYT representative explained instance which Ecuadoran C Industrias fundin eight separate textile esearch mills sierra increase ductivJty quality control But examples trust between business university still between Carri6n admits private sector unlikely invest heavily education scientific research without knowinE exactly beinE spent Franciso R Sagasti Peruvian industrial engineer currently serving World Bank division chief Strategic Planning complements Cari6n comments Janua Intersclg Lq article Vulnerability Crisis Science Techoloy Peru DurinE Althouh Saasti recent author still pretty dramaIic where Ecuador stands relative Andean neiEhbors matters science technology RESEARCH IN THE ANDES NDICES OF SCIENT R D expressed millions US Projects Investi6 R D Projects InvestiE _O_u_n_tr__z u__th_Q O_L Patents Pa P_i_e_r_ Colombia Chile Ecuador Peru Venezuela NOTE Data sourced different years Colombia Chile Ecuador Peru Venezuela Ecuadorans could profit while required investigators invent process article worth patent Venezuela investigators accomplish their country It merits review Chileans managed spend US average publish research international science journal whereas Ecuador squandered US duplicate effort And Colombia proved better Ecuador needing research projects produce author Ecuador needed almost Ecuador fared pretty badly other measures productivity losing Peru honors least efficient At least Peru excuse economy crippled terrorism runaway inflation Come think where those rioting students again As Received Hanover