A talk with four students from the University of San Martín (UNSAM), within the same university, is the right space and time to have first-hand the many thoughts and sensations that students are going through on these electoral days, where -among others things – is around the idea of privatizing public education.
At a table on the UNSAM campus, this group of students, socially and economically diverse -or diverse- talk with Buenos Aires 12 about something as concrete as the possibility of privatizing the university.
The origins of those invited range from classic working parents to merchants, doctors and audiovisual producers. Some chose the public university, being able to pay for a private one, and others, the University of San Martin gave them the only possibility of accessing a tertiary degree.
They and they are, Nicolás, Joan, Aién and Julia, who is the one who opens the dialogue: “I decided for the public university. My parents could afford a private one, but there are several factors that decided me: the study plans and the contact with the real world and its diversity. Here is the real world, we are all together and living together. That wealth does not exist in a place where everything is mediated or governed by an economic condition. I lived it, because I did primary and secondary school in a private school and I know that those are small worlds.»
Julia works two jobs, she is a photographer and also works in the administration of a school.
Nicolás’s story is the opposite. The son of merchants from a small neighborhood clothing store, the public university is his chance to -with an enormous effort- achieve the knowledge and a professional title that allows him to face life in better conditions: «I did all my studies in public schools, the effort of my parents today is to support themselves, so there was no option. The good thing is that after being here four years ago and listening to the experiences of others who come from the private sector, I would undoubtedly choose the public university. And it’s not easy for me, because I work, my days are eternally long and sometimes my lunch is a pie on the way here”.
Joan’s life is a little lighter, but even as the son and grandson of doctors, he attended elementary school, secondary school, and now college, in public education: «My grandfather on his father’s side was the son of a poor immigrant and the state college gave him the possibility of promotion, then my old man the same, and now me, and on my mother’s side, I am the first line of university students in that family. Private education does not convince me. This is the world in which I grow up and, furthermore, if it weren’t for ‘the public’ I know there would be no social ascendancy. It would be impossible». He also works.
Aién’s story has direct political and economic references: a father whose career as a mathematician was cut short by the dictatorship, preventing him from getting a scholarship based on points that he had already been assigned, and an economic situation resulting from the inflationary process at the end of the dictatorship. that like his mother, he left them out of the possibility of university.
Today she could afford a private one, “but I didn’t even look at how much it cost. I believe in the quality of the public university, and so do my parents”.
The Common Theme: Worry
The visions about the possibility of the university becoming private, go through several aspects from all points of view. There are those who see it as a matter that could be traumatic with a possible violent exit, even an inaction that ends everything in the face of the worried passivity of almost everyone: «there are several factors that contribute to the idea that there may be a certain passivity,» he says. Nicolás, «we already saw what happened with the attack on Cristina, where we were all about to leave and those we consider our leaders never called. If they don’t call before that, imagine for the rest.»
He still advocates mobilizing, but “it happens that the fervor is like foam, it seems to be diluted. The discourse of the right advances because before they created the «pacifist» climate that finally served to immobilize us and our generation did not have to fight hard battles. We grew up celebrating and taking the rights acquired during Kirchnerism as natural, so there is no way to have a scenario of struggle in the 1970s, because that generation was also taught that violence is bad and peace is good. But they taught it by killing them and thus they brought us to this peace. So those added antecedents are perverse ”.
Concern haunts common thought, although no one imagines that privatization is a real possibility. The problem, Joan says, is that «I don’t think it would happen, but we also didn’t believe that Macri was coming and he arrived, we didn’t believe that Milei was coming and here she is, so it seems that we never clearly see the danger that is coming.» Julia gives her opinion briefly and without naming him: “it’s like she was a joke and she stayed. It was a meme and while we were making fun of her she took a third of the votes ”.
For everyone, the networks are a conflict for and against: today you cannot do without the networks, but in turn, they neutralize the mobilization because from the comfort of «military an idea» from the cell phone, the face to face on the street, and the university, of course, does not escape this phenomenon. Nicolás is the one who best summarizes the conflict: “the networks cover more but do not squeeze”.
The talk has long silences and various musings. It is difficult for them to think of a situation in which there could be confrontations and yet it is a permanent weight that allows them to anticipate the fear of violence. “I was involved in the takeover of my school a long time ago,” says Joan, “but a takeover for some academic decisions is not the same as imagining such a resistance.”
A minimum and definitive data
Of the 55 public universities that exist throughout Argentina, 19 are in the Province of Buenos Aires, where an approximate calculation speaks of just over a million students, with half of those students taking the metropolitan area. This single figure debunks the story of «we know that the poor do not make it to university».
The «facu»
Sitting for a while on the UNSAM campus, (as in any state university) or walking through its corridors, is a sample in itself of the richness of the social and cultural mix that takes place there: large backpacks or just a couple of folders in hand, tattooed and untattooed, thermos and mates or cups of coffee from a well-known brand, short hair or those rare new hairstyles, and very strangely, someone walking alone. The gregarious is present all the time. And of course, the posters of the student groups that militate the more or less chosen dogma. Everything happens in there. “A professor spoke the other day about the possibility of him going private,” Julia recounts. She serves a mate and raises her eyebrows: “She explained that in such a way that we were left with a very ugly feeling of fear. He put the problem with real data that was really alarmingly crazy, I felt an unknown resistance in my body. Those who do not inhabit the university and talk about privatizing it have no idea what they are saying. They don’t know what can happen.»
Nicolás, who maintains a permanent seriousness very similar to gravity, is exhaustive: «Yes, the student movements also spoke, and when a teacher brings up the subject, it is assumed that we do not want that. You have to be crazy or be idiot to study here and want it to be privatized.”
There is something that runs through the talk and it is a constant in which everyone agrees: the very low quality of the debate, the intellectual poverty, the misery of ideas in real political terms, that not only live in the university, but in the street, and even at home.
The «family» factor
Taking the four as a valid sample (which in fact is, due to the differences between them), Buenos Aires 12 inquired about family talks, where political issues in electoral times are exacerbated, and of course the university issue is not it is left out due to several factors, two of which stand out: the safety of boys and girls and the economy.
Joan smiles and blurts out “in my house it’s very clear: I talk to my old man because he’s a politicized person, my mom calls herself apolitical, but she’s more of a gorilla and comes from a gorilla family. With my dad it’s easier since he had a very bad time in 2001 and raised his head thanks to the governments of Néstor and Cristina, but even so, there is hardly any talk about the elections and neither about the stupidity of privatizing the university ”. Nicolás fakes a reproachful gesture with his hand that accompanies a laugh that promises revenge “you have it really easy! My parents watch La Nación+ and listen to the farts that Lanata speaks as if it were an intellectual activity. Do you know what it’s like to fall asleep with the voice of La Canosa!?» and when the joke goes down, he ends with logic: “in my house we don’t talk about politics. Sparks must be avoided”.
Private conversations not only affect family relationships, but also friendships, where Julia has so many divided: «In my house, everything is discussed politically, but each one is in a different branch with a common trunk, which is that the rights Humans are untouchable. With my friends from school things change: there if we want to have the party in peace, we don’t talk about politics, a Catholic and upright school… that’s why I said that I found my belonging here, in the public one”. It is still short and clear: «my old man is for whatever!»
the last scenario
With the electoral possibilities open, the fate of the state university is also open and the probabilities are varied, from passivity to, as Joan says: «If they try to privatize the scene, it could be a fight, and that is a serious problem, because these aggressions are not few nor are they new, we already saw that parade that said that we are parasites and that we pay for the university”. Julia speaks in general: “I think that all parents would worry if a situation arises that could end in violence. In my case, I know that my parents would ask me to stay still, out of fear. And it is logical, we know that the violence unleashed by the right is not a joke. But hey… we’ll have to see. I hope it doesn’t happen. Don’t let it happen to them.»
Nicolás releases with a defiant look: “My parents would be against it, but if it happened and action had to be taken, I would be here. This is my university.»
They all acknowledge that they cannot foresee whether «the actions» would be real or through the networks, and they even play with the joke imitating, with laughter, a political leadership in which they do not believe: «We can make a document, pass it on Twitter and make A hug to UNSAM and we upload the photos to Instagram!”
In the general laughter, the idea of what the slogan would be arises, and there the waters are divided: slogan one: They will not pass. Slogan two: Defend your right. Slogan three: We don’t want to!
Slogan four: Privatize me this!
A talk with four students from the University of San Martín (UNSAM), within the same university, is the right space and time to have first-hand the many thoughts and sensations that students are going through on these electoral days, where -among others things – is around the idea of privatizing public education.
At a table on the UNSAM campus, this group of students, socially and economically diverse -or diverse- talk with Buenos Aires 12 about something as concrete as the possibility of privatizing the university.
The origins of those invited range from classic working parents to merchants, doctors and audiovisual producers. Some chose the public university, being able to pay for a private one, and others, the University of San Martin gave them the only possibility of accessing a tertiary degree.
They and they are, Nicolás, Joan, Aién and Julia, who is the one who opens the dialogue: “I decided for the public university. My parents could afford a private one, but there are several factors that decided me: the study plans and the contact with the real world and its diversity. Here is the real world, we are all together and living together. That wealth does not exist in a place where everything is mediated or governed by an economic condition. I lived it, because I did primary and secondary school in a private school and I know that those are small worlds.»
Julia works two jobs, she is a photographer and also works in the administration of a school.
Nicolás’s story is the opposite. The son of merchants from a small neighborhood clothing store, the public university is his chance to -with an enormous effort- achieve the knowledge and a professional title that allows him to face life in better conditions: «I did all my studies in public schools, the effort of my parents today is to support themselves, so there was no option. The good thing is that after being here four years ago and listening to the experiences of others who come from the private sector, I would undoubtedly choose the public university. And it’s not easy for me, because I work, my days are eternally long and sometimes my lunch is a pie on the way here”.
Joan’s life is a little lighter, but even as the son and grandson of doctors, he attended elementary school, secondary school, and now college, in public education: «My grandfather on his father’s side was the son of a poor immigrant and the state college gave him the possibility of promotion, then my old man the same, and now me, and on my mother’s side, I am the first line of university students in that family. Private education does not convince me. This is the world in which I grow up and, furthermore, if it weren’t for ‘the public’ I know there would be no social ascendancy. It would be impossible». He also works.
Aién’s story has direct political and economic references: a father whose career as a mathematician was cut short by the dictatorship, preventing him from getting a scholarship based on points that he had already been assigned, and an economic situation resulting from the inflationary process at the end of the dictatorship. that like his mother, he left them out of the possibility of university.
Today she could afford a private one, “but I didn’t even look at how much it cost. I believe in the quality of the public university, and so do my parents”.
The Common Theme: Worry
The visions about the possibility of the university becoming private, go through several aspects from all points of view. There are those who see it as a matter that could be traumatic with a possible violent exit, even an inaction that ends everything in the face of the worried passivity of almost everyone: «there are several factors that contribute to the idea that there may be a certain passivity,» he says. Nicolás, «we already saw what happened with the attack on Cristina, where we were all about to leave and those we consider our leaders never called. If they don’t call before that, imagine for the rest.»
He still advocates mobilizing, but “it happens that the fervor is like foam, it seems to be diluted. The discourse of the right advances because before they created the «pacifist» climate that finally served to immobilize us and our generation did not have to fight hard battles. We grew up celebrating and taking the rights acquired during Kirchnerism as natural, so there is no way to have a scenario of struggle in the 1970s, because that generation was also taught that violence is bad and peace is good. But they taught it by killing them and thus they brought us to this peace. So those added antecedents are perverse ”.
Concern haunts common thought, although no one imagines that privatization is a real possibility. The problem, Joan says, is that «I don’t think it would happen, but we also didn’t believe that Macri was coming and he arrived, we didn’t believe that Milei was coming and here she is, so it seems that we never clearly see the danger that is coming.» Julia gives her opinion briefly and without naming him: “it’s like she was a joke and she stayed. It was a meme and while we were making fun of her she took a third of the votes ”.
For everyone, the networks are a conflict for and against: today you cannot do without the networks, but in turn, they neutralize the mobilization because from the comfort of «military an idea» from the cell phone, the face to face on the street, and the university, of course, does not escape this phenomenon. Nicolás is the one who best summarizes the conflict: “the networks cover more but do not squeeze”.
The talk has long silences and various musings. It is difficult for them to think of a situation in which there could be confrontations and yet it is a permanent weight that allows them to anticipate the fear of violence. “I was involved in the takeover of my school a long time ago,” says Joan, “but a takeover for some academic decisions is not the same as imagining such a resistance.”
A minimum and definitive data
Of the 55 public universities that exist throughout Argentina, 19 are in the Province of Buenos Aires, where an approximate calculation speaks of just over a million students, with half of those students taking the metropolitan area. This single figure debunks the story of «we know that the poor do not make it to university».
The «facu»
Sitting for a while on the UNSAM campus, (as in any state university) or walking through its corridors, is a sample in itself of the richness of the social and cultural mix that takes place there: large backpacks or just a couple of folders in hand, tattooed and untattooed, thermos and mates or cups of coffee from a well-known brand, short hair or those rare new hairstyles, and very strangely, someone walking alone. The gregarious is present all the time. And of course, the posters of the student groups that militate the more or less chosen dogma. Everything happens in there. “A professor spoke the other day about the possibility of him going private,” Julia recounts. She serves a mate and raises her eyebrows: “She explained that in such a way that we were left with a very ugly feeling of fear. He put the problem with real data that was really alarmingly crazy, I felt an unknown resistance in my body. Those who do not inhabit the university and talk about privatizing it have no idea what they are saying. They don’t know what can happen.»
Nicolás, who maintains a permanent seriousness very similar to gravity, is exhaustive: «Yes, the student movements also spoke, and when a teacher brings up the subject, it is assumed that we do not want that. You have to be crazy or be idiot to study here and want it to be privatized.”
There is something that runs through the talk and it is a constant in which everyone agrees: the very low quality of the debate, the intellectual poverty, the misery of ideas in real political terms, that not only live in the university, but in the street, and even at home.
The «family» factor
Taking the four as a valid sample (which in fact is, due to the differences between them), Buenos Aires 12 inquired about family talks, where political issues in electoral times are exacerbated, and of course the university issue is not it is left out due to several factors, two of which stand out: the safety of boys and girls and the economy.
Joan smiles and blurts out “in my house it’s very clear: I talk to my old man because he’s a politicized person, my mom calls herself apolitical, but she’s more of a gorilla and comes from a gorilla family. With my dad it’s easier since he had a very bad time in 2001 and raised his head thanks to the governments of Néstor and Cristina, but even so, there is hardly any talk about the elections and neither about the stupidity of privatizing the university ”. Nicolás fakes a reproachful gesture with his hand that accompanies a laugh that promises revenge “you have it really easy! My parents watch La Nación+ and listen to the farts that Lanata speaks as if it were an intellectual activity. Do you know what it’s like to fall asleep with the voice of La Canosa!?» and when the joke goes down, he ends with logic: “in my house we don’t talk about politics. Sparks must be avoided”.
Private conversations not only affect family relationships, but also friendships, where Julia has so many divided: «In my house, everything is discussed politically, but each one is in a different branch with a common trunk, which is that the rights Humans are untouchable. With my friends from school things change: there if we want to have the party in peace, we don’t talk about politics, a Catholic and upright school… that’s why I said that I found my belonging here, in the public one”. It is still short and clear: «my old man is for whatever!»
the last scenario
With the electoral possibilities open, the fate of the state university is also open and the probabilities are varied, from passivity to, as Joan says: «If they try to privatize the scene, it could be a fight, and that is a serious problem, because these aggressions are not few nor are they new, we already saw that parade that said that we are parasites and that we pay for the university”. Julia speaks in general: “I think that all parents would worry if a situation arises that could end in violence. In my case, I know that my parents would ask me to stay still, out of fear. And it is logical, we know that the violence unleashed by the right is not a joke. But hey… we’ll have to see. I hope it doesn’t happen. Don’t let it happen to them.»
Nicolás releases with a defiant look: “My parents would be against it, but if it happened and action had to be taken, I would be here. This is my university.»
They all acknowledge that they cannot foresee whether «the actions» would be real or through the networks, and they even play with the joke imitating, with laughter, a political leadership in which they do not believe: «We can make a document, pass it on Twitter and make A hug to UNSAM and we upload the photos to Instagram!”
In the general laughter, the idea of what the slogan would be arises, and there the waters are divided: slogan one: They will not pass. Slogan two: Defend your right. Slogan three: We don’t want to!
Slogan four: Privatize me this!