Students across globe fight for education reforms

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

Students across globe fight for education reforms

UNIVERSITY: Discontent with school systems brings demand for
change in Europe, Israel, United States

By Yiloc Lai

Daily Bruin Contributor

French, Portuguese and Israeli high school and university
students staged three separate demonstrations in mid-October and
mid-November to protest for changes in the education system.

UCLA teaching assistants also seek the reform sought by the
international protesters.

The Student Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE) and
corresponding associations at the seven other UC campuses began
striking Tuesday, in hope of gaining the right to form a union
capable of negotiating with collective bargaining rights.

The SAGE strike has the potential for longevity, as their
affiliation with the United Auto Workers (UAW) has guaranteed them
strike benefits, thus eliminating their return out of financial
necessity.

Monetary issues also sparked the Israeli demonstrations, which
included a hunger strike staged outside Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s home. It has since taken a back seat to the concern
over the small percentage of Israel’s budget dedicated to
education.

Israeli university students are infuriated by the government’s
decision to "finance causes of political importance," according to
the Los Angeles Times.

The government funds defense, ultra-Orthodox organizations and
Jewish settlements rather than reduce their tuition 50 percent,
students said. Israeli professors claim that the government’s
refusal to reduce tuition has led to a decline in the level of
higher education because students must work more to cover very
basic living expenses.

Israel is no stranger to demonstrations over its education
system, according to Amri Wandel, a visiting astronomy professor
from the University of Jerusalem.

Wandel said that a demonstration of this magnitude, though –
which has postponed the entire fall semester on many Israeli
college and university campuses – is unusual.

"Protests are staged at the beginning of almost every
educational year by students complaining over their tuition
payments, because they usually increase faster than the average
Israeli’s income does," Wandel said.

One of the most probable reasons for the prevalence of student
demonstrations is the government’s pattern of ceding to the demands
of the students for the short term, and then reverting back to
their former policies, he said.

Because of this, Israeli universities that have complete
discretion over the distribution and spending of government
subsidies often ask students to protest.

"Israeli universities, which determine tuition, have often used
their students to pressure the government (for more money), since
they are the most loud element," said Wandel.

Protesting students in Portugal and France also hoped their
large numbers would sway their government’s economic decisions in
their favor.

The tuition increase facing Portuguese university students
motivated them to protest the mid-Nov. passage of legislation,
which would increase their share of their tuition from $7 to
$300.

The French protesters, however, are frustrated over the lack of
teachers to adequately prepare high school students for the
baccalaureate, an intense university entrance examination analogous
to the SATs.

The French government may be attempting to limit the number of
students enrolled in baccalaureate preparation classes, according
to Simmi Singh, a fifth-year English literature and French
literature student who spent the previous year studying at the
University of Lyon II.

She said that by limiting the number of students enrolled in
baccalaureate programs, the government would be able to limit the
number of students in its universities, thus slowing the growth of
the nation’s high youth unemployment rate.

"Currently, there are a lot of people in school, although no
jobs to place them in," Singh said.

"France is a nation of highly educated people without jobs," she
said.

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