Santiago, Chile
90°F
Clear
Humidity: 18%
Wind: SW at 17 mph
Top education official resigns over ‘irreconcilable differences’ with Education Ministry.
A prominent scholar with Chile’s National Council of Education (CNED) resigned on Wednesday following the controversial decision to erase the term “dictatorship” from the country’s history curriculum.
Protesters gathered at the Ministry of Education on Thursday to show opposition to the proposed curriculum changes. (Photo by Jason Suder/The Santiago Times)
Dr. Alejandro Goic resigned in a letter to Education Minister Harald Beyer, citing “deep and irreconcilable differences with the curricular content of the history course as defined by the Ministry of Education.”
In the new proposal for the curriculum, which would affect children as young as five, the term “military dictatorship” would be removed from Chile’s history curriculum, as well as the phrases such as “removal of the rule of law,” “systematic violation of human rights,” and the word “coup.”
“This is not just an academic discussion of what is involved when referencing an existential situation, but it is a real drama that affected tens of thousands of Chileans who suffered imprisonment, humiliation, insults, torture, exile, banishment, loss and death,” Goic wrote in his resignation letter.
The Ministry tried to pass the changes in the curriculum through the Council in October 2011, despite a previous outline for a history curriculum for primary and secondary schools having been approved as recently as 2009.
Teachers, parents and activists expect a final decision on the changes to come after the summer vacation ends at the start of March.
The architects of the new curriculum have defended the changes arguing that the rewording of the curriculum encourages “different ways of thinking” about the years from 1973 to 1990 when military dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet brutally ruled Chile.
Pinochet seized power in a military coup. More than 40,000 Chileans were tortured, including over 3,000 who were later “disappeared” or executed during the Pinochet regime, according to Chile’s National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report.
A small group of protesters gathered on Thursday in front of the Ministry of Education to show their support for Goic and also express their anger about the curriculum change.
“They have another vision of what happened in these years, but we’re convinced that this is not the way to go about discussing this vision,” Carlos Figueroa, a leader of the new student-led political party Revolución Democrática (RD), told The Santiago Times. “It’s very clear what happened. In Chile, we had a dictatorship and we had human rights violations. We had no congress and no political parties and that, anywhere in the world, is a dictatorship.”
Figueroa and the others denounced the Ministry of Education and held banners with slogans such as, “Don’t let people lie to you, it was a dictatorship.”
What is so disturbing about this situation, Goic stressed, was that neither the Ministry, nor its external advisers warned the council of the changes in the new curriculum. Perhaps, worryingly, he suggests, they do not even perceive the changes to be worth noting.
“In my view, a distorted presentation of the recent history of Chile may have very negative consequences for the moral and civic education of young Chilean students,” Goic wrote.
Figueroa shared these concerns.
“It is very important to be conscious that when you teach history you realize that you are also teaching the memory of your country,” he said. “You are teaching the values you want your children to follow and the ways in which the citizens of Chile should behave.”
The Council asked the Ministry to have time to reconsider the decision about changing the wording of the curriculum soon after the decision caused public outrage at the beginning of January.
This request was granted and Goic believes that the curriculum could return to the one that was outlined in 2009. The debate that ensured in the CNED, however, only strengthened Goic’s resolve to resign from the council.
“The truth is I was not intellectually or emotionally comfortable listening to the misguided appreciation of their [the Ministry’s] reality of Chile’s past,” Goic wrote. “Personally, this is a matter of highest importance for me because me and my family lived the events, the uncertainties and the anxieties of the time.”
By Olivia Crellin (crellin@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
A prominent scholar with Chile’s National Council of Education (CNED) resigned on Wednesday following the controversial decision to erase the term “dictatorship” from the country’s history curriculum.
Protesters gathered at the Ministry of Education on Thursday to show opposition to the proposed curriculum changes. (Photo by Jason Suder/The Santiago Times)
Dr. Alejandro Goic resigned in a letter to Education Minister Harald Beyer, citing “deep and irreconcilable differences with the curricular content of the history course as defined by the Ministry of Education.”
In the new proposal for the curriculum, which would affect children as young as five, the term “military dictatorship” would be removed from Chile’s history curriculum, as well as the phrases such as “removal of the rule of law,” “systematic violation of human rights,” and the word “coup.”
“This is not just an academic discussion of what is involved when referencing an existential situation, but it is a real drama that affected tens of thousands of Chileans who suffered imprisonment, humiliation, insults, torture, exile, banishment, loss and death,” Goic wrote in his resignation letter.
The Ministry tried to pass the changes in the curriculum through the Council in October 2011, despite a previous outline for a history curriculum for primary and secondary schools having been approved as recently as 2009.
Teachers, parents and activists expect a final decision on the changes to come after the summer vacation ends at the start of March.
The architects of the new curriculum have defended the changes arguing that the rewording of the curriculum encourages “different ways of thinking” about the years from 1973 to 1990 when military dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet brutally ruled Chile.
Pinochet seized power in a military coup. More than 40,000 Chileans were tortured, including over 3,000 who were later “disappeared” or executed during the Pinochet regime, according to Chile’s National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report.
A small group of protesters gathered on Thursday in front of the Ministry of Education to show their support for Goic and also express their anger about the curriculum change.
“They have another vision of what happened in these years, but we’re convinced that this is not the way to go about discussing this vision,” Carlos Figueroa, a leader of the new student-led political party Revolución Democrática (RD), told The Santiago Times. “It’s very clear what happened. In Chile, we had a dictatorship and we had human rights violations. We had no congress and no political parties and that, anywhere in the world, is a dictatorship.”
Figueroa and the others denounced the Ministry of Education and held banners with slogans such as, “Don’t let people lie to you, it was a dictatorship.”
What is so disturbing about this situation, Goic stressed, was that neither the Ministry, nor its external advisers warned the council of the changes in the new curriculum. Perhaps, worryingly, he suggests, they do not even perceive the changes to be worth noting.
“In my view, a distorted presentation of the recent history of Chile may have very negative consequences for the moral and civic education of young Chilean students,” Goic wrote.
Figueroa shared these concerns.
“It is very important to be conscious that when you teach history you realize that you are also teaching the memory of your country,” he said. “You are teaching the values you want your children to follow and the ways in which the citizens of Chile should behave.”
The Council asked the Ministry to have time to reconsider the decision about changing the wording of the curriculum soon after the decision caused public outrage at the beginning of January.
This request was granted and Goic believes that the curriculum could return to the one that was outlined in 2009. The debate that ensured in the CNED, however, only strengthened Goic’s resolve to resign from the council.
“The truth is I was not intellectually or emotionally comfortable listening to the misguided appreciation of their [the Ministry’s] reality of Chile’s past,” Goic wrote. “Personally, this is a matter of highest importance for me because me and my family lived the events, the uncertainties and the anxieties of the time.”
By Olivia Crellin (crellin@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
About the writer
Olivia Crellin
Olivia recently graduated with a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University and has ventured to South America to improve her Spanish and dip her toes in the murky waters of overseas journalism.
Comments
0
#7
2012-02-16 09:33
The article is very well written and deserves more attention. I have passed it on to Maureen Dowd at N Y Times and the editorial staff.
+1
#6
2012-02-06 01:30
Why not rename the Education Ministry to better reflect its current function? How about the Ministry of Truth? Winston, the protagonist in Orwell's "1984," worked in the Ministry of Truth. His job as a Propaganda Officer was to alter historical records to match the government's official version of past events. Sound familiar?
+1
#5
2012-02-04 14:48
Very typical of right-wing people to try to water down the horrors of the Pinochet era with euphemisms like "regime" . (By the way, in the time of Allende they used to talk about the "regime" in a disparaging way...) The word is indeed a way of referring to a "nonstandard"---to say the least---form of government; simplifying things a bit, one could say that in this world there are only democracies and "regimes".
Bravo, Dr Goic, you have done the right thing.
Bravo, Dr Goic, you have done the right thing.
0
#4
2012-01-30 11:46
it is my understanding that Neal Bush, GWBush's brother, is re-writing the history of the US..so that his brother and his cronies are in a more favorable light. The dark forces keep moving along....
+1
#3
2012-01-29 07:22
Really interesting article given the 'reforms' here in England.
We have much to learn from the Chilean experience of privatising education before handing over this sector to multinational global corporations whose role is to provide shareholder returns.
Truth and justice somehow seem to come way down the priority list of these dark powers.
We have much to learn from the Chilean experience of privatising education before handing over this sector to multinational global corporations whose role is to provide shareholder returns.
Truth and justice somehow seem to come way down the priority list of these dark powers.
+1
#2
2012-01-28 09:05
Thanks for your article. Could this really happen, striking reality from the history books? That would be like striking George Bush, WMD, Guantanamo water board torture, secret domestic wire-tapping, Abu Ghraib military abuses, Blackwater killings for hire, Enron, and the multi-trillion dollar mortgage heist from US history books. Maybe the "powers that be" should just strike "Agusto Pinochet" while they are at it. Having lived in Chile under the dictatorship, I know torture, disappearance, and murder will and should never be forgotten, despite the best efforts of those with blood on their hands.
0
#1
2012-01-27 21:42
There is a spelling error in this report. The word is ensued, not ensured (next to last paragraph). Also I believe that Goic's quotations should read, "...because my family and I..."
Add comment
Latest Chile News in Print
Most Read News
- Santiago ranked 3rd best city in Latin America for students
- Duran Duran and Hugh Laurie to perform in Chile
- Bob Dylan to perform in Santiago
- Cerro Abajo back to Valparaíso, ‘a killer place to have a race’
- Protests plague Chile’s Aysén region with number of demands
- Triumph and failure for Chilean soccer