Most other countries decided many years ago to charge foreign students grossly inflated fees. This has caused something of a crisis in Canada, because universities and colleges became accustomed to their largesse. So many, so quickly, adequate housing and part-time work for them was sometimes unavailable.
Blessed be the few countries who placed principle before profit and don’t charge any students anything, or who at least don’t charge visiting students more. Not many of these countries left. And the principle is worth defending; education should be among the highest values.
I think from his POV he still thinks he’s winning, he lives in a bubble, “Irigoyen’s algorithm” we call it (a call back to “Irigoyen’s newspaper” a legend that says that Hipolito Irigoyen, president in the early decades of the XX century, was given a fake newspaper with only good news so he thought everything was hunky dory).
Milei only watches news that prop him up, and only follows twitter accounts belonging to his fans.
If/When will he wake up to reality… is anybody’s guess.
For now he’s happy touting the (extremely small) fiscal surplus he obtained by the simple procedure of brutal budget cuts, leaving cancer patients without medicine, universities without funds, people who depended on state assistance without food , paralyzing all public works, etc.
The brutal recession caused by these policies (bread consumption (bread!) has fallen by 45% for example) will probably reduce state revenues soon and destroy even that, may be that’s when he’ll realize he’s not playing Age of Empires…
That’s the big issue, on one hand the last time the path of repression was taken the president had to flee the pink house in an helicopter.
On the other hand that president was sane and rational, no idea what this madman could try and do if there’s a repeat of 2001.
On the gripping hand the VP is a representative of those who think the 70’s military dictatorship didn’t go far enough and has contacts within the army…
(but the army thoroughly burned almost all goodwill they could have in Argentinian society then, I believe the current state of mind among them is to avoid politics like the plague)
That’s what I fear losing, as I said in the OP, the territory will no doubt continue to exist, but Argentina would not be Argentina without free public education for everyone.
As the preamble to our constitution says “For all men of goodwill who want to inhabit Argentinian soil” (yeah it should be “persons” but it was the 19th century, lets forget also the part afterwards who talks about "encouraging european immigration…)
That’s good, though Milei would probably dismiss the BBC as left wing (everything is left wing to him), but negative news in international media are more likely to affect him than national media.
Thanks again for your insight @frodo - I’ll keep hoping he stays complacent and insulated, and those that could support his more destructive tendencies see just how bad he made it, and decide to step back.
Update on this: Apparently they are going to meet with the rectors of the universities next Tuesday to discuss funding.
Additionally there are signs that Congress is waking up to this problem (many representatives marched on the 23rd but then did nothing when called to pass some legislation about it, which provoked the corresponding scorn, they seem to have taken the hit and there are rumbles about passing something)
I don’t want to sidetrack this excellent and very informative thread but I can’t let this ago without comment.
Agreed that education is critically important – it’s a pillar of civilization and the lifeblood of every country. It also costs money. In Canada we’re fortunate to have a well-funded public education system with one of the best public school systems in the world, and although universities are not as well funded as they used to be, they still receive substantial taxpayer funding.
Foreign students are welcome here but they are not taxpayers and should not benefit from taxpayer subsidies. It’s only fair that they bear the full cost of their university tuition. Any subsidies that foreign students receive should be from their home countries.
This is hardly the thread to argue this, but start another if so inclined. However, I will say only that in countries which charge no tuition, the government still pays for public education from the tax base. These countries do not necessarily accept the view foreigners do not pay tax and therefore should be charged excessively, or even shamelessly. And I think they are correct, and it is noble to put the principle of education above that of profit, and profiteering. In other words, in these places foreigners pay sales taxes and maybe other fees, but probably little income tax, so their situation is not different. Just their philosophy. So much so, it seems to be part of the Argentinian Constitution, or at least the way many interpret the preamble.
Is there always a difference between “the full cost of education” and “what the market will bear”? Because foreign students might do meaningful research, work as TAs, or provide other social benefits. And “full cost” is debatable and might not fairly divide fixed costs or consider low marginal costs. (Does a professor teaching 301 students cost so much more than merely teaching 300?). Other issues like immigration, work visas, partisan politics, provincial language posturing and paths to citizenship complicate things in Canada. But again, this Argentina thread is not the place to discuss this further.
Hehe is Latin for exactly that “Put your protocol up your ass”
Probaby some latin or ancient history Profesor or student from the University of Buenos Aires.
I took Latin in high school, many years ago. My conscious mind has pretty much forgotten it; but some of it may remain somewhere in memory. Though I doubt any words for “anus”, rude or otherwise, were part of the course materials.
That would be my guess: google translate is responsible for a lot of bad Latin. Especially strange in Spanish because the Latin could be in anum tuum (with pone it would need to be the accusative, not the ablative as here)—I think protocolloum pone in anum tuum would be widely understood by Spanish speakers.
And it’s passed the lower chamber, damn.
It’s watered down but not near watered down enough.
Our only hope now is the Senate…
There is a meme going around in Twitter right now:
“Our only hope is the senate”
The Senate: picture of the Star Wars prequels Galactic Senate
