The new worldwide globalization requires that countries like Chile possess absolute comparative advantages in the area of natural resources, as well as a highly skilled citizenry capable of competing with other “economies”, as countries are now called in the jargon of the negotiators.

Yet this is out of step with the educational reform carried out by the Military dictatorship and maintained by the democratic governments which have followed that regime, inasmuch as the performance indicators used to evaluate that reform -- such as the Sistema de Medición de la Calidad Educativa (SIMCE) and the well-known Prueba de Aptitud Académica (PAA) - have shown poor results. Hence, the reform has not helped to ensure social equity in our society.