Rethinking the role of elite private schools in a neoliberal era: An example from Chile

Abstract

Neoliberalism has brought a privatization trend that has deeply affected the structure of the educational system of countries. While public schools lag behind, new forms of private schooling have arisen creating different forms of inequality. Nonetheless, in Chile the major inequality exists between schools attended by low and middle income students and those schools that have traditionally served students coming from the economic elite of the country. In a period when Chilean educational policies do not mention this issue at all, this article presents an example from a traditional private school in Chile that helps both to pay attention to this phenomenon as well as to seek ways to address the consequences brought about by the logic of the privatization wave that affects the educational system.