sergio said:
On the surface things are 'better' than they were during the crisis but in reality they are worse -- education continues to decline
Agreed. It's the gravest problem. Argentina used to have a universally good to high standard of education. That's been on the decline for years but it really accelerated under the Kirchners. When I first came to BA we didn't have all the street people, the cartoneros. The villas were much smaller. Now there is an army of kids who don't go to school. The quality of public school teachers gets worse and worse. A friend is principal of a state school and has told me many stories of the problems. He speaks English fluently, being Anglo-Argentine. One day he sat in on an English class. The teacher was teaching incorrect grammar. The principal told her that she was to see him in his office the next morning with the English dept. head present. He informed her that the meeting would be conducted in English. The next day she requested a transfer to another school. They never had the meeting.
I would totally agree with this statement. I do think that the deterioration of the educational system under the Kirchners has accelerated over the years.
My sister-in-law goes to a private school here and I laugh sometimes at the situations she is in. For instance, during the World Cup she said that for many days the teachers brought TV's in the classrooms and forced the kids to watch the games not studying at all. Granted, I realize soccer is important in this country but where else would you hear of something like this?
Add into the mix..... the obscene inflation increases in the private schools. I know because I pay her tuition bill personally. I think in the past year it's gone up about 40%.
It sounds like there is a big divide on this board between pro Kirschner and anti-Kirchner. I don't think that really matters and maybe even healthy to hear both sides of the story. The world would be a dull place if we all had the same opinions.
I can tell you that I think Peron ruined Argentina. Some of the laws in place are totally crazy. Those of you that don't own companies here probably don't understand some of the crazy benefits in place. Try firing an employee here and seeing how many obstacles are in place or how much you have to pay them. It's just not an efficient country.
In one building I own a few properties in, the building is new. The doorman probably has only been working about 7 months. His salary is 4,000 pesos per month. For whatever reasons, the administration decided to fire him. After only working 7 months, they had to pay him around 50,000 pesos! All for only working 7 months. In another building where I own a unit, a doorman that has been working there forever, was caught entering an apartment and fired. I can't remember the amount he got but the building was forced to pay him a tremendous amount even though they had cause to fire him. Then I can give examples of other company owners I know that have fired employees for cause. My favorite is a big construction company in the South of Argentina. Actually the owner is friends with Kirschner as they are from the same town. He had an employee driving a company vehicle that was caught driving drunk. They fired him and he hired a lawyer and they still had to end up paying him some big settlement.
