ABSTRACT
Sergio Martinic is a well-known researcher for CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación). Like Juan García-Huidobro, with whom he has frequently collaborated, he has been consistently interested in the theoretical dimensions of popular education. Martinic has also been interested in the psychological dimensions of popular education—for example y the shifts in identity experienced by the participants. In this chapter, Martinic describes the changing perceptions and values of participants in programs of popular education.
Popular; or informal, education has gained on unprecedented importance since 1973. At one time the University of Chile and the Catholic University were among the most prestigious in Latin America. After the military coup, these and other universities were politicized, sometimes with military officers taking over as rectors. The result was a decline in prestige and the emergence of private centros, or research institutes. More relevant to the lives of the masses, formal education at lower levels suffered repeated blows as the government pursued a kind of privatization of education in line with libertarian political and economic views. Nongovernmental groups tried to provide remedies by developing new, informal methods of education. In this chapter, Martinic describes some of these efforts.
