Self evaluation of my academic year 2009

In the next essay I’m going to expose what has been till now my academic year 2009, the most complicated subjects, the most difficult tests, the pros and cons. This year is separated in two semester and i'm going to explain each semester.

My academic year began in March, 2009, it’s separated in two semesters like always, my first semester was satisfactory, it was good for me, much better than previous years, though the effort was very big, we had many readings and also several works that to do, the most difficult note was that of qualitative methodology, corresponding to a production and accomplishment of a discussion group in La Granja, it was a complicated work, but we manage to carry out the discussion group, then we had to transcribe the discussion, codify it and finally to do an analysis. On the other hand we had an exam of Estructuralismo, of the whole subject, the whole study was complicated, because it were a great quantity of texts.

My second semester is not ended yet, I still have several final works that to do and to expose. In general this semester has been busy, I had two fieldworks, one of a weekend, and other one of two weeks distributed in September and October. This semester has been totally approach to the applied work, to realizing interviews, to being with the people, I have a premise of life, live through it to understand it, and these fieldworks that they need from exits to fields are propitious to do it, probably not so much to live through it, but at least to live through it closely. Up to the moment this semester also has been satisfactory, with the exception of a subject that didn’t expire with my expectations.

In conclusion this academic year has been very satisfactory, but simultaneously also very strongly, the level every year increases and the good notes aren’t a gift, there are consequence of the effort. On the other hand I began with the fieldworks, which made me very happy, because I could be with the people and put into practice the theory. Nevertheless so many fieldwork and so much effort passed to me a bit the account. Therefore, in general this year has been a very good academic year, in any sense and it has made me very happy to give good results well.

important challenges on social anthropology

I think that the anthropology in general has a lot of challenges, basicly the most important challenge is to show to everybody what does it means the career, because a little bit of people knows what do an anthropologist and less knows what do a social anthropologist, some people thinks that we work doing excavations, or founding bones, and they are wrong, Why?, I think that the anthropologist, the oldest don't want that the career would be popular, because they could lose their jobs. So I think that the principal is that everybody knows what means to be a social anthropologist, and then to announce the investigations.
I think that we as an anthropologist, and social investigators, have a implicit commitment with the society, so the social matters will always be a challenge for us. In my opinion the anthropologists are more dedicated to creating theories on cultural or social phenomena, more than in giving solution to the real problems that we are living, as the poverty, the delinquency, drug addiction, through juvenile alcoholism, between(among) others.
About education I think that we have good teachers, but it could be better.
And about technology, well there are tools to improve the investigation, like programs as SPSS, but we are far away of technology, because our object of study is so big and different and subjective that we can't do so much programs or technology to facility the studies of cultures, because itself isn't objective, like biology or other sciences.

The armed boy in the subway

The last monday I was in my house, studying for a text, and my phone rang, it was my bestfriend Cony, she was very agitated and disconcerted, I asked her why she was so agitated, and she told me that she was on the subway when suddenly it stoped, so she had to get out, and walked from the Sótero del río to Protectora de la infancia station. When she was near from her house she saw a lot of policemen around the protectora de la infancia station. Then we started to talk about other things. A few hours later I saw the news in Chilevisión, and they talked about what happened in Puente Alto, it was a boy, and he was armed, and suddenly he started to frighten all the passenger and the subway guards, so they called to the police, and the boy started to runaway in the subway, finally the police arrested him. About a 200 of subway users were affected. Two days later I saw in the news that the boy suffered of bipolar disorders, but he was a very good student, he had great marks.
I think that I would like to hear that everybody is healthy and that everybody has the education that they want,because the health and the education, and the family are the most important things for a socialwelfare.

improving your faculty facilities

The current situation in my faculty is that the facilities are the worst, first of all, the faculty doesn't have the rooms necessary for all the studients, and that is basic, we have to pay almost 2 millions of pesos, and sometimes we don't have rooms for recover classes or for assistantship, and that is awful. Also the library is too small, has few books, magazines, articles, is ancient, it's no at the level of the library of philosophy, it doesn't have computers for search in the catalogue and less to do the homeworks. The other problem is that we don't have a laboratory of english, for the classes, and if the University of Chile wants to do a reform, it's basic the infraestructure, and we don't have it. The computers room when I was in my first year of university was awful, because it was only a small room, with ancient computers, and sometimes were classes, and we have to wait for the ten or less computers that were avalaible, but this year we have a new computers room, with more computers. At last, the dinner room it's too small, in summer it's too hot, and we have to move the tables outside, when is the lunch time, it's full of students, so we sometimes have lunch outside on the grass, and the food is every year more expensive and it's no so good, because before we have more menus to choice, more desserts, for less money. Finally I think that the faculty needs urgently to improve the facilities, for the students, teachers and the people who works for the faculty.

Election day

I’m registered to vote this year for a new president, because I think that it’s important to be registered to express if you’re satisfied with the government in this case with the “concertación”, or if you want to change the current government for another. If nobody is registered, it would be bad for the country, because it won’t be representative the vote, so for that reason I think that everybody has to vote for who they think that can do it better.
I hate the electoral campaings because everybody insults to the opponents, and they must to be worried about their own campaings.
I think that to be a president it’s a big responsability so you must to be preparated for that. So, if somebody wants to be a president, he or she has to have a good education and has to know about everything, from economy to psychology.
I think that the biggest problem in our country is the inequality, in opportunities, in gender, in human rights, in salaries, and all this things, are expressed in the bad results in education, I think that it’s a big problem in our country, the one who needs more solutions. But education it’s not the only problem, the government has problems with the health, with the highest rates of delinquency, the environment, poverty and other things.
If I had the chance to work in a ministry, I would like to work in the ministry of environment, to protect our country from the pollution of the biggest companies, and to make conscience about our nature, and the important that it’s for everybody. And I would like to work in the ministry of culture, to approach culture to every chilean.

Finally I think that the next president has to change the neoliberal system, and has to be worried about change the inequality.

A criminal lows

I don’t think that capital punishment will be a good solution to reduce criminality, because the problem is bigger than that solution, i think that the government and the chilean people have to work together for a better education, specially in the first childhood. The government has to protect the family, because it’s the most important core of the society. In the familiy we can teach values, rights, and dutys, and in the school that things must be reinforced. Also we have to change the present system, beacuse it’s system of discrimination, inequality, differences between who has money and who hasn’t.
I think that the judicial system is the worst, because the delinquents do whatever they want and they are abusing of that. We have to live behind bars, and they are free in the streets. In my family there are so many cases of crimes, first of all, I was victim with my mother of burglary, the delinquents go inside the house, but we weren't there, we were on vacations, then my mother was victim of pickpocketing, my father was victim of an armed robbery, it was a very scarely situation, and once I was victim of mugging, a delinquent stold my gold earrings.
I think that the pros of the capital punishment is that the delinquents will be afraid of that and maybe they will think twice about it. But the cons is that could happened that we killed somebody who is innocent. So if someday the capital punishment started It has to be very stricted.

What to do and where to go in Santiago.

A foreigner tourist should visit in Santiago The Presidential Palace La Moneda, the main square of Santiago, the San Cristobal hill, the Santa Lucía hill, Central Market and La vega, Patronato, Forestal Park, the O'Higgins Park, Fantasilandia, the Forestal Park.

What to do in Santiago?, first, you should prove the typical food, the casseroles, "empanadas", the seafood, between others and to drink a good Chilean wine. Then you should walk and to cross Santiago city, and to take pictures of monuments, ancients and moderns buildings, streets, and churchs.

top 4 places
San Cristobal hill, it's an important place, you should go there and visit the Zoo, and then to visit on the top of the hill, the virgen, that takes care of the santiaguinos, there you will have aprivileged sight
The Chascona is one of Pablo Neruda's three houses in Chile, it is located in the bohemian arts district of Santiago called Barrio Bellavista, it's a musseum, and it's an important oportunity to know where lived on of the most important poets of the world.
The Forestal Park on Sunday is filled with street performers such as jugglers and actors, making it a fun environment for families as well. You will also come across a lot of second hand stuff such as books, clothes or food.
The Vega it's a typical place with typical people, you should eat there, because the food is good and cheap, cheaper than the Central Market. You can eat fish with rice, salad and juice only for 2 dollars.