" Democracy was a key campuses"

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French, Greek, and Spanish students were government attempts to increase competi -tion between schools by abolishing the equality of diplomas and changing public universities over to the private sector.

In a December 1986 interview with International Viewpoint magazine, a French student described the effects these reforms would have on the educational system:

"It is the destruction of the present character of the universities and its replacement, on the one hand, with universities for the elite with high fees, selective degrees, and big-business sponsorship; and, on the other hand, with 'dustbin universities' offering lesser qualifications for the mass of students."

The same student also noted "that in France the son of a worker has two-and-ahalf times less chance than the son of a middle-manager of going to university."

As illustrated by the case of the Greek schools, a similar trend is already affecting the high schools. While creating stricter admissions policies for the universities, the governments have sought to cut back funding for the public high schools —primarily through cutbacks in the number of teachers.

As one Spanish high-school student put it in a Jan. 31, 1987, interview in the Spanish socialist paper Combate: "Every day high-school students experience shortages of materials, the run-down state of the buildings, and even the lack of hygiene."

This leads to an inferior standard of education and an unfair disadvantage for working-class students who attend the public schools. Obviously, this reduces the number of working-class students able to attend university.

Commonality of interests

The recognition by high-school and university students of their common rapid, even if its structuring was more hesitant. Very soon it was the lyceens themselves who took charge of their activities and set up their own strike committees and coordination. And we saw the massive mobilization of lyceens in the streets.

The issue of democracy Democracy was a key issue on many campuses as well. Demands for democracy took many forms. In Spain they were reflected in students' demands for classes taught in the languages of national minorities. The students called for the schools of oppressed nationalities to be controlled by those communities.

The platform adopted by the Coordinating Committee of Represent -atives from the Spanish State on Jan. 1718, 1987, called for "equal representation of students in all government and adminis -trative bodies concerned with education, with real-decision making powers."

In Mexico, students struck and marched in the hundreds of thousands for "a democratic university reform." The first big demonstration brought together 60,000 students on Nov. 25, 1986. By the end of the student strike, the last demonstration on Feb. 9, 1987, drew 350,000.

A frequently heard slogan was "Education must first of all serve the children of the