While I was there, students in the public schools'high school and middle school age'held huge protests over the cost of attending school. Public schools were closed across the country as students held demonstrations in the streets of Santiago and Valparaiso.

The students had two basic complaints at the start of the protests. First, that bus and subway costs were too high for students and that the Chilean version of the SAT was too expensive.

These complaints may seem insignificant, but their impact on impoverished inner-city students is great.

As the demonstrations went on, students expanded their demands to include the removal of LOCE, the law that governs Chilean schools and, according to protesters, promotes inequality in education.

Students in other schools and universities quickly held protests in solidarity with the public school students, leading to an almost complete breakdown of the Chilean educational system.

Eventually, the minister of education was replaced as a result of the protests. Students returned to school weeks later, after the government agreed to lower transportation costs and review LOCE in the legislature to reduce inequality.

As a North American, I could barely comprehend this protest. I'm not saying our education is flawless, fair or equal in the U.S. We have terrible inequality in education, with conditions in inner-city schools trailing far behind other districts.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, urban elementary and secondary schools are in worse condition, their attendance is lower, their faculty is less qualified and their test scores are lower.

These things aren't accidents and they aren't the fault of students since they happen across the nation year after year. Instead, they're signs that the U.S. education system needs to change.

U.S. students, particularly in inner cities, have every right to protest the way Chilean students did. Poor conditions in inner-city schools, particularly compared to the strong, stable state of suburban schools, would be enough to spark a protest in other parts of the world. Inner-city students deserve better.

Yet signs of a brewing protest are not exactly forthcoming from urban schools in the United States.

I couldn't understand the protests because they would be so unusual in the United States. Why are U.S. students unable or unwilling to speak up for their rights like their South American counterparts?

Are students here lazier, or less interested in their education? Is the media or public opinion set against them? Do they not recognize that their situation is much worse than those in suburban or private schools?

I'm afraid that U.S. culture is not interested in fair education and that inner-city students will never see the power they wield to incite change in their schools.