Access to education has long been a problem in Brazil, and while illiteracy remains high in that country, there have been significant improvements in recent decades. Basic literacy alone, however, won't provide the educated public that a democratic republic needs to survive. There has been explosive growth in the area of private education in Brazil in recent years, and just the other day I came across an interesting article that explains the current situation and overall strategy from the perspective of the government. You can read the full article by clicking here, and the following are some quotes I found interesting. Brazil opted to provide higher education to a growing proportion of students, albeit of varying quality, on the premise that a country cannot develop optimally if it does not have a top end that performs strongly as well as broad participation. While expanding and improving its public institutions, other layers of institutions were created - including colleges and private providers - to widen participation. The "varying quality" is mentioned there is no joke. Some private schools in Brazil have a better reputation than others, but in general the public universities have the best reputations of all. This is odd to me, as someone who grew up in the Midwestern United States in an environment where I came to see private universities at least of equal quality to the public options. One of my sisters-in-law is studying to be a nurse in Brazil and, while her educational experience has been generally good, she has told a few stories of lackadaisical professors that sound terribly similar to some community college teachers my wife has suffered under. Public education on all levels in Brazil is "free," but admittance to a public university usually requires passing a very difficult entrance examination called the "Vestibular." There is also now an option that involves annual testing in high school, but it is also very challenging. Those who have the benefit of private high school education (which is generally very good in Brazil) and expensive "pre-Vestibular" courses have a distinct advantage over public high school graduates. Thus, the better-off often have a better chance of enrolling at a higher quality, free public university than their less-well-off counterparts. Those with fewer means end up paying for an education that may or may not be of good quality. There has been debate, he said, on the question of "some education or no education at all. Much of the private system provides this kind of education, often in business or in law". For example, Brazil's law association runs a bar examination that must be passed if a law graduate is to practice: 80% of students fail. "Many law schools never get their graduates into the bar association, but they still attract students because, even if they cannot practice, they still have a degree and can do something with it." This "some kind of education or no education at all" question is similar to what I've long asked about higher education in the United States. I've heard of countless literature and history majors graduating with no job prospects at all. It made me wonder what they thought they'd do with that degree. Even I have at times sorely regretted my "Bachelor of Ministry" degree (no amount of accreditation makes it particularly worthwhile outside the field of Christian ministry). Then again, if the goal is an educated populace rather than personal success, any degree will be "good enough" and better than nothing. As for the 80% of law students who never pass the exam to become lawyers in Brazil, I found that more than a little daunting. It's long been a dream of mine to study and practice law in Brazil. I suppose I'll have to study all the harder, especially given my cultural and linguistic disadvantage. While many in Brazil see private institutions as 'second-class', and although drop-out rates are high, the sector's extraordinary growth has driven the massification of higher education, and has raised the participation rate of school-leavers to 21% and the education levels of the populace. There is no doubt that private higher education is very much in demand in Brazil, and I certainly agree that having more citizens better educated will be a benefit to the nation as a whole. At the same time, it would do those private university students well to consider carefully the school they'll be paying to attend, as well as the preferred course of study. See also:BRAZIL: Private education far better than none at all (University World News) Comments Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply | 
Adam Gonnerman - Former missionary, ESL teacher, customer service rep, social media manager and web producer; currently employed as a project manager in New York and volunteering through HOPE worldwide.
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