Brazzil

A good article as usual. Probably our buddy ASP would like to comment?

Not to be nitpicking, but it's a bad practice to keep saying "I", "I did", "me" etc. so many times. I counted exactly 18 instances of "I" or "me" in the article, which gives a bad impression.

As for the improved education, I agree, Brazil needs that. However who will train good teachers, if there is no critical mass of good teachers to train future teachers in the first place? Isn't this like Munchausen's trying to pull himself out of a bog by his own hair?

One solution would be to import teachers from elsewhere, trying to reach this critical mass. However this is not feasible --- Portugal is the only other significant Portuguese-speaking country, but I doubt that Portugal has a surplus of teachers to export to Brazil. Besides, the versions of spoken Portuguese are pretty different.

Another solution would be to entice qualified foreigners to come to Brazil, learn Portuguese and teach here. However considering low salaries, bad work conditions, badly equipped schools and high crime levels, this is unlikely to happen.

The third solution would be to send young Brazilians abroad, to quality programs, and make them return to Brazil after they obtain their advanced degrees. I think this is the most feasible solution for Brazil. However who will provide funds to finance these Brazilians to study outside? The only mechanism I know of is the "bolsa-sanduiche" and a couple of other minor stipends; however this is a drop in the ocean of needs.

Finally, the latest Lula's drive (i.e. opening a significant number of new higher-education institutions) seems to be directed towards increasing the QUANTITY and not the QUALITY of education. Lamentavel.