Education in Brazil

I was out of town last weekend and am just getting around to reading this article in last Saturday's  New York Times about education in Brazil. Some points worth mentioning:

• Public libraries are rare and underfunded. Indeed, while I have never looked for them in Brazil, the only places I can remember seeing them is in Rio de Janeiro and the famous Farois da Sabedoria (Lighthouses of Knowledge) in Curitiba. I'm sure that small towns such as Caetes (the town featured in the article probably have no library. The funding simply isn't there.
• So, why not buy books? Books are very expensive in Brazil; expensive to the point of being out of reach for those who need to read the most. In addition, television, just like in the US, offers a significantly cheaper entertainment alternative. Given the massive market penetration of a network such as Globo - some 70 to 80% of the nation's  television audience - it's virtually impossible for books to compete.
• In addition, and this is a particular problem in my opinion, when it comes to higher education, among the best universities are the State and Federal University systems. If a potential student scores well enough on tests known as vestibulares, they can attend one of these universities for free. There is no means testing for this, so if your family is wealthy, you still attend for free.
• The problem is exacerbated by a mini-industry that has developed of preparation for these tests. Of course if one has the means to prepare for the vestibular, the investment is worth it if one the qualifies for a free education. If you don't have the money for this sort of preparation, then you're already at a disadvantage as failure to qualify for a place in the free public universities, leaves a private school with expensive tuition as the only alternative to my knowledge.

I'm glad to see the issue getting attention. I'm looking forward to seeing some solutions.

Comments

[Tambopaxi]

Overpricing and low availability of books are problems endemic to Latin America in general. Libraries are rarities throughout the region as well.

It's always been a chicken and egg issue, i.e., is it lack of demand for/interest in books that keeps prices high, or is it high prices that drive demand down? When television - and increasingly, the internet - are added in, it makes the outlook for libraries and bookstores even gloomier..

Oddly enough, however, ebooks may increase demand for and availability of books in the near future. I've lived in LA for over 30 years and availability of good English books has (had) always been problematic. I bought a Kindle about two months ago, it works great here in Quito. It uses the G3 system and I've downloaded books in 60 seconds, as advertised, and of course, prices are much lower than regular print books. The other pleasant surprise is that the download signal here and in Guayaquil seems to work better than for celphones.

At this point, ebooks (or the Kindle, at least) don't come with graphcis/photos, and only a few maps, but I'd imagine that this issue will be overcome in soon. Ebooks are available in Spanish (probably Portuguese as well) but not as many as English texts at present. Still, I'd guess that these problems will be resolved in the not too distant future with concomitant positive impact on education throughout the region...