EDUCAÇÃO NO BRASIL É RUIM, MAS NA ARGENTINA É PIOR!

In World Cup Of Education, Brazil Is Bad, But Argentina Is Worse. Na Copa da Educação, Brasil é ruim, mas a Argentina é muito pior.

EDUCAÇÃO:

Dos países que participam da Copa, aqui esta o ranking:
10º - Holanda 
15º - Bélgica
16º - Alemanha
25º - França
56º - Costa Rica
58º - Brasil
59º - Argentina
62º - Colômbia

QUEM FALA A VERDADE?

Obs: A Fonte é do (FORBES.com) Eles divulgaram que foram gastos, $14.1 bilhões com a Copa, e a suspeita de $1,2 de custo acima do orçamento. As perguntas são, porque no Brasil a maioria fala em $35 Bilhões? E porque esta notícias não chega aqui?

One of the underplayed sub-plots of this year’s World Cup is that many of those who vociferously protested on the streets of Brazil were doing so on behalf of better teacher pay and benefits. In other words, education was a huge subtext in this futbol-crazed country’s first World Cup since 1950. And beautiful, hilarious, resource-rich Brazil – which does not often register in American consciousness outside of Carnival, Amazon deforestation, and Gisele Bundchen – actually does want to be known around the world for more than soccer greatness. Especially now that their presumed stranglehold on this year’s Cup was surgically eviscerated, 7-1, by a superior German squad in last Tuesday’s semifinal in Sao Paulo.

But, as Brazilians now know, expectations for greatness do not always correlate with success. This is especially true when it comes to education. In no surprise to close Brazil watchers, on the eve of the 2014 World Cup, Brazilian protestors fulsomely, and often violently, argued that the record-breaking $14.1 billion that Brazil spent on staging the Copa Do Mundo — including a suspicious $1.2 billion cost overrun in building 12 new soccer stadiums – would have been better allocated towards building hospitals, public housing and, most urgently, schools and other education infrastructure.

The leftist government of the otherwise popular President Dilma Rousseff has been flat-footed in its response. To such an extent that now, with the distracting bread and circus of a Brazil World Cup triumph off the table,“Dilma” is in danger of being removed from office altogether.

The protesters have a point. FIFA officials often argue that a World Cup is an investment that offers dramatic boosts to business, infrastructure and prestige, with concomitant boosts in tourism. But is this the best possible use of such funds in nations like Brazil, just now emerging from decades of military rule and command economy corruption and stagnation? As education data collected on this year’s World Cup quarterfinalists point out, probably not.
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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) collects global education data — including literacy, aptitude in science and mathematics, and state support — in more than 65 countries. Scores from standardized tests in each category are compiled and normalized to an average of 500 points each.

The 2012 data, the most recent made available by the OECD, are summarized in a collection of reports, as well as a master list ranking each country across academic and economic statistics.

Unfortunately, Brazil, a semifinalist at this year’s World Cup, showed dismal PISA results in elementary-level education. According to the OECD, when accounting for economic, social and cultural status, Brazil ranked among the lowest countries it measured in academic performance, particularly in mathematics. Moreover, self-confidence among Brazilian students ranked dead last.

The Brazilian government might attempt to atone for its poor academic standing and make the promised economic investments after the World Cup dust settles, but, according to the PISA analysis, for every unit of increased educational spending, Brazil ranked among the lowest in improvements of any country. These are troubling statistics for South America’s most populous country, given that the OECD reports Brazil as having one of the widest achievement gaps for students across socio-economic categories. In particular, the academic achievement gap between Brazil’s upper and lower classes, as well as between its immigrant and non-immigrant populations, is among the highest in the PISA rankings.

Sadly, on this head, Brazil — to put it in soccer terms — is clutching its shins in mock agony, blaming its own missteps on the challenges of overpopulation, “social disaffection,” and lack of qualified teaching staff in the country.

However, as Andrea Novais notes in a scathing report in The Brazil Business, the problem is primarily cultural: “almost 10% of the Brazilian population is completely illiterate … and 68% of the population is functionally illiterate. If we add these percentages, we will get to [a] stunning 78%, which corresponds to 150,053,666 Brazilians who are unable of  [sic] reading a text like this one (in Portuguese, of course) and making any meaning out of it. This scenario has led Brazil to an economic growth that was built upon a very fragile structure and that is now falling apart. Every year, millions of students graduate from secondary school without being able of [sic] writing an essay, solving basic Math problems or understanding basic concepts of sciences. And the most preoccupying aspect of all this is that it is socially acceptable. People know that there is a great probability that school will not teach them anything.”

The solution, at least for higher education — a large market even in a country with only 17 percent university enrollment (32% of  Brazilian undergrads are functionally illiterate) — has been relegated to for-profit entrepreneurs.

“The government has had no choice but to work with the private sector. It cannot meet the demand on its own,” Fernando Iunes, global head of investment banking for Brazil’s Itaú BBA, told the New York Times.

Brazil’s public universities are still highly regarded for their prestige and research quality. Moreover, tuition is free at public universities. Unfortunately, non-immigrant university students come disproportionally from Brazil’s upper class. In addition, generous research budgets and unionized work forces make the cost per student at public universities three and a half times as much as at private colleges.

PISA data for Colombia — Brazil’s intrepid victim in the World Cup quarterfinals — are disturbingly similar. Colombia ranks near or below Brazil on all individual rankings measured by the OECD, and last out of its fellow World Cup quarterfinalists. Costa Rica, a nation oft lauded for its high literacy rates and effective education system, still performs low on PISA rankings in terms of problem-solving, math and science proficiency.

Most shocking, World Cup finalist Argentina, a South American soccer powerhouse and  home country of soccer luminary Lionel Messi — and a nation much-heralded by its denizens for its “European” values and culture – performed near the bottom, scoring nearly 100 points below average on every single PISA assessment.

By contrast, World Cup quarterfinalist Belgium performed slightly above average in overall PISA academic rankings, and notably above World Cup finalist Germany (which also ranked above average in PISA statistics) across all individual measures.

The Netherlands – which faces off against a depleted and demoralized Brazil in Saturday’s third place match — also ranked high under PISA assessments, scoring better than the global average across all categories. One-third of students in the Netherlands attend government-supported private schools.

The United States, eliminated by Belgium in the Round of 16, functions as an at-or-below-average comparative for academic performance, scoring below-average in science and mathematics, but high in reading comprehension and student satisfaction. Just over one quarter of students in the US do not meet the PISA baseline for mathematics proficiency.

In order of overall scores, the Netherlands ranked highest out of the World Cup quarterfinalists in educational achievement, sitting at 10th out of the 65 countries assessed. Belgium ranked 15^th. Germany and France followed at 16^th and 25^th, respectively. European nations, all.

The gap widened dramatically for the World Cup’s Latin-American quarterfinalists. Costa Rica ranked 56^th, followed by Brazil at 58th and Argentina at 59th. Colombia trailed the pack at 62nd overall.

Matching its middling performance on the soccer pitch, the United States ranked 36^th in overall academic performance.

The achievement gap dividing World Cup contenders seems to imply no relationship between athleticism and scholarship. South Korea, Japan, and China — the highest academic performers according to OECD data — are not typically FIFA’s strongest competitors (though South Korea did reach the 2002 World Cup semifinals, which was played in Seoul).

Despite its global popularity, soccer, in particular, is not an indicator of education level. Olympic medals offer a slightly stronger correlation, but the relationship is, at best, loose.

What soccer does seem to tell us is that passion for sport can be powerful enough to elevate countries in at least one international spotlight.

If similar energy and support were funneled into other tools for social mobility, such as primary-level education, the results might be equally thrilling.