Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 1/28/2010

Question
Do you know the school ranges in brazil?


Answer
I dont understand your question. So I will have to guess what you mean. Brazilian children are required to enter the first grade, but not kindergarten. The grades go from 1st to 12th grade, like in the US. When in high school, kids go to school part time on Saturday's, especially in big cities and especially in private schools, where they prepare for the college entrance exams. Public colleges in Brazil are free, only to get in you must pass the entrance exam with flying colors, meaning...one of the best. If it was by US standards, getting into a public college would be as hard as getting into a top, but non-Ivy league college -- say Boston College, or MIT. The free public school system "competes" with a tuition driven private school system that does not necessarily require top entrance exam scores. Some dont even require entrance exams, just a high school diploma. Like in the US, Brazilians get a four year bachelors degree, then can go onto a masters or doctorate program.

One of the big controversies in the Brazilian school system has always been the fact that affluent students who coudl afford private elementary and secondary schools were better prepared for the entrance exam and therefore get to go to the top state colleges in the country for free, while poorer, rural, or working class students who were stuck in public schools -- especially big city public schools with all of the typical big city public school problems -- are not prepared well enough for the entrance exams and therefore rarely get into the free colleges and of course do not have the money to pay for a private school.