Education

Education (a):

Bill Gates; studied at excellent private schools, entered Harvard and did not graduate in mathematics and law, leaving college in the 3rd year.

Mark Zuckerberg; was an outstanding student in classical arts and cultures and won several awards in the sciences of astronomy, mathematics and physics, studied some languages. He studied at Harvard – computer science, but did not finish college, he started in the 2nd year, however, 14 years after leaving college he was invited to speak to the graduates of the 2017 class.

Michael Dell; from Dell computers he left medical school to dedicate himself to the direct sale of PCs.

Steve Jobs; studied physics, literature and poetry at Reed College in Portland (USA), and left after “one” semester, but continued to attend some classes to have a place to sleep and attended the temple of Hare Krishna to eat for free.

Jeff Bezos; yes, the richest man on the planet today whose father was a circus artist and left the family after a year of marriage, his mother remarried when Jeff was four years old. He studied at River Oaks Elementary School and was recognized as a “genius”, at the age of 12 he developed a mathematical system to evaluate teachers. He did electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton (1986).

Jorge Soros; went to college and graduate school at the London School of Economics, also studied with the philosopher Karl Popper (defender of liberal democracy), was very influenced by this ideology and influences Brazilian economic policy today.

Conclusion 1: Some of the big ones went to college, others of the big ones didn’t finish college. We can conclude that training does not interfere with success, however, everyone continues to study on their own, every day. They all had a project and worked tirelessly every day to reach that goal. Everything they did and do (the living ones) until today is to expand and make that dream an ever greater reality. So, if we don’t have a focus, a project, we have no chance of being successful.

Education (b):

Brazil grew (GDP) a lot in the period 1930 – 1980 we were together, for example, with Japan and ahead of China, and we invested 1% of ours GDP in education in that period. Since 1980, we have practically stopped growing, and today, Brazil invests 5% of its GDP in education. The World Bank in December 2018 published on education in Latin America and concluded that Cuba has, by far, the best educational level among all LA countries.

Conclusion 2: Having a good education doesn´t guarantee a good standard of living, or is our standard lower than that of Cubans? In other words, the solution it takes something beyond education.

Education (c):

Asia, today, is placing great emphasis on studies, but it was not always like that. They started with a focus on agriculture, a lot of work, exports and then put their attention on educational training and the manufacturing industry. Brazil since 1980 abandoned the transformation industry and we continue to educate Brazilians despite the current 14 million illiterates.

Conclusion 3: Having a good resumé helps in the selection for a vacancy in the market, however, if the vacancy does not exist, what to do? Well, the privileged brains will go to the airport and the rest will join the queue of the unemployed or discouraged.

For reflection:

• There are two people who were born and studied in India, they are Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella, the first being the CEO of Google and the second the CEO of Microsoft.

• Today, the average schooling of Brazilians is 8 years old, the worst in South America.

• There is a Chinese school of international standard, kindergarten, elementary school, and college, where Mandarin, English, etc. are obviously taught. in addition to having cutting edge equipment from Huawei, smart rooms, artificial intelligence, robots and Montessori education system. Where? São Clemente street, Botafogo district, RJ.

• PISA – The Programme for International Student Assesssment, a regular exam since 2000, evaluates students from dozens of countries, in 2000 we ranked last, then with the insertion of other countries, we remain among the last. A shame! PISA requires math, science, and text interpretation in the student’s language. Perhaps, here are the three topics or areas that children should focus on to acquire some knowledge that can really be transformed into value in modern society.

• Our economy minister since 2019 promises and defends to maintain the spending ceiling “ Teto de Gastos”, breaking the constitutional floor of areas such as health and education. Are our tax rules correct?

• Remembering that without basic research we cannot face epidemics!