Election Fever is Over
OK, it's time to get it over with, and stop bitching about how people IMO misused their vote. Now it is time to hope that Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva learned that he is being closely watched by the opposition; but more importantly, it is time for us to think about new strategies on how to educate the people.
I got some very interesting responses about my yesterday's post on how uneducated people should not be allowed to vote, and now I think that this really isn't the best choice after all. The clearly best choice would be to do what the government doesn't want to: teach them.
According to journalist Lourival Sant'Anna, the government spends 12.7 times more in the college education than in primary and high schools. It's no surprise then that only those who pay for they early tuition can classify to a college position.
And even worse than that, children now don't even have a stimulus to go to school. In the past, a program called "Bolsa Escola" (school grant) benefited children that went to school and successfully completed primary and high school. This program was then substituted by another one, called "Bolsa Familia" (family grant), that does not require the children to go through the education system.
While "Bolsa Escola" was a powerful tool, that could in the end raise the social condition of these children, "Bolsa Familia" is a tool to bind these families into poverty. But "Bolsa Familia" certainly wins elections!
If you want to help, please take a look at this "Adopt a Student" campaign from Solidarity in Literacy Organization. This NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) is recognized by UNESCO and won some prizes for its projects.
I got some very interesting responses about my yesterday's post on how uneducated people should not be allowed to vote, and now I think that this really isn't the best choice after all. The clearly best choice would be to do what the government doesn't want to: teach them.
According to journalist Lourival Sant'Anna, the government spends 12.7 times more in the college education than in primary and high schools. It's no surprise then that only those who pay for they early tuition can classify to a college position.
And even worse than that, children now don't even have a stimulus to go to school. In the past, a program called "Bolsa Escola" (school grant) benefited children that went to school and successfully completed primary and high school. This program was then substituted by another one, called "Bolsa Familia" (family grant), that does not require the children to go through the education system.
While "Bolsa Escola" was a powerful tool, that could in the end raise the social condition of these children, "Bolsa Familia" is a tool to bind these families into poverty. But "Bolsa Familia" certainly wins elections!
If you want to help, please take a look at this "Adopt a Student" campaign from Solidarity in Literacy Organization. This NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) is recognized by UNESCO and won some prizes for its projects.
Labels: Bolsa Escola, Bolsa Familia, Education, Lula
posted by Real-Time Clock at 10/31/2006 09:25:00 AM
2 Comments:
Bolsa Familia DO require children to go to school. Don't believe me? take a look:
http://noblat1.estadao.com.br/noblat/visualizarConteudo.do?metodo=exibirPosts&data=06/11/2006#post28013
No matter what your politics are, Bolsa Familia is a important mechanism to save people from poverty and ignorance. Sure it can be improved, but I think it was a great start.
OK, it does require children to attend school, but it does not enforce it. There are no guarantees that these children will actually go to classes.
And here is why. If you check the requirements for the payment, you'll see that the school has to report the attendance frequency to a City Manager, which in turn fills the frequency report in the government system.
The frequency may not be smaller than 85%.
Two problems:
1) Most cities do not have the required resources to collect the frequency reports. They will just default to 85% or some higher value.
2) You can justify a frequency bellow 85% for, among other things, children that could not register for public education because the schools near their home were already full (happens more than you'd think) and/or there are impeding factors that limit the children's ability to reach the school such as lack of free public transportation or urban violence around the school area (happens ALL the time).
Source:
http://www.mds.gov.br/bolsafamilia/condicionalidades/sistema-de-acompanhamento-educacao
Face it, this program is just like giving alms. But it's the government giving alms with MY money and trying to look good with the poverty classes.
You see, it's OUR hardly earned money that's making this stupid, corrupt, dirty and ignorant government look good.
Don't fool yourself. You paid for the re-election of the worst president ever. And he only got to be re-elected because he spent our money to bribe the poor and buy their votes.
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