Stuck in the Middle-Steelers Wheel

Brazil's Current Events Update

After spending so much time in Brazil and learning so much about the culture, education and political systems, I try to keep up with current events there.  Recently two interesting articles came to my attention and I would love to hear the thoughts of my Brazilian friends about the topics of the articles and how they feel their country is portrayed in the American media.

The first article is about the education system.  The article discusses the fact that Brazil's education performance has increased rapidly over the past 15 years; however, middle class families remain dissatisfied with the education system.  A few interesting facts from the article:

Rising Expectations in Brazil and Chile

• The poverty rate in Brazil has decreased from 50% to 25% since 1995.
•  Brazilian students' performance on standardized tests have improved at the third greatest rate since 1995.
• The parents of half of Brazil's current college students did not complete 4th grade.  This fact was astounding to me, think about what that means.
• In Brazil nearly 75% of teachers now have a college degree (as compared to less than 20% in the early 1990s.)
• Brazilian teachers ranked last out of 23 countries studies for effective use of class time.  The report suggests that Brazilian teachers spend a lot of time on administrative details and maintaining order in the classrooms.  After visiting over 20 Brazilian classrooms, I wonder how this statistic may be culturally biased.  My observations were that, while Brazilian classrooms may at times seem chaotic, often the teachers to have control and the students are engaged in learning.
• As long as the middle class continues to grow, the importance of civic action will continue to propel the education system, political and economic climates in a positive direction.

The second article discusses the recent exposure of the (National Security Administration) NSA's use of surveillance abroad.   The main focal point of the article was differences is United States' responses to Germany and Brazil's reactions to the surveillance allegations.  A few interesting facts and things to think about:

Two of the World' Most Powerful Women Stood Up to NSA Spying-America's Response Reveals a Glaring Double Standard

• The two U.S. journalists who broke the story of NSA spying abroad are stationed in Rio de Janiero and Berlin.
• Do you think a United Nations' resolution condemning the surveillance would have an impact on whether or not countries spied on each other?  What would be a more effective way of dealing with the issue, or is this an issue that needs to be dealt with at the international level?
• Dilma Rousseff postponed a trip to the U.S. which was supposed to occur in October.
• While the U.S. acknowledged "Brazil's concerns," the government issued an immediate apology to Germany, what is your opinion about the different reactions toward each country?
• In general I feel Americans are woefully uninformed about Latin America in general, and Brazil specifically.  Brazil has the largest economy in Latin America and the sixth largest in the world.  Brazil's rapid ascension to the world stage requires greater attention and respect from the United States.

So let's here what you think in the comments!