Prioritizing education turned 'Asian tigers' into technology suppliers to Brazil

The most important lesson in life, learning, starts at home and from an early age. The existential maxim refers to the successful experience of the 'Asian tigers' Singapore and South Korea, which gave absolute priority to Education, and now sell semiconductors and other high-tech components to Brazil.

Overcoming political and ideological divergences, the aforementioned 'tigers' elevated the educational sector to the status of a State project, which served as the basis for, in addition to reducing social inequalities, accelerate economic growth, in order to create conditions for the formation of an 'entrepreneurial youth victorious’.

As an example of this exemplary case, suffice it to say that South Korean per capita income rose from US$ 100 in 1963 to US$ 42,500 last year, while the Singaporean income was catapulted from US$ 428 to an impressive US$ 72,794.00, lifting the small Asian island to the position of fourth richest country in the world planet!

In contrast to this 'wise' vision of the future, in Brazil, the myopia of long-term planning strategies prevails, which suffers from the chronic disease of 'political discontinuity', for which it is seen as 'advance', the political practice of 'destroying' what the previous manager realized.

A world reference in education, the Pisa indicator attested to the shameful position of the Tupiniquim homeland, which occupies the last positions (55th) out of 79 nations for 15-year-olds in science, math and reading, along with Colombia, Argentina and Bosnia. In contrast, South Korea and Singapore lead the ranking.

Teaching excellence in Singapore is a reflection of what Singaporean academic Christopher Gee called an 'educational arms race', which consists of a partnership between the public and private sectors, due to the student's right to private tutors and preparatory schools, with a view to ensuring a highly competitive. Currently, eight out of ten elementary school students have private lessons.

Check out some education numbers in Singapore:

• 60% of high school and 80% of middle school age students are tutored.
• 40% of preschool students are tutored.
• Preschoolers, on average, attend two hours of tutoring per week, while school-aged children are attending, on average, at least three hours per week.

As an omen of political crises, which affect both rich and developing countries, such as ours, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (570-495 a. C.) prophesied: "Educate the children, and it will not be necessary to punish the adults".