Re:Visa to acquire Brazilian startup Pismo for $1bi
by _trackno5 on Thursday June 29, 2023 @03:29AM
(#36517490)
I’ll just add to OP’s point with my own example: I’m a Brazilian that grew up in a middle-class family and sort of “made it” working at multiple FAANG in my 20s.
OP is totally right that our education system is broken.
I was lucky enough that my dad worked at Petrobras (Brazilian oil company) and, at the time, they payed for half my high school fees. I also had a 50% scholarship and that made it possible for my parents to send me to a good private school.
Initially I got into a sort of public “trade school” in high school. I was taking high school classes in the morning and IT/programming classes in the afternoon. After a month of that I just quit and asked my parents to go back to the private school because I felt I wouldn’t be able to pass the university entrance exams if I stayed there. That’s how bad it was.
As to the Brazilians working hard, yeah I agree with that. After I went to the private high school I took the trade school entrance exam again, but this time to take the classes at night. My second and third years of high school were pretty much: Wake up at 5.30am, go to high school till 1pm, go to a “cram school” in the afternoon to practice for the university entrance exams, and then from 7pm to 11pm go to trade school.
Looking back I’m not sure how I managed that. I even developed some serious migraines due to the lack of sleep and stress. Thankfully it went away after I went to uni and my workload dropped.
I was just really lucky to be in a position where I could go all in.
Unfortunately the reality is that most people don’t have an environment that would allow them to do that.
OP is totally right that our education system is broken.
I was lucky enough that my dad worked at Petrobras (Brazilian oil company) and, at the time, they payed for half my high school fees. I also had a 50% scholarship and that made it possible for my parents to send me to a good private school.
Initially I got into a sort of public “trade school” in high school. I was taking high school classes in the morning and IT/programming classes in the afternoon. After a month of that I just quit and asked my parents to go back to the private school because I felt I wouldn’t be able to pass the university entrance exams if I stayed there. That’s how bad it was.
As to the Brazilians working hard, yeah I agree with that. After I went to the private high school I took the trade school entrance exam again, but this time to take the classes at night. My second and third years of high school were pretty much: Wake up at 5.30am, go to high school till 1pm, go to a “cram school” in the afternoon to practice for the university entrance exams, and then from 7pm to 11pm go to trade school.
Looking back I’m not sure how I managed that. I even developed some serious migraines due to the lack of sleep and stress. Thankfully it went away after I went to uni and my workload dropped.
I was just really lucky to be in a position where I could go all in.
Unfortunately the reality is that most people don’t have an environment that would allow them to do that.