For the Youth of Brazil, it's Not About How, But Why Go to College

In Diamantina, Minas Gerais, several community organizations are working with at-risk youth to impart values and skills they can take with them into adulthood. With the opportunity to attend a tuition-free federal university, the choice to seek higher education in Brazil is not about finding money or building a resume, but about finding the reason and desire to seek college level education.

The university entrance test (Vestibular) is open to all students, placing them based on results and chosen major to the school deemed appropriate. Existing in stark contrast to universities in the United States, Brazil’s federal universities are tuition-free, only requiring students to finance their cost of living. Yet students must also choose their major before taking the exam, and there is little leeway to change it later. This means that for a young Brazilian, it is interest and motivation that must be furnished up-front.

The organizations EPIL, VEM, and AJIR are programs working with local youths to build this motivation through the cultivation of skills and values. This triumvirate of social organizations works with kids aged 7-17, focusing on trade and craft skills, as well classes about important topics such as ethics – yes, ethics, even for children as young as 7 and 8 years old. These supplementary schools seek to provide a holistic set of tools that young people can carry with them into the world as responsible, capable adults. In addition to teaching trades and instilling values, each organization also incorporates music and art into their curriculum.

            As for the requirement on the part of the kids? “[The boys] find us, or their family finds us…They have to want to be here,” said Jean-Francois Favreau, coordinator of EPIL, the Professional School of Irma Luiza, a boy’s program which teaches woodworking, ironworking, printmaking, and IT skills. Before EPIL can take on a new student, there must be two-way interest. Thus the seeds of commitment and motivation are being sown from the first interaction between organization and child. With the care of individuals such as Favreau, or numerous former students who return as teachers, they hope the seeds of interest and motivation will germinate.