978-1-4222-3341-2

The Ipiranga Museum in São Paulo.

Many secondary schools, which are similar to junior high schools in the United States, are tuition-only, which makes them available only to a small percentage of students whose parents have the money to send them to these institutions. Brazil’s federal and state governments fund the university system. Several of the nation’s universities are among the top ranked in the world by a number of university-ranking systems. RENOWNED EDUCATION The oldest university in Brazil is the University of São Paulo, a highly regarded research institution. The university, which is funded by the government, does not charge students tuition. In addition to four museums, the university has its own symphony orchestra, law school, and four teaching hospitals. The university is the top-ranked university in Latin America and among the top 250 universities in the world. When it comes to education, however, Brazil often lags behind other coun- tries. Brazil consistently ranks at the bottom in math, science, and reading. In fact, according to the United Nations (UN), Brazil, along with several other nations, will not meet by 2015 a set of educational goals proposed by the UN. However, the UN notes Brazil is slowly making strides to provide an adequate education for its citizens. In 2000, 75 percent of adults were functionally illiterate , while more than 10 percent could not read and write at all. Moreover, only half of Brazilian children

34

MAJOR NATIONS IN A GLOBAL WORLD: BRAZIL