The University of São Paulo (USP)
by Lupe Bautista
On this day we visited the university of São Paulo (USP), which is a public university. This prestigious institution is very hard to get into, students have to take an exam in order to attend this school. Since it is tuition free, competitiveness can get stressful for some. During our visit, you can right away see that the environment both in and around the campus is very welcoming. We got to speak with two education program leaders, in their presentation they expressed the injustices that students applying for UPS go through. For example those that are privileged it is easy for them to have access to the exam and entrance into the school and programs. Leaving those with low income having trouble getting to those exam locations. Seeing this makes us realize the similarities from our education system back in Chicago, and the differences. Like who wouldn't mind having our public universities be tuition free.
As our visit went by we started to head our way to the high school/ elementary school across the street from USP. Once again we were greeted with open arms. Right away when we started making our way around this school we started to see the joy in these students' faces. We got to speak with the assistant principal of this school. She told us about all the resources that are available for the students in their campus, for example they are able to use the libraries from the university across the street aka USP. Through our visit as well we got to meet the special education department. Seeing the work that they do there was an amazing experience. The dedication that they put in is great. This specific teacher showed us how he has to make his classroom materials out of cardboard, taps from soda bottles, paper etc. When I saw this, I was shocked. Knowing that back in Chicago teachers just use printers or order things online for their students, but there they had to make everything out of scratch is truly admirable.
As we concluded our visit we got to speak with students from their 11th and 12th grade. It was really nice to get to connect with them. As well as hear about their experiences so far in education. I myself had a moment where I connected with one of the students when they expressed their tiredness of having to take such long commutes just to get to school. Reminded myself of the commutes I took when I was in high school. And it just makes you think that even though we are from different places, there are other students somewhere else going through the same thing. Overall this visit was very inspiring. I really got to get a sense of what it is like to attend a public university in Brazil. Many of us left this visit with new ideas and a sense of the type of issues that educators and students face in Brazil. It was a full experience, and would definitely recommend others to visit this institution.
