Thursday, March 13, 2008

Brazil's Youngest Lawyer?

For a little bit of lighter news from Brazil, an 8-year-old who passed the entrance exam for law school at the private Universidade Paulista has apparently been blocked from entrance. As the blurb says, the school wants him to finish elementary and high school first, while his dad plans to go to court, and lawmakers try to get the Ministry of Education to put in place measures to prevent future cases. I really don't have any ill-will towards anybody in this case - I wish the 8 year old best of luck in his life, but I don't exactly think the university is making any unreasonable demands. I have heard that entrance exams are not based on any major ability to independently think or reason, but are exams you are "taught to" - i.e., you are told, "this is how they are," and you try to memorize a particular approach to passing them, so the kid may be unprepared for actual independent learning and thinking, and he may be ready. Although it's probably a serious matter for the family, I simply find it amusing.