Wednesday’s Rose Cafe with Andre Simores seemed a little off topic and off the cuff, but it was very interesting to learn about the different parts of Brazil. Simores went into great detail about the different climates and landscape present in the country. The google images shown of the country I’m sure are only a small testament to how beautiful the diverse landscape of Brazil truly is.

Andre also spoke to the education system in Brazil. He talked about how the best universities are public and free to go to. However, it is mainly the wealthy who are able to go to these schools. This happens because the wealthy people are able to afford to go to private high schools and can get into the best universities. This is a really sad phenomenon, especially in a country that has such a divide between the rich and the poor, and a country that is trying to fix that and improve the overall economy. I’m not sure how this could be fixed, as tuition is already free. Also, if you bring in people who do not have as good of a base education by finding the brightest in worse high schools, they often fall behind in college which can lead to many issues, like dropping out and even depression.

I wish that Andre Simores spoke more about his work and the agriculture industry in Brazil. They hold a great part of the world’s rainforests, which are being compromised by the agriculture industry because of deforestation to create either grazing land for cattle or to plant crops. Brazil is a key player in agriculture, and hearing a Brazilian’s perspective on the issue would have been really interesting.