When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Sources

Brazilian University Students Forced Back Into Kindergarten

Space is so tight at one Brazilian university that some classes are now being held at a nearby kindergarten. The adult students have started to protest, saying it’s hard to concentrate amid the din of shrieking five-year-olds.

The School of Arts, Sciences & Humanities of the São Paulo University(gaf.arq)
The School of Arts, Sciences & Humanities of the São Paulo University(gaf.arq)
Vaness Correa

SAO PAULO – As bad as conditions are on the Guarulhos campus of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), with its sweltering classrooms and improvised cafeteria, they're even worse at the kindergarten next door, where some of the university's approximately 3,000 students are now having to take classes.

The overcrowded Unifesp has been promising to construct a new building since 2007. So far, nothing's been built, forcing the overcrowded university – much to the chagrin of its students – to begin using the classrooms of a nearby kindergarten.

"We are discussing Hegel while outside the classroom there are children goofing around during their break. We can't bear these classes anymore," says university student Michael de Santana, 27.

Guarulhos, where São Paulo's international airport is located, has about 1,300,000 residents.

Demanding better conditions, Unifesp students from the Guarulhos campus began protesting about two months ago. Last Friday they occupied the Academic Division. Now students at several others federal universities—which are maintained by the national government and are cost-free for students— are threatening similar actions.

Students in Guarulhos say the on-campus classes are uncomfortable too. "In summer it gets extremely hot and there is no ventilation," says De Santana. Others complain that in order to make photocopies, they must wait in line for 40 minutes. The tiny cafeteria – which is housed in a wooden shed – is also a source of frustration.

The school's academic director, Marcos Cezar de Freitas, insists the kindergarten "solution" will only be temporary. He says the long-promised new building will be moving forward now that the construction bidding process has finally been settled.

Read more from Folha de S. Paulo

Photo - gaf.arq

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest