Latin America Sourcing Expat Talent

[king]

Latin America definitely needs to improve their education. In Mexico and Colombia, which are the two largest countries by population, there is no such thing as free education. From the time your child is little you have to pay for school, even if you're earning something like $250US a month.

I don't know about Colombia, but in Mexico you can get free education up to university and the government will pay graduate studies if you wish to continue with a masters or a phd (in STEM areas).

Granted, the education is still far from high quality, especially in rural zones, but in the cities the schools are "decent".

 

[Icarus]

Brazilians themselves are often quick to correct you if you call them Latin-American. To most Brazilians I've met, only Spanish-speaking countries are "Latin-American". Brazilians, I think, see themselves as above "those people".

What??? Of course Brazilians are Latin-Americans. Brazil is in South America, and Portuguese is a Latin language. By definition, Brazil is a Latin-American country.

Some Brazilians might object to being called "Hispanic", though. And they are probably right. Technically speaking, someone who's Hispanic is someone from the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Portuguese or Spanish), but U.S. Americans have distorted the word to the point that it now means "mestizo from South of the Rio Grande". Given that many Brazilians are Italian-German or Amerindian-African, it would be stupid to call them "Hispanic".

 

[Brosemite]

Brazilians themselves are often quick to correct you if you call them Latin-American. To most Brazilians I've met, only Spanish-speaking countries are "Latin-American". Brazilians, I think, see themselves as above "those people".

What??? Of course Brazilians are Latin-Americans. Brazil is in South America, and Portuguese is a Latin language. By definition, Brazil is a Latin-American country.

Some Brazilians might object to being called "Hispanic", though. And they are probably right. Technically speaking, someone who's Hispanic is someone from the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Portuguese or Spanish), but U.S. Americans have distorted the word to the point that it now means "mestizo from South of the Rio Grande". Given that many Brazilians are Italian-German or Amerindian-African, it would be stupid to call them "Hispanic".

Yeah my former Portuguese teacher was born in the States, but moved to Brazil at age 6 and came back to the US in her 20's. She's a tall blonde Caucasian lady but proudly refers to herself as "Latin American" because of her upbringing in Brazil not to mention she lived multiple times again after her US-based education.

 

[Arado]

If Latin America is to become anything other than a natural resource exporter, they have to do something about their education system. Most kids growing up there are completely uncompetitive internationally. Just look at the latest OECD test results:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

The good thing is that the people in Latin America have a much more go-getter attitude than many Americans. They don't believe anything will just be handed to them, and so are willing to work as hard as possible to attain their goals. The problem is that, even if you graduate from a top University, there still aren't many opportunities for you.

Sorry, there is no data to back this up. China is/was poorer than Mexico or Brazil or Columbia a decade ago but because the culture values education, people busted their ass and the economy took off. I lived in Mexico for two years and pretty much never saw anyone read a book there. If people are so hard working then where is the innovation? And top university? Well perhaps but it's not a top university in terms of world ranking, so for an international corporation why would they want to hire if the graduate doesn't have a competitive skill set?

Hands down America wins in terms of go- getting attitude anyone that immigrated to the US had to be at least moderately ambitious.

I don't mean to bash the thread, though. Given the lack of high level talent in Latin America, someone with solid skills and a Western work ethic could probably do better there than be an average schlub in America, IF you can make the right connections. BUT, beware of romantizing the region and assuming it's going to take off. Absent a 5x increase in commodity prices or a 180 degree turn in the local culture, it's going to stagnate for now,

 

[germanico]

Where in Mexico did you lived?

I challenge you to take a subway ride in Mexico City and not find someone reading.

But I do admit that reading is not widespread in a country where the minimum wage is 60 pesos and the average book costs 180.