What's the big deal about this ENEM (vestibular)?

Many American teenagers get anxious when they have to take the SAT or ACT during their last years of high school. The tests are anxiety provoking and nerve-racking! Teenagers study, bite their nails and their stress level reaches its limit. If you grew up at the same time as me you remember watching the episode of Saved by the Bell when Jesse Spano panics and screams, “There’s no time! There’s never any time! I don’t have time to study! I’ll never get in to Stanford! I’ll let everyone down!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0usTtwwTqVM I still remember my friends in college repeating these lines over and over before we had a big test.

In Brazil there is a test similar to the SAT/ACT called the ENEM (Exame Nacional do Ensino Medio) (previously the Vestibular), but in many regards it is even more difficult and stressful than the SAT/ACT. Every student who hopes to enter the public university must take the test. Students will be scored in different subjects (math, Portuguese, history, etc.) and those with the highest scores will be offered the opportunity to study at the Federal Universities. Here in Brazil, the public universities (Federal and State) are much stronger than the private universities and they are free. Therefore, here, everyone is vying for a spot at UFC (Federal University of Ceará). Those who do not score high enough will not be granted a space in the university. Some of these students will simply give up and decide that the university is not for them. Others will continue to study for another entire year until the opportunity to take the ENEM arises again next year.

So, now imagine this. You are student from a rural poor community. You are aware that the education you received in your community is not as strong as the education other students received in the bigger cities. It’s not that you didn’t study. You did. And, it’s not that your teachers didn’t do their best. They did. But, your school simply didn’t have the resources that other schools have. You also realize that neither you nor the students in the bigger cities who attended the public schools received the same quality of education as those students who attended private schools. Why? Because those schools had more money and therefore even more resources. And, now you have to take the same test as them. For you basketball fans, think about the movies “Hoosiers” and just imagine the kids from Hickory standing up against the Bears from South Bend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diwRrudKHDU

The situation is daunting for sure. But, it isn’t impossible… thanks to PRECE. PRECE began in 1994 originally as a way for students to join together, pool their knowledge, and prepare for the ENEM (at that time, the Vestibular). Since 1994 PRECE has impacted over 2000 students, nearly 400 students have passed the exam and entered the university, 54 have already graduated and 18 have gone on to master’s and doctoral degrees. Each year PRECE grows stronger, more students are entering the university and the movement to improve public education is expanding.

This year, on November 6th, approximately 600 students from the rural areas will show up in Pentecoste to take the ENEM. To say the least, this is big day for them! They have been studying for a long time for this test and their future depends on their success that day. We are asking everyone to keep the students and their families in your thoughts and prayers on November 6th. The support you show for the students is appreciated more than you can imagine.