0:00:11.570,0:00:17.018
Education is the only way[br]to turn Brazil into the country we want.

0:00:17.571,0:00:20.051
Looking at 67 countries,

0:00:20.257,0:00:25.297
Brazil is in 60th place[br]in worldwide education rankings.

0:00:25.654,0:00:28.214
Looking at 61 countries,

0:00:28.228,0:00:33.148
we are in 56th place in competitiveness.

0:00:33.911,0:00:37.724
When we look at Brazilian[br]public school students,

0:00:37.724,0:00:42.050
only 23% have the expertise

0:00:42.050,0:00:45.810
they need in reading[br]and text interpretation.

0:00:46.239,0:00:50.709
This number is only 11%[br]in problem resolution.

0:00:52.183,0:00:57.533
"Movimento Mapa Educação" is an initiative[br]of young Brazilians who join together

0:00:57.639,0:01:02.869
to bring civil society[br]into the educational debate,

0:01:03.187,0:01:07.984
so that, together, we can fight[br]for quality education in our country.

0:01:08.412,0:01:12.152
Mapa's story is much like my own.

0:01:12.864,0:01:14.881
I come from a humble family.

0:01:14.881,0:01:17.521
My father didn't finish elementary school.

0:01:17.707,0:01:20.677
My mother only finished[br]high school a few years ago.

0:01:20.907,0:01:26.358
Nevertheless, they worked hard[br]so that my brother and I could study

0:01:26.358,0:01:28.508
and give our best to our studies.

0:01:29.375,0:01:32.755
For a long time, I wanted[br]to work with handicrafts.

0:01:33.178,0:01:36.428
Until the fifth and sixth grades,[br]I studied in public schools,

0:01:36.573,0:01:39.513
and I embroidered and painted[br]to help my family at home.

0:01:39.831,0:01:43.588
However, in the fifth grade,[br]I participated in the first

0:01:43.588,0:01:47.778
Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad[br]for Public Schools, OBMEP.

0:01:47.953,0:01:52.363
OBMEP was the first great[br]opportunity I had in my life

0:01:52.491,0:01:56.589
to really see that simple public policies

0:01:56.589,0:02:00.339
could have an enormous impact[br]on the lives of millions of people.

0:02:00.915,0:02:04.831
In the first two OBMEPs,[br]during my fifth and sixth grade years,

0:02:04.951,0:02:07.131
I received awards,

0:02:07.131,0:02:11.321
including a scholarship to attend[br]an incredible private school in São Paulo.

0:02:11.760,0:02:15.609
I lived on the southern outskirts;[br]the school was downtown.

0:02:15.736,0:02:20.946
It was then that I realized how Brazil[br]is marked by enormous inequalities.

0:02:21.210,0:02:24.806
They were two completely different worlds,

0:02:24.806,0:02:27.686
an hour and twenty minutes apart[br]by bus and subway.

0:02:28.255,0:02:32.135
When I got to the school,[br]I marveled how different everything was.

0:02:32.456,0:02:35.776
I studied a lot and stood out in my class,

0:02:35.890,0:02:37.697
and, at the end of the year,

0:02:37.697,0:02:41.527
I was invited to a ceremony[br]for all the school's students

0:02:41.604,0:02:44.584
who had done olympiads[br]and been awarded.

0:02:44.657,0:02:48.737
I hadn't done any olympiads,[br]but I was invited just the same.

0:02:48.904,0:02:52.854
When I got there,[br]they had a simple black shirt

0:02:52.867,0:02:55.747
that they gave to all the students[br]who had won awards.

0:02:55.853,0:02:58.933
I didn't get that t-shirt, and I felt sad.

0:02:58.970,0:03:01.714
As stupid as it seems, I started to think,

0:03:01.714,0:03:04.238
"OK, I had an incredible opportunity

0:03:04.238,0:03:07.808
that all my friends who stayed[br]in public school didn't have;

0:03:07.856,0:03:11.466
I got here and I studied,[br]but what did I do that was special?

0:03:11.478,0:03:12.842
I didn't do anything extra -

0:03:12.842,0:03:15.072
just the regular things[br]in regular classes,

0:03:15.072,0:03:17.402
and I didn't do everything I could have."

0:03:17.402,0:03:19.650
Since I'm very sensitive, I cried a lot,

0:03:19.650,0:03:24.550
and my father, who was at the ceremony,[br]came to talk with me.

0:03:24.634,0:03:26.404
Right then, I promised him,

0:03:26.509,0:03:29.264
"Dad, next year,[br]I'm going to get the t-shirt."

0:03:29.264,0:03:32.474
I know it sounds silly,[br]but this really was my incentive.

0:03:32.491,0:03:34.976
And it wasn't the only promise[br]I made that day.

0:03:34.976,0:03:38.886
A lady from MIT was at that same ceremony,

0:03:38.886,0:03:40.209
and she told us,

0:03:40.232,0:03:44.002
"Brazilian students can study[br]in incredible American schools."

0:03:44.425,0:03:46.615
And she showed a super-cool video

0:03:46.715,0:03:50.057
that had a chocolate club[br]and a salsa club at MIT.

0:03:50.057,0:03:52.293
I didn't speak English,[br]so I didn't get it all,

0:03:52.293,0:03:53.843
but my eyes were shining bright.

0:03:53.843,0:03:55.022
I told my father,

0:03:55.022,0:03:58.303
"You know what? I'm going to study[br]at an American university someday."

0:03:58.313,0:04:00.049
I don't know who was crazier:

0:04:00.049,0:04:03.078
me, making all these crazy promises[br]without a hope in the world,

0:04:03.138,0:04:04.268
or my father who said,

0:04:04.268,0:04:07.065
"You'll go, for sure, you can do this!"

0:04:07.475,0:04:11.215
The following year, I studied a lot -[br]I had to get that shirt -

0:04:11.330,0:04:13.572
and I participated in all the olympiads,

0:04:13.820,0:04:15.950
and in eighth grade, I won eight medals.

0:04:16.240,0:04:18.130
I was super confident.

0:04:18.130,0:04:20.943
I got to the ceremony,[br]and I found a new dream:

0:04:21.093,0:04:24.883
I saw that some Brazilian students[br]could represent Brazil

0:04:24.964,0:04:27.544
in international science competitions.

0:04:27.748,0:04:29.218
So I decided

0:04:29.274,0:04:33.824
that one day I was going to represent[br]Brazil in an international competition.

0:04:34.451,0:04:35.741
I studied and studied,

0:04:35.863,0:04:38.913
and in my second year, I went[br]to my first competition, in China.

0:04:39.253,0:04:41.479
It was my first time away from Brazil,

0:04:41.479,0:04:43.435
and I was representing Brazil

0:04:43.435,0:04:46.875
in the Fourth International Olympiad[br]of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

0:04:46.980,0:04:48.250
It was incredible!

0:04:48.387,0:04:50.383
I made friends from all the countries

0:04:50.383,0:04:53.935
and reaffirmed that I had[br]to study in the United States

0:04:53.935,0:04:56.535
to have that international experience.

0:04:56.823,0:05:00.924
However, some things started[br]to become more difficult at home.

0:05:00.924,0:05:03.516
My father always had addiction problems,

0:05:03.516,0:05:05.016
it was getting worse,

0:05:05.016,0:05:08.086
and he had also developed[br]some psychological illnesses.

0:05:08.357,0:05:12.175
So, the financial situation,[br]already not good, got more complicated.

0:05:12.393,0:05:16.835
We didn't have enough to pay for food[br]or for transportation to school.

0:05:17.271,0:05:20.421
So I was staying away[br]from some school activities.

0:05:20.626,0:05:23.448
But, once again, somebody believed in me.

0:05:23.448,0:05:27.168
This time, it wasn't my father;[br]it was a teacher, Professor Rubens.

0:05:27.169,0:05:29.679
He saw that I was[br]staying away from activities,

0:05:29.942,0:05:31.652
talked with the board of directors,

0:05:31.659,0:05:33.646
and the next day,

0:05:33.646,0:05:37.786
the school directors and my mother[br]decided that I would stay in a hotel.

0:05:38.665,0:05:40.415
Even though it seemed so incredible

0:05:40.415,0:05:42.790
that I'd live in a hotel[br]five minutes from school

0:05:42.790,0:05:45.470
and have my meals and transport paid,

0:05:45.475,0:05:47.094
I was very sad

0:05:47.094,0:05:50.654
because my family was going[br]through a very difficult moment.

0:05:50.804,0:05:53.814
I was simply abandoning my family.

0:05:53.814,0:05:56.020
But anyway, I went to the hotel

0:05:56.020,0:05:58.924
and to keep my commitment,[br]I decided I would do two things:

0:05:58.924,0:06:02.294
First, I'd dedicate myself[br]even more to my studies.

0:06:02.497,0:06:04.753
Second: I'd give more time[br]to the VOA project.

0:06:04.753,0:06:07.753
VOA is "Vontade Olimpica de Aprender,"[br]Olympic Will to Learn.

0:06:07.823,0:06:12.241
Before high school, I co-founded[br]this project with some friends.

0:06:12.241,0:06:15.593
Every weekend, we prepared[br]public school students

0:06:15.593,0:06:17.843
for the science olympiad.

0:06:18.038,0:06:21.216
I think that VOA resulted[br]from the profound realization

0:06:21.216,0:06:24.066
that I was having[br]incredible opportunities,

0:06:24.170,0:06:27.201
but this wasn't true for most Brazilians.

0:06:27.201,0:06:29.230
So, I had to do something

0:06:29.230,0:06:32.063
because, if I was chosen[br]to receive so many blessings,

0:06:32.063,0:06:34.453
I needed to do something with them.

0:06:34.784,0:06:39.154
Well, I kept studying and studying,[br]and, in my third year of high school,

0:06:39.229,0:06:43.209
I got to represent Brazil[br]in four more international olympiads.

0:06:43.209,0:06:45.726
I went to Poland and Turkey,

0:06:45.726,0:06:48.826
and multiplied my dream[br]of representing our country by five.

0:06:49.002,0:06:52.582
It was an incredible time,[br]and also a very difficult time:

0:06:52.942,0:06:56.877
I had to take entrance exams[br]in both the United States and Brazil,

0:06:56.959,0:06:58.519
and there were the olympiads.

0:06:58.556,0:07:00.529
Many times, I wanted to quit.

0:07:00.529,0:07:03.169
I was so scared of it all.

0:07:03.305,0:07:04.497
But I had one thing:

0:07:04.497,0:07:07.317
There were many people fighting[br]for these dreams with me.

0:07:07.317,0:07:10.506
It was no longer just Tabata's dream[br]of going to the United States -

0:07:10.506,0:07:12.628
it was the dream of my teachers,

0:07:12.628,0:07:15.300
my family, and my friends.

0:07:15.300,0:07:16.720
So, I continued.

0:07:16.750,0:07:19.933
The next year, I was accepted[br]at University of São Paulo in physics,

0:07:19.933,0:07:23.923
I started to work as a chemistry[br]and astronomy teacher,

0:07:24.040,0:07:26.050
and I started to take college classes.

0:07:26.249,0:07:29.169
Then, on the 8th of March, 2012,

0:07:29.169,0:07:31.759
I received the best news of my life:

0:07:32.275,0:07:35.995
l was accepted at Harvard University[br]with a 100% scholarship.

0:07:36.147,0:07:40.048
I can't tell you how happy I was that day.

0:07:40.048,0:07:43.488
It was the realization of my dream[br]of more than five years.

0:07:43.661,0:07:47.011
I was super happy and I called my parents.

0:07:47.256,0:07:50.276
Each had a reaction that impacted me.

0:07:50.573,0:07:53.006
Each responded in their own way.

0:07:53.006,0:07:57.708
My mother answered the phone and said,[br]"Have you eaten? Are you well? My God!"

0:07:57.902,0:07:59.722
super worried about me.

0:07:59.732,0:08:03.782
My father, in his own calm way, said,[br]"I always said this would happen.

0:08:03.788,0:08:06.668
You should've listened to me more[br]and not been so stressed."

0:08:06.678,0:08:09.585
So that day was remarkable for me.

0:08:09.951,0:08:12.281
Then, only four days later,

0:08:12.418,0:08:15.278
I received the worst news of my life:

0:08:15.532,0:08:18.882
all the addictions that had made[br]my father suffer for so long

0:08:18.970,0:08:20.720
had killed him.

0:08:20.878,0:08:23.862
I think anyone who has ever lost[br]a family member understands

0:08:23.862,0:08:25.992
that everything stops making sense -

0:08:26.134,0:08:30.917
the American universities,[br]my dreams, my studies -

0:08:33.627,0:08:37.766
And then I left college[br]because my mother became unemployed.

0:08:37.772,0:08:39.372
I started to work more

0:08:39.382,0:08:41.765
and gave up the idea[br]of going to the United States.

0:08:41.765,0:08:44.285
"Who cares, you know?[br]It doesn't make sense anymore."

0:08:44.285,0:08:46.257
And well, time passed,

0:08:46.410,0:08:52.220
and, in a month, I had to decide[br]if I would go study there or not.

0:08:52.589,0:08:54.379
I had decided not to go,

0:08:54.403,0:08:57.044
but, once again,[br]an important person in my life,

0:08:57.044,0:09:00.724
Silvinha, from my school, said,[br]"You're not doing this."

0:09:00.733,0:09:04.576
She quickly bought me a ticket[br]to the United States, and said,

0:09:04.576,0:09:06.407
"This weekend, you'll go,

0:09:06.407,0:09:09.169
and you'll understand[br]the importance of your decision.

0:09:09.179,0:09:12.179
And if, when you arrive, you decide[br]you don't want to do it, OK,

0:09:12.179,0:09:14.659
but you aren't quitting[br]so easily, no way."

0:09:14.811,0:09:17.256
I quickly visited the six universities

0:09:17.256,0:09:20.036
that had accepted me[br]with full scholarships.

0:09:20.169,0:09:22.449
When I got there, I was amazed.

0:09:22.562,0:09:26.862
Everything was so incredible[br]and the opportunities were so marvelous.

0:09:27.294,0:09:28.954
How could I say no to that?

0:09:28.954,0:09:30.973
Going there, I realized,

0:09:30.973,0:09:34.186
would be my way of changing[br]education in my country

0:09:34.186,0:09:36.926
and my way of changing[br]the life of my family.

0:09:37.137,0:09:40.317
So on the first day of May 2012,

0:09:40.429,0:09:46.295
I decided, yes, I would go to the US,[br]and I would choose Harvard University.

0:09:47.243,0:09:50.017
Since then, much has happened.

0:09:50.017,0:09:53.357
I've studied a lot and worked even more.

0:09:53.589,0:09:56.799
I started studying astrophysics[br]because I wanted to be a scientist,

0:09:56.801,0:09:59.118
and later I changed to political science.

0:09:59.118,0:10:01.454
Astrophysics became my minor.

0:10:01.454,0:10:03.866
I'd visited many countries.

0:10:03.866,0:10:05.822
I'd already done a ton of things.

0:10:05.822,0:10:09.855
And, after all this,[br]I discovered my biggest dream:

0:10:09.921,0:10:14.421
One day, Brazil will have[br]the best public education in the world.

0:10:14.421,0:10:17.361
And that's it - the best -[br]not one of the best, but the best.

0:10:17.363,0:10:20.792
So I had this big dream,[br]but what could I do?

0:10:21.068,0:10:23.878
I talked with Daniel Vargas,[br]a great mentor, and I said,

0:10:23.914,0:10:26.827
"Look, I want to change[br]education in Brazil,

0:10:26.827,0:10:29.005
but what can I do?"

0:10:29.005,0:10:31.187
He gave me two excellent suggestions.

0:10:31.187,0:10:36.327
The first: Everybody he'd seen having [br]a super cool impact on the world

0:10:36.354,0:10:39.343
didn't wait 40 or 50 years to get started,

0:10:39.343,0:10:41.023
but instead began early,

0:10:41.023,0:10:43.273
when people thought[br]they couldn't do anything.

0:10:43.292,0:10:46.532
He said, "Start before you leave Harvard."

0:10:46.800,0:10:52.330
The second: Every good idea[br]has an even better team behind it.

0:10:52.558,0:10:56.221
He said, "Even if you don't know[br]exactly what you'll do,

0:10:56.221,0:10:58.901
assemble your team - the ideas will come."

0:10:58.909,0:11:02.355
So I called on two good friends,[br]Lígia and Renan,

0:11:02.355,0:11:05.401
and said, "Hey guys,[br]we have to change education in Brazil,

0:11:05.401,0:11:06.835
let's do something."

0:11:06.835,0:11:11.145
We said, "Very well,[br]we're not experts in education.

0:11:11.309,0:11:12.806
Let's do some research.

0:11:12.806,0:11:15.336
Let's study and see what we can do

0:11:15.633,0:11:19.541
that will convince young people[br]to fight for education

0:11:19.541,0:11:22.081
and to understand education's importance."

0:11:22.398,0:11:24.546
First, we did research:

0:11:24.546,0:11:26.796
We interviewed more than 100 people,

0:11:26.796,0:11:29.294
and for months we studied many documents

0:11:29.294,0:11:32.534
to better understand[br]Brazil's current educational situation

0:11:32.534,0:11:34.454
and what should be done.

0:11:34.685,0:11:38.805
The research was so enormous,[br]it ended up being a manifesto.

0:11:38.951,0:11:42.401
Last year, we released the manifesto[br]"O Mapa do Buraco," Map of the Hole,

0:11:42.461,0:11:45.881
pointing out the main problems[br]of Brazilian education

0:11:46.015,0:11:49.365
and what was already working well[br]in various locations.

0:11:49.516,0:11:53.286
As it was election season, we presented[br]the "O Mapa do Buraco" challenge.

0:11:53.407,0:11:56.715
In it, we invited candidates[br]from all over Brazil

0:11:56.715,0:11:58.715
to respond to this question by video:

0:11:58.739,0:12:02.609
"If you are elected, what will you do[br]for Brazilian education?"

0:12:02.839,0:12:07.419
Candidates sent the videos,[br]and challenged three others

0:12:07.419,0:12:09.229
to do the same.

0:12:09.516,0:12:13.555
We also put together, in partnership[br]with Avaaz Brasil and FGV,

0:12:13.555,0:12:18.645
the only presidential debate[br]there would be about education.

0:12:18.886,0:12:22.126
We know that education[br]didn't decide those elections

0:12:22.126,0:12:25.279
and that education issues[br]are increasingly being ignored in Brazil,

0:12:25.279,0:12:27.597
so we decided to change our name.

0:12:27.597,0:12:31.447
We became "Movimento Mapa Educação,"[br]the Education Map Movement.

0:12:31.447,0:12:33.199
The objective remained the same:

0:12:33.199,0:12:38.929
engage civil society and young people[br]to fight for higher quality education.

0:12:39.122,0:12:43.642
Today Movimento Mapa Educação,[br]or Mapa for short, has three objectives.

0:12:43.651,0:12:48.971
The first is to engage and inform people[br]through social networks.

0:12:49.036,0:12:52.134
So daily on our Facebook page,

0:12:52.134,0:12:56.594
we provide education news,[br]a summary of articles.

0:12:56.594,0:13:00.447
We also pick out federal laws[br]being voted on that affect education

0:13:00.470,0:13:03.960
and allow our public[br]to vote on our Facebook page,

0:13:03.986,0:13:08.153
so that a person really understands[br]that our education isn't well.

0:13:08.153,0:13:11.029
It's one thing we can do securely

0:13:11.029,0:13:13.729
to guarantee a better future[br]for our country.

0:13:13.835,0:13:17.005
The second objective is[br]to create a network of people

0:13:17.037,0:13:20.404
who have ideas and projects[br]to change education,

0:13:20.404,0:13:24.264
so they can connect[br]with one another and others.

0:13:24.377,0:13:27.228
We started "Desafio Mapa Education,"[br]Education Map Challenge,

0:13:27.228,0:13:29.488
and got 170 subscriptions

0:13:29.488,0:13:33.148
from young Brazillians[br]who had marvelous ideas.

0:13:33.170,0:13:36.390
We selected the 100 projects[br]with the biggest impact,

0:13:36.459,0:13:41.869
and on the 29th of August, 2015,[br]we held the first Mapa conference,

0:13:41.928,0:13:47.344
bringing together 100 young Brazilians,[br]business people, education officials,

0:13:47.344,0:13:51.164
and the foundations[br]that really make education happen.

0:13:51.489,0:13:54.482
The third objective -[br]one of the most important for Mapa -

0:13:54.482,0:13:56.582
is to listen to the voice of young people

0:13:56.582,0:13:59.620
and know what young people[br]think about education -

0:13:59.620,0:14:03.470
what works and doesn't,[br]what motivates and doesn't.

0:14:03.586,0:14:05.757
For this, we have an online survey

0:14:05.757,0:14:09.467
to really listen to the voices[br]of young people and amplify them.

0:14:09.806,0:14:13.186
Today, Mapa has more than 40 coordinators

0:14:13.268,0:14:16.228
and has supporters around Brazil[br]and around the whole world.

0:14:16.262,0:14:18.732
Our objective is the same.

0:14:18.799,0:14:22.444
I think that everything[br]I learned from Mapa and from my life

0:14:22.444,0:14:25.581
has shown me that, really,[br]in the words of Nelson Mandela,

0:14:25.581,0:14:30.601
"Education is the most powerful weapon[br]which you can use to change the world."

0:14:30.944,0:14:34.260
Remember that day I went[br]to the second medalist ceremony

0:14:34.260,0:14:36.620
with my eight medals, totally happy?

0:14:36.631,0:14:38.936
That year, I found out

0:14:38.936,0:14:41.606
that you don't need[br]to have a medal to get a shirt -

0:14:41.611,0:14:45.607
even if I hadn't done the olympiads,[br]I'd have gotten a t-shirt.

0:14:45.858,0:14:48.152
But I had discovered that that, often,

0:14:48.152,0:14:52.666
the path you take is much more important[br]than the destination you reach.

0:14:52.754,0:14:54.800
It's because of this that I truly believe

0:14:54.800,0:14:57.260
education is the only way

0:14:57.260,0:14:59.939
for Brazil to become[br]the country we want it to be.

0:15:00.049,0:15:03.092
This is the only way we can break[br]through all the inequalities

0:15:03.092,0:15:04.832
we have in Brazil,

0:15:04.832,0:15:06.608
so that every Brazilian,

0:15:06.608,0:15:09.098
independent of who they are[br]or where they live,

0:15:09.098,0:15:11.148
can have a quality education.

0:15:11.225,0:15:12.724
Thank you very much.

0:15:12.724,0:15:15.874
(Applause)