A few days ago I published the side-by-side comparison of the two government plans, with no cheering. That article was about what is written in the plans. This one is the opposite: it is about what is NOT. And it is pure opinion, mine.

Reading the 160 pages of both documents, I missed the same things in both. Here are 10 proposals that, in my opinion, any serious government plan needed to have. For each one I say whether either plan comes close, because I read both and checked. And the same invitation from the other article stands: read the official documents and draw your own conclusions.

1. Financial education for our young people

We leave school knowing the quadratic formula and not knowing what credit card interest does to a paycheck. Installments, bad credit, loans, retirement: Brazilians learn all of it the hard way, already adults and already in debt. In the other article I showed that both plans worry about indebted families. Neither attacks the root. Financial education should be a school subject, from early on, like any other.

In the plans: nothing about financial education at school. The PL plan mentions finance courses for adults on a training platform, which is a different conversation.

2. End the Enem as a single-exam gate

Today the life of a young Brazilian is decided in one weekend. Slept badly, got nervous, lost the year. I would end the Enem as the single way in and adopt a whole-person review, like much of the world already does:

  • the grade average of the entire high school, not of one exam;
  • volunteer work and community involvement;
  • a resume and recommendation letters.

And there is an effect I find even more important than the exam itself: this model encourages young people to work early. Internships, part-time jobs, a first job, volunteer projects: all of it counts toward getting into college, instead of memorization alone.

In the plans: neither touches how students get into university. The PL plan touches the work side: it promises a special first-job contract for ages 18 to 24, with lower payroll costs for the company (p. 43).

3. Bilingual public schools

Real English, from literacy to the end of high school, until public schools become bilingual, with the best ones also offering the international curriculum, the IB. English opens salaries, opens research, opens the world. As long as it is a privilege of those who can pay for private courses, inequality starts at the language.

In the plans: the PT plan promises to expand MEC Idiomas, a phone app for learning English and Spanish. It is something, but very little next to a bilingual school. The PL plan only mentions languages in training courses for adults.

4. An international experience within everyone's reach

Here I am biased, and I own it: I work in international education precisely because I got to know Canada in January 2010 and it changed my life. I wish every young Brazilian had that chance, not only those born into families who can pay. The path exists and Germany shows how: a public loan to study abroad, paid back with low interest over a lifetime, once the person is working.

In the plans: the mechanism even exists in the PL plan, but only for college at home: the Income-Contingent Loan, where the student starts paying when employed and the installment follows the salary (p. 37). Applying that same logic to international experience would be the next step. The PT plan recalls renegotiating FIES debts and expanding scholarships, but nothing abroad.

5. Community college in Brazil

Not everyone needs, or wants, to spend 4 or 5 years at a university. Abroad there is the community college: 1-to-2-year programs, cheaper, focused on a profession, with a bridge to university later if the person wants it. Brazil needed to embrace this difference between college and university, for people with different life goals, instead of pushing everyone through the same funnel.

In the plans: both mention professional training in passing, but neither proposes a system in this format.

6. Politicians' children in public schools

For as long as the term lasts, the children of elected officials study in the public system. That simple. I know of no faster way to improve public schools than putting the children of those who decide the budget inside them.

In the plans: nothing of the sort, in either one. No surprise.

7. Politicians and their families in the public health system

The same logic as the previous item: while in office, politicians and their families use SUS like any Brazilian. The line, the clinic, the public hospital. The day a congressman waits in the same line a working mother waits in, the line moves.

In the plans: nothing, in either one.

8. Every tax printed on the receipt

Brazilian consumers pay taxes hidden in the price of everything and do not know how much. I want to see each tax written on the receipt, spelled out and highlighted, on every purchase. There is a 2012 law requiring the approximate total of taxes to be printed on receipts, but in practice it comes out as a tiny number nobody reads. Real transparency would change the country's conversation about taxes.

In the plans: neither talks about receipts. The PL plan comes close in spirit when it promises to simplify the electricity bill and deal with the charges buried in it (p. 31).

9. Voluntary voting (end mandatory voting)

Mandatory voting produces careless votes. I would end the obligation: whoever wants to take part in politics, takes part. Politicians would have to win over every voter who leaves the house, and the voter who shows up at the ballot box goes because they believe in something. A mature democracy does not need a fine to exist.

In the plans: neither touches the subject. The PL plan talks about political reform and ending reelection (p. 66), but nothing on voluntary voting.

10. Working holiday for our young people

Many countries have working holiday agreements with each other: a young person of a certain age spends a year in the other country allowed to work legally, gains life and work experience, and comes back a different person. Brazil actually has agreements like this, but almost nobody knows. They exist with France, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea and, as of this year, Japan. The problem is the size: few countries and very few spots. The French one, for example, offers 500 a year for a country of 200 million people. Meanwhile, Canada exchanges tens of thousands of young people a year with more than 30 countries, and Brazil is not on the list. I would expand this with force: more countries, more spots and real awareness campaigns in schools and universities.

In the plans: nothing in either. The word intercâmbio, exchange, does not appear in any of the 160 pages.

To wrap up

These are my 10. You do not have to agree with any of them, and neither do the candidates. But I wanted to read a government plan that looked at young Brazilians with this ambition.

The full comparison of the two plans is still up, open to anyone until October 25, with both official PDFs to download: The 2026 plans: PT and PL side by side.

Now it is your turn: join the conversation and leave your opinion in the comments. Do you agree with any of the 10? Disagree? Did you miss a proposal that neither I nor the plans remembered? Write it here. Politics should be this: ordinary people talking about their country, without fighting.