Half a century ago, indeed.

The public education system is not very good, when it comes to schools(from elementary to high, to use US terms).

However, from my experience with the US public school system in the Bay Area, I'd say that many public schools in Brazil outclass those in the US. The standard curriculum definitely seems better - I am constantly surprised by how many subjects US schools do not cover - at all. Of course, the standard deviation is horrendous, so there are public schools that can hardly be called schools. The best private schools in Brazil are amazing (more so for 'STEM') - although their workload is pretty heavy. Every single person that I've known that participated in international interchange programs and spent some time in the US had real issues catching up when they came back. Many advanced subjects in math, biology, chemistry (organic chemistry in general, specially naming) didn't seem to be covered at all. Since my 'high school' was quite some time ago, I had expected things today to be different. But just comparing my kid's textbook (and homework assignments) to what I had... it seems like a perpetual vacation in comparison, it's so easy.

Public universities are free and there are excellent ones(but difficult to get in). Private universities can be more of a mixed bag. Since there's no real 'general education' at universities, almost all your time is focused on your 'major' (there's no 'minor', although in many cases you can use some of your credits for 'unrelated' classes). There's no real college/university distinction - in Brazil the distinction is not course length or type of degree, the distinction is that a 'law college' would offer law school degrees (bachelor's and up), while a university would have law, computer science, math, medicine, etc.

While studying for my BSc in Computer Science, I've often compared and used materials from US universities when I needed more sources, but I've found in several instances that the material was lacking, and I had to actually look for graduate level and up.

For as good as the education itself is (and %@#$!@ harsh!), what they do lack, and the reason they are underrepresented in many fields, is integration with the private sector and the outside world in general. There are some projects here and there, but you don't see anything close to, say, DARPA(in either scope or funding). Other than a few outliers, research output doesn't even compare to even relatively unknown US universities. There's great research being done and incredible brains, but not enough incentives or funding.

The above holds for undergraduate programs. There are good graduate level and up, but those are less common. It's often the case that people will end up at US universities to further their education. Almost all my teachers did their doctorates in the US (and then came back to their cushy and decently well paid 'tenured' positions).

When it comes to US universities, the whole mindset is very different – and, in my opinion, orders of magnitude better. I literally shed a tear at Berkeley just from hearing them talk about their university at their 'welcome day' or whatever it's called (and I wasn't even the one going to attend, it was a family member), just from learning what the university does to help students with their interests outside the university and with the community, plus that vibe that 'anything is possible'. I didn't have that. It was tests, grades, more tests, in a microcosm. You won't see many Bill Gates or Zuckerbergs that way, and specially not dropouts.

I've tried to compare the bar exam before but, not only the tests are very different, the way they are graded is different, pass/fail stats vary wildly between US and Brazil depending on what year we are looking at. And, obviously, the legal system is different. Not sure if it's a fair comparison, when you consider all those variables. What I do know is that friends would study for a long time, sometimes for multiple years(often enrolling in extra, private courses just for that). It's said to be difficult, but I have no real experience or way to gauge.