You should read and maybe learn something on Salazar's education policies. The dictatorship was bad for many reasons, but as for education goes, you got it all wrong.
The regime built thousands of primary schools across the country, and made 4th class mandatory for all kids, girls and boys. Before Salazar, our country had a 19th century mentality, derived from monarchy, whereas girls weren't supposed to need school and only "doctors" would be put through it. The vast majority of the population was not educated in any sense. For all its faults, Salazar's regime managed to change that and raise Portugal to close to the european education standards. That change took decades, it's not something you can do in 5 years.
Just as a side note, the some goes for general infrastructures in Portugal. It was a dictatorship, yes, will all the crap that entails, but, after monarchy and the corrupt governments of the 10s and 20s that bankrupted Portugal, it was his regime that raised the bar here in Portugal, until we got fed up with the lack of liberty to express ourselves.
Go learn something, buy a book.
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)
Yes, He wanted people to have 4(!) years of school..
During these times big percentage of Polish people were going to college. For example I said to a friend from Poland than 2 of my grandparesnts couldn't read at all. He thought I was making fun..
If I didn't explain good because I should have said that historically education was very bad in Portugal, not only with Salazar regime (that besides everything made a good job on this issue but still didn't manage to get European standards) I only can agree with you; but sentences like:"Go learn something, buy a book" just present an argumentum ad hominem, that is not relevant neither to the other readers neither to me. Please do not weaken this commmunity and consider to change your behaviour taking aknowledgment of existent high standards that you don't find easily in the web.
