Lack of education is what dipped people into poverty. Low-income families work so hard to send at least one member of their family to school and finish a college degree. They believe it’s their ticket to a better life. For them, a college degree equates better high-paying jobs and more opportunities.
Education is their solution to end poverty.
Poor People, Poor Health
Poor people can’t afford to have better health. Poor health traps people to stay poor. This is not just a problem for developing countries alone but is a global issue.
Health and economic status of communities are inevitably linked. One is both the cause and effect of the other.
A poor household with a sick head of the family who can’t afford hospitalization and medicines is incapacitated. Children have no choice but to work rather than go to school. These children will grow up, and if they remain uneducated, they will end up like their parents– poor and can’t afford better health. It’s a never-ending cycle.
But if only one of them will be able to achieve a higher level of education, she will be able to provide for the family. Their standard of living will change, and so the health status as they can now afford healthcare.
Flawed Decision Making
Illiteracy and ignorance lead people to make irrational decisions.
I heard of people who won the lottery, but still poor to this day. Why? They don’t know how to manage the money properly. They made wrong decisions, spent the money irrationally, go into business without enough knowledge about it. Some of them complained that they were shammed, allowing themselves to engage in crooked deals — there many stories of rags to riches to worse than rags. Because not only are they back to being poor again, they are also drowning in debt.
If they have the skill and the knowledge how to handle money properly and do business with the right people, they would not end up making decisions they would regret.
Literate People Enrich Themselves
A person who can finish his education and become professional can enrich not just himself, but all other members of his family, especially if he comes from a poor family. He already holds the key to the door of opportunities, and he will not let go. He will open the door, step inside, and with the awareness of what good education can do to him, he wants his family to experience it, too. Thus, he will work hard to send other members of his family to school and get an education.
He does not only give them fish to eat, but he is also teaching them how to fish.
Economic Growth Follows
If every low-income family in a community will be given the opportunity to finish their education and find a job that can support their needs, they can contribute a lot to the progress of their family and their community. They will be able to afford better health. Better health means productivity and efficiency in what they do, may they be a farmer, a factory worker, or someone who works in an establishment, or much higher.
A productive farmer who can apply technology in his farming can harvest better yields, thus, solving the problem in food shortage. A factory worker equipped to use computers, skilled to do his job efficiently will produce better output. A trained professional who works in an establishment can contribute to the growth of their company.
Scientists, doctors, engineers, and other highly skilled professionals who specialized in their fields are to whom we owe the technology we are enjoying now in the field of medicine, education, aerospace, transportation, communication, and more.
Health, food, and economy are just some of the problems the world is facing despite modernization. Development is way too fast that most of the people can’t cope because of the lack of education.
If education is the priority, health problems, food shortage, economic collapse can be dealt with appropriately as people have the skills to effectively use the continuing advancement in technology to sustainable development and growth.