While there are many issues regarding world politics today, one of the most prevalent issues is lack of promotion of education. As it stands, education isn’t an issue that is vigorously being addressed on a global level. However, with an increased eye towards encouraging education many positive benefits could be seen including fostering a more accepting environment, advancing economic growth and promoting self advocacy.
Acceptance of others is itself a global issue, but through the promotion of education, acceptance could be encouraged. While the argument that education would solve all issues of intolerance is ridiculous, the idea that it would help promote a more tolerant world is not. If one has no knowledge of a group of people or organization, it is much easier to discriminate or be prejudice against them. But when one has received some type of information, it allows them to think for themselves and form opinions based in fact and not in rumor. This increase in education would allow for our world to function without the distraction of preconceptions.
An increase in education would also advance many countries economies. As more people reach a higher level of education it enables them to attain better jobs, thus allowing them to spend a greater amount of money. With this increase of cash flow the economy would pick up allowing for its advancement. This cycle would then perpetuate and the number of educated people in the work force would grow allowing for the continuation of a healthy economy.
Education itself also promotes self-advocacy, which allows for a community, big or small, to advance. When one group of people is being abused or oppressed the greater community suffers as well. If you allow for education, the groups of people who are being abused often have the opportunity to advocate for themselves, even in very small ways. This allows for the opportunity to uplift everyone as opposed to increase existing chasms. In the words of Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.”
An increased attention to education would allow for a more accepting world, more economic growth and an increase in self-advocacy. Overall an increase in education would help to alleviate many issues that pertain to world politics from poverty to tyranny but more fundamentally it would allow for a world full of people who can think for themselves and change things for the better.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point completely. I think that education is an important issue that the World does not pay enough attention to. But I believe that we should focus on improving countries with poor education systems first before we try to perfect the rest of the World.
I was wondering where in the World (ie which countries) do you, or anyone else who is reading this, believe we should improve education systems in first? Since not all of the Worlds education systems are equal, we should work on the countries with the weakest education systems first.
Great post, but I wonder - what are your views on higher education? Erin Lockwood brilliantly rejects the notion of "Wonks" because "specialization is for insects", but I sometimes think specialization is necessary for society to hold together. After all, in a nation where among many, college is expected, there is a bounty - of lawyers, of psychologists, to name a couple - that far exceeds demand. Inherently, not all qualified to work at such a high level will be able to. Would it not be better to adapt what countries like Italy implement? In Italy, potential higher-ed students are divided into those who will attend universities and those who will attend "trade schools" (plumbers, electricians, etc.). In this way, everyone has a role (there will be far more guilds-men than academics) which maximizes the work potential of the people. I would be interested in hearing your view on this subject.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of education is indeed a big concern when it comes to world politics. While some countries provide a good education system for the people in the county, other nations lack the resources and funds to provide the same level of education. You mentioned that education allows for individuals to form educated opinions based on facts and not rumors. This is a concept that, all in all, is generally true because education teaches people to think critically on questions and issues they face every day and find solutions to solve the problem, thus allowing them to voice their own perspective, a point that you made in the fourth paragraph. You wrote about education having a positive impact on the economy in general and although I agree that it does allow for one to obtain a job in which they earn more money, I believe that it depends on how each individual contributes to the economy. A country may provide good education but if an individual chooses not to use it to their advantage and contribute back to the economy, they will be one less statistic to the “cycle”. In the end, the lack of education is an issue that should continue to be be taken into account in world politics. Without the knowledge gained from education, people would make uninformed decisions based on other factors rather than logic and risk getting unfavorable results.
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