Poverty and Education

OMAR BANDEH # 2122369 ENG 102 PROFESSOR LAWSON Topic Outline Thesis: Education is the most powerful weapon that can bring positive changes in a society. I. Empower an individual to be a model citizen A. Educate him about his Rights B. Develop his self esteem II. Poverty alleviation A. Wide range of job opportunities B. Living standards increased C. Reduction in crime rate III. Eradicate Disease A. How to avoid it B. How to treat it C.
How to live with it THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN A SOCIETY Every nation especially third world countries should invest a substantial amount of their budget on education for it is the most invaluable asset that could transform an entire society. It was said by Aristotle that educated men are as much superior to the uneducated as the living are to the dead” if that is so then an uneducated society is as good as a dead society.
After all education is the most powerful weapon that can bring positive changes in a society, it is the only weapon that can empower an individual in particular and a whole society in general, alleviate poverty and eradicate disease. The foremost aim of education is to empower an individual to be a model citizen and for that to happen he must know his rights and responsibilities. Without education, man is a splendid slave knowing not the difference between good and bad or his rights such as his freedom of speech, worship and movement, for only the educated are free.

Free to make decisions, to face life, and to accept successes and failures. More over education is the only tool that can develop one’s personality, his self esteem and confidence for it is a combination of these that gives a person the ability to stand up against tyranny and oppression of any form. In a complex modern democracy, citizens must be educated for them to be able to participate in a nation’s democratic and developmental process.
For example if Nelson Mandela was not educated he would not have been able to challenge the apartheid government thereby helping to bring it, to its end and in the process making the whole of South Africa free and colour blind. Secondly, the role of education in poverty eradication is crucial. There is overwhelming evidence that education is the one tool that children from poor families can use to break the cycle of poverty in which they are born in.
A poor farmer’s son has the same opportunities to that of a president’s son if he is educated, for education provides the knowledge and skill with which an individual can use to get a job and earned a living on his own. It is only with an affordable education that a society’s poverty can be reduced and its living standards increased. And because poverty is a multidimensional social problem once it is taken care of, high crime and prostitution rates will dramatically reduced. Finally, disease, the one thing that can decimate an entire society especially an uneducated one.
For education provides knowledge about diseases, how to treat them and most importantly how to avoid them. For example diseases such as HIV/AIDS have blighted entire societies in places like Uganda and South Africa before people knew what it is and how it can be avoided. Now, after much sensitization the rates of HIV/AIDS infection have reduced dramatically and those already infected have been adequately educated on how to live with the disease in such a way that life expectancy of an Aids patient have increased compare to before.
In addition, the availability of education in a society informs them the use of being hygienic and how to maintain high hygienic standards such as washing one’s hand after using the toilet and also before eating which has help to reduce the prevalence of diseases such as cholera and diarhoea. Therefore, to conclude, the impact of investing in education is profound for it is the only tool that can positively change a society by empowering it, lifting it out of poverty and most important of all enabling its people to live longer healthily.