Introduction
Most of the people agree that the relationship between poverty and education is a two-way direction. Increase in the rate of poverty could result to poor educational attainment of people since people living below or near the poverty threshold could not afford adequate education (Krueger & Lindahl 1102). On the other hand, poor educational attainment could result to people being constraint to live below or near the poverty threshold due to the lack or low amount of opportunities (Berg 1). In most of the studies, it shows consistently that economic and social status is an important factor or determinant of the outcomes with regards to education. It also shows that the level of educational attainment could influence the earnings and living standard of people.
One of the main problems of the United States is the increasing rate of poverty and its influence on education (Psacharopoulos & Patrinos 113). According to the Southern Education Foundation, the majority of the students in the United States are from the low-income family. It is the first time in 50 years that most of the students in primary and secondary education came from the low-income class. The federal and the state government of the United States are spending about $500 billion per year in the education sector (Layton np). However, it still could not solve the problem of increasing poverty rate. In order to solve the problem of increasing poverty rate, the government as well as other organizations should require more focus on increasing the budget for education and providing special education interventions.
The objective of this essay is to argue that improving the education sector could help in solving the problem of increasing rate of poverty. This essay also opts to evaluate the relationship of poverty and education in order to understand how improving education could help in providing solutions the problem of high poverty rate. People should consider some of the methods to improve the educational attainment of students such as special education interventions and increasing budget for education in order to solve the problem of increasing poverty rate.
Background on Poverty
In order to understand the influence of social and economic status of people on education, one should also understand the concept of poverty. Poverty should not be viewed only as absence financial resources of an individual. According to Amartya Sen, poverty should be considered as the individual’s lack of capability to function well in the community or in the society due to several social and economic reasons (Sen 4). The lack of adequate education could also be considered as a type of poverty. Sen also distinguished two types of poverty which is the absolute poverty and relative poverty (Sen 4). Absolute poverty refers to the lack of financial resources required to survive on a minimum standard of living (Berg 1). On the other hand, relative poverty is viewed or determined by the society or community in which the person belongs.
It should be considered that providing solution to solve the problem of high poverty rates require complicated programs strategies. This is because the concept of poverty is not as simple as any other economic concept. It requires full understanding of other important factors such as social marginalization, social skills and educational attainment (Krueger & Lindahl 1102). This is the reason why government should focus more on providing solutions to the problem of education rather than providing people the advantages on earning more (Berg 1). People should focus more on improving the education sector in order to solve the problem of poverty.
Influence of Education on Economic Growth
Better educational attainment could provide individuals higher probability of acquiring better jobs and earn more due to the larger job opportunities. Firms and industries require more educated people in their business since they knew that they have more skills and knowledge regarding the field. People will higher educational attainments are considered to be more productive economically which results to higher earnings (Berg 5). The influence of education on the poverty rate is associated to the higher earnings and the higher opportunities in the labour market. In general, countries with higher amounts of educated people tend to become more economically developed due to the stronger labour market.
One of the main reasons why government should focus on improving the education sector is that it could also improve the economic growth of the nation. The main economic concept which could explain the influence of education on the economic growth is the concept of human capital. Human capital is the ability to perform labour and produce economic value through social and personal attributes (Krueger & Lindahl 1102). In general, higher human capital of the nation means more people to work on various fields. Higher workforce could result to economic growth due to the high productivity level. Improvement of the education sector is one of the methods of improving human capital.
Influence of Education on General Living Standards
Another reason why the government should improve the education sector of the nation is that it could influence the improvement in the general living standards of their people. Higher educational attainment could provide social benefits other than the increase in financial resources. These social benefits could not be easily acquired by individuals who are not educated. One of these social benefits is the improvement in the living standards of individuals. Educated people are often more capable of contributing economic and social development of the nation. This is because educated people often change in behaviour due to the knowledge or skills they acquire.
Education should be improved in order to acquire these social developments. Education is also viewed as a tool to combat several social and economic issues (Berg 5). In most of the studies, experts concluded that countries with more educated people are often more capable of solving social issues such as the combating HIV and AIDS, environmental sustainability and community development. In is known that solving these social issues could help in reducing the poverty rate of the nation. Improvement of the education sector is not only directly influencing the poverty rate. It also indirectly improves the poverty rate of the nation through social development.
How Poverty Affects Educational Outcomes
The social and economic status of a student is considered to be the most influential factor or determinant for the educational outcomes in most of the developing and developed countries. Home background could affect the ability of students to learn in school as well as to participate in the activities in the classrooms. Some of the students are held back on their education due to lack of financial resources or due to the lack of parental influence (Berg 9). There are programs that could help poor students to pursue their education and increase the educational outcomes of a nation such as scholarships and other educational benefits. However, it is still not enough to support the large volume of poor students in the country (Raffo et al. 253).
Some studies suggest that the influence of the social and economic status of students on the educational attainment could be reduced by improving the performance of poor students in the schools (Krueger & Lindahl 1102). There are several methods that could improve the performance of poor students such as special education intervention. However, studies also concluded that the high poverty level at schools could also negatively influence the educational outcomes of students. In general, students attending schools with higher quantity of poor students have the greatest disadvantage (Psacharopoulos & Patrinos 113). In this case, special education intervention is still not enough. People should consider increasing the budget for education sector.
How Poverty Affects Student’s Ability to Learn
The high poverty rate could also indirectly influence the educational outcome of students through low parental education, limited financial resources, poor home background and poor nutrition and health (Temple 905). In general, poverty could reduce the student’s capability to learn due to circumstances or consequences of poor educational environment. For example, large quantity of students coming from the low-income families have high tendency to have poor nutrition and health. It is known that poor nutrition and health are related to the negative impact on educational outcome (Berg 11). In general, students who are poor in nutrition and health are less likely to enrol or to pursue their education.
People especially for the government should improve the condition of schools or students in order to increase the educational outcome. The government should provide special education intervention in order for the school to be conducive for learning (Layton np). Unstable environmental and financial status of students could greatly affect their ability to learn. In some developing countries, the educational outcome is relatively low due to the consequences of high poverty rate. The government should consider helping students to overcome the negative impacts of low social and economic status in order to improve their ability to learn (Krueger & Lindahl 1102).
Reduction of Educational Enrolments and Human Capital
Another obvious impact of high poverty rate is the reduction of educational enrolments. The financial requirements and opportunity cost of education is increasing in the modern times. More children now prefer to work on farms or in households to support their families. Most of the students also perceived low opportunities and benefits for pursuing education (Berg 13). In most of the developed countries, the demand for primary and secondary education is decreasing which is an alarming issue since it has a direct relation with the human capital of the nation. In general, the decrease in human capital of a country could lead to slow down of their economic growth due to the lack of labour market (Raffo et al. 253).
The government as well as the school institutions have the responsibility to increase the educational outcomes of students. They have the responsibility to inspire their students to pursue their education and acquire a career in the future. The school institutions should provide information to their students about the large opportunities for them if they would finish their studies or if they would graduate (Psacharopoulos & Patrinos 113). There are certain special educational interventions that could inspire students to pursue their dream and to continue their education. Access to adequate education is often the main problem in developing countries. The government should provide enough economic support in providing adequate education to their people since it could also result to the reduction of poverty rate of their nation.
How Social Marginalization Affects Educational Attainment
The consequences of relative poverty could also negatively affect the educational attainment of students and the educational outcomes of the nation. One of the major consequences of relative poverty is social marginalization (Berg 16). Some people are socially marginalized due to their lack of ability to function well in the society. The relative poverty could greatly influence the educational outcomes off the nation if the students who belong to the family with lower income are socially marginalized (Krueger & Lindahl 1102). Social marginalization should be removed in order for the students to function well in schools. Social marginalization due to poverty should be abolished in order to improve the motivation of students to pursue their education.
Education Intervention for Reduction of Poverty Rates
One of the main solutions to reduce the poverty rate of the nation is to improve the education sector. One of the strategies of improving education is to provide special educational intervention. Education could provide solutions for the problem of high poverty rate of the nation through special education intervention. Special education interventions are programs which could help schools to motivate students to continue on their studies and to finish their education. Some of these programs include involving parents in the education of their children, literacy campaign for adults, anti-poverty policies and regulations, social works in the community, nutritional programs, and remedial education measures (Berg 20).
The success of these programs could vary depending on the condition or situations of schools or the community itself. Some places have common problems such as the low nutrition of the young individuals in the community. In this case, nutritional programs could be more suitable for these places. Implementation of these programs is necessary in order to improve the learning outcome and education outcome of students. The government as well as the school institutions should consider developing these types of programs since it could help in improving the education sector as well as solving the general problems of high poverty rate.
Increasing the Budget for Education
Another obvious solution to improve the education sector and to help solve the problem of high poverty rate is to increase the budget allocation for education. Some schools with more students belonging to low-income families tend to have lower school resources such as books, classrooms and even faculties. Helping these schools to acquire more school resources could also help provide adequate education to students coming from low-income families (Berg 21). Investing more on education could also help in reducing the poverty rate since it could result to higher economic and social functionality.
Conclusion
It is known that poverty and education are co-related with each other. High poverty rate could result to low education outcome and low educational attainment could result to more people living below or near the poverty threshold. Solving the problem of low education outcome is easier than solving the problem of high poverty rate. There are several major reasons why education could influence the poverty rate of a nation. The government and the school institutions should provide programs and plans in order to improve the education sector of any country. Some of these programs and plans include especial education intervention and increasing budget allocation for education (Temple 905). In solving the problems of the nation, one should consider adding more educated people since they are the ones that could help any country.
Works cited:
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Krueger, A., & Lindahl, M. “Education for growth: Why and for whom?”. Journal of Economic Literature 39 (2001): 1101-1136
Layton, L. Majority of the US public school students are in poverty. The Washington Post. 2015. Web. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/majority-of-us-public-school-students-are-in-poverty/2015/01/15/df7171d0-9ce9-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html>
Psacharopoulos, G., & Patrinos, H. “Returns to investment in education: a further update”. Education Economics 12.2 (2004): 111-134. Print.
Raffo, C., Dyson, A., Gunter, H., Hall, D., Jones, L., & Kalambouka, A. Education and poverty: a critical review of theory, policy and practice. Manchester: Joseph Rowntree Foundation & University of Manchester. 2007. Print
Sen, A. Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001. Print.
Temple, J. “Generalizations that aren’t? Evidence on education and growth”. European Economic Review 45 (2001): 905-919. Print.
