Educate Yourself - a Personal Thinking Essay

Cecelia Lopez

Pre-U English

Mr. O’Connell

January 20th, 2018

Educate Yourself

If you are reading this, consider yourself lucky. You are not one of the 263 million uneducated children in the world. However, this situation extends beyond just the statistics. Lack of education around the world has become increasingly pervasive, and while casual indifference towards this issue may be socially acceptable, this is a problem that must be addressed. The widespread lack of quality education can be attributed to financial, social and cultural factors, which can restrict lifestyle choices and opportunities in the future.

Lack of education can be found everywhere and in every country. However, this epidemic is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan African countries, and countries in Central and Eastern Asia.  Young children residing in these areas may face: educational poverty, which is when a child is in school for four years or less, or extreme educational poverty, which is a child in school for two years or less (“Poverty and Education”). Most prominently, more than fifty percent of children face extreme educational poverty in sub-saharan african countries such as Somalia and Burkina Faso. According to UNESCO, the number of young children out of school is now at 59 million and rising. Overall, 72 million children around the world are uneducated. Though many grasp the swelling urgency of the education deficit, the issue remains largely ignored, predominantly in lesser developed countries. While no one factor is to blame, the marginalization, poverty and financial deficit in developing countries certainly exacerbate the existing problem. (“Right To Education : Situation Around The World"). Marginalization, according to the Syracuse University Counseling center, is the “process of pushing a particular group or groups of people to the edge of society by not allowing them an active voice, identity, or place in it.” All around the world, the marginalization of certain groups prevents their children from accessing education, using illiteracy and ignorance as effective tools of manipulation. This poses a problem because these uneducated children need to learn in order to live a healthy and prosperous life. Education is the base of intellectual and social growth and without it, it is very hard for these children to flourish. Additionally, marginalization and poverty go hand in hand. When a child is faced with diseased, illiterate parents or unemployed parents, and substandard living conditions, it makes them much more susceptible to dropping out of school. Often, children in lesser developed nations opt out of school in order to work to support and provide for their family.

 Secondly, a significant deterring factor from education is the financial deficit of developing countries. Countries that are relatively underdeveloped will not spend their money on trying to grow their educational sector, rather they will try to build their natural resources, improve international relations, and build their infrastructure. As stated by the World Bank, South Sudan, a country with very high illiteracy rates, allocates around 1.8% of their GDP towards education, whereas Canada, a country with extremely low illiteracy rates, allots around 5.2% of their GDP towards government expenditure on education. Educational services are overlooked in a developing nation's effort to modernize and grow. Governmental priorities do not favour the building and maintenance of schools, financing school supplies and material or training staff. Since government subsidies are crucial for the management of schools in these underdeveloped nations, where most cannot afford to pay private tuition, overlooking the educational sector raises a serious problem.

People may argue that political and not-for-profit entities around the world pledge funds to education in underdeveloped countries,but the problem is so prevalent and deep-seated that finance is only one aspect. Due to this underfunding, teachers lack the drive to teach in schools where they will always be struggling to make ends meet. Additionally, teachers often have oversized classes because schools cannot afford to hire a lot of personnel, which can attribute to the overall absence of motivation to teach in these institutions. School children may also feel consistent neglect, perhaps requiring more attention or enthusiasm from teachers in order to ignite their passion for education. Levels of education are grouped together thoughtlessly, thereby sacrificing a student's individual needs. When individual needs are not being catered to in an educational manner, it makes it more likely for children to drop out of school and work to support their family.

While this problem exists for children all over the world, it is especially more prevalent for girls. Due mainly to traditional values and strict culture in underdeveloped countries, girls across the world find it harder to receive an education than their male counter parts. According to Unicef, every year 15 million girls are forced or coerced into marriage, and one in every three girls in the developing world is married by the age of 18. Girls' primary school completion rates are below 50% in most poor countries, according to UNESCO. Due to the fact that girls face situations such as violence, early pregnancy, discrimination, and strict home lives, they are more likely to be kept out of school than boys. All over the world, females make up more than 54% of the uneducated population, as stated by CNN (“By the numbers: Women's progress (or not) around the world”).

The stereotypical belief in these countries are that girls belong at home, whereas boys must go to school. Research conducted by UNESCO states, just over 12 million girls in Sub-Saharan Africa will potentially never go to school. In Yemen, more than 80% of girls will never receive an education (“Girl’s education - the facts”). Unfortunately, many underdeveloped countries are not trying to reduce the education gap between male and female. Although a few developing countries have reduced the inequality gap between male and female education, a lot more needs to be done in order to achieve universal primary and secondary education. 

High drop-out rates and a lack of education can pose a huge threat to growing societies. When people are missing an education, it becomes very hard for them to support themselves, therefore they turn to family, friends, and the government for aid. This can cause stress on a society as a whole because the few resources they have, such as financial aid, food provisions, and job training programs, are being used to support people. Supporting those who do not have the education needed to support themselves can have a detrimental effect on society. Additionally, high illiteracy rates can lead to increased crime rates in society. According to Literacy and Policing in Canada, “65 of 100 people entering correctional facilities have less than a Grade 8 education or level of literacy skills” (“Literacy and Policing in Canada: Target Crime with Literacy” ). This is not to say that every uneducated person will commit criminal acts, yet sometimes uneducated people in underdeveloped societies commit crimes out of pure necessity. For example, a person without an education is more likely to not have a job and therefore may be forced to steal to feed and provide for their family. Also, illiteracy can lead to an increase in incarceration rates. Due to their lack of education, illiterate people can be faced with many challenges in their day-to-day life, causing them to sometimes do illegal actions. For example, Nigeria, a country with one of the highest elementary school drop out rates, has 40,444 prisoners, according to BBC, which is one of the largest amount of prisoners in the world (World Prison Populations”). In addition, illiteracy rates can increase the presence of poverty in a society since those who are missing an education will have an extremely hard time finding a job. At best, they will most likely receive minimal pay, which might not be enough money to support their family or themselves. Therefore, illiteracy is a leading factor of high unemployment rates in a country. Furthermore, an education deficit lends itself to generational educational problems, such as people being less likely to promote literacy and going to school to the future generation. As a result, the children of illiterate parents may follow in their parent’s footsteps because they do not know any better or cannot afford to receive an education. This pattern results in generation after generation of children who never go to school to receive an education and learn how to master basic skills, such as reading and writing.

Now that you have discovered the facts about lack of education and the dangers it poses to the world, what can you do to help? There is no “perfect solution,”  however there are little things we can do to improve the numbers and try, slowly, but surely, to resolve the problem. As individuals, we can donate money to organizations such as Humanium, UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank, that will go towards building schools, gathering resources, and training teachers (“Education - International Organizations”). Additionally, we can raise government awareness, by petition or protest, to either fund lesser developed countries’ educational sector or to have the government persuade other governments to allocate more of their budget towards education. Furthermore, those who are qualified to teach should consider teaching in other parts of the world, because their teachings may have a huge impact on uneducated children. Lastly, the most important thing we can do is educate ourselves on the matter. By reading papers such as these, researching the facts, reading articles, watching documentaries,  and talking to others on the subject, we are learning more about the problem and discussing ways in which it can be improved.

All-in-all, some parts of the world are very fortunate to live in a society where attending school is the law, and most people have the means to support their education. However, many children all over the world, especially in underdeveloped countries, cannot receive an education due to financial, social, and cultural factors, which can limit their future. Therefore it is our societal and moral duty to lower the numbers of uneducated people. Like Malala Yousafzai, an advocate for female education, stated in her memoir, “Let us pick up our books and our pens… They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” It is a long journey to eradicate the issue of undereducation, but by taking small steps towards the goal, we can make a significant change for a better world.