Analysis of the Relationship between Education and Poverty
Topic
Education and Poverty
Present as many different perspectives as possible around the topic/ issue (again, cite additional materials to support your points)
The concept of poverty has different definitions of different countries. Getting rid of poverty of the broad masses is to help them improve their income capacity or increase the income level, to achieve the effect of improving poverty. For Japan, the gap between rich and poor children in Japan is the most serious among all the developed countries. According to the statistic, the number of families with poor children in Japan has doubled in the past 20 years against the backdrop of fewer children（Wang, 2015). The basic reason for the rising rate of child poverty is the aggravation of social poverty caused by the 20-year sluggish economic growth in Japan. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare statistics, the total number of low-income families in Japan reached 1.635 million, a record high. In 1985, the relative poverty rate in Japan was 12%, and that of children under 17 years old was 10.9%. After that, the poverty rate showed an increasing trend year by year. According to OECD statistics, the poverty rate of children from single-parent families in Japan is as high as 50.8%, ranking first among 34 OECD countries (Ercole,2006). Among them, the poverty rate of single mothers is as high as 66%. The average annual income of male white-collar workers in Japan is about 4 million yen, while that of single-parent mothers is only 1.81 million yen(Wang, 2015). As Japan, in recent years, many political parties have included improving child poverty in their political platforms. The Japanese government has successively adopted the "Children's Poverty Countermeasure Law" and "Children's Poverty Countermeasures Outline", aiming at "cutting off the inter-generational transmission of poverty,'' requesting the state and autonomous bodies to help poor children. Specific measures include increasing educational support such as scholarships and free after-school remedies, providing children with living places and ensuring the health of guardians. The Japanese government is also discussing the policy of expanding non-reimbursable grants to impoverished adolescents. At present, the clear majority of student loans granted to high schools and college students with family difficulties in Japan require repayment in installments after graduation (Wang, 2015).
As an important factor closely related to poverty, there is a close relationship between education and poverty. Studying the relationship between education and poverty will help improve the current situation of poverty, promoting the development and popularization of education, and benefiting the people's livelihood and economic progress. The relationship between education and poverty was discussed below.
The interaction between education and poverty
Poverty, as an important livelihood problem that perplexes national development and progress that has made tremendous efforts to eradicate poverty. Education, as an important factor closely related to poverty, has a better economic level in areas with higher education level, while the economic development in areas with lower education level. The proportion of the population is relatively high, which is particularly evident in many minority areas. This means that the development of education has a certain relationship with poverty alleviation. It is also the main manifestation of transforming education into poverty alleviation in the new era of knowledge economy. After deeply recognizing the relationship between education backwardness and poverty, it is undoubtedly more targeted to achieve better poverty alleviation through the promotion and restriction of education. It can reach the goal of building a well-off society in an all-around way by achieving poverty alleviation and prosperity in a more reasonable and rapid way based on improving the cultural quality of everyone (Eryong, 2018).
The role of education in improving poverty is mainly based on human capital theory, basic needs theory, human development concept, and human capacity theory. For example, human capital theory attaches great importance to education as an important tool to reduce poverty. Education imparts knowledge and production skills to the poor to increase their hope of getting out of poverty. Because of the dissemination and transfer of knowledge and production skills constitute human capital, which undoubtedly means that productivity and income are increased. With the increase in education level, the income level will also rise. According to the current empirical research results, compared with other anti-poverty investment, education has a considerable yield and return. The growth of income will further promote the increase of education demand and education level. Basic Needs Theory regards education as a basic need for survival and considers it an important component of the basic needs strategy. It helps realize other basic needs and improve the quality of life. After meeting the educational requirements, both productivity and income levels will be improved, and the relationship between education and poverty will appear. Because of the complementary basic relationship, the theory of basic needs emphasizes the value of education as a tool and regards it as a necessary means to achieve other needs. Even in basic needs, education is in a higher demand position, which is conducive to the realization of other needs, so it is regarded as an indispensable and substantial basis.
The definition of poverty in the theory of human development concept is multi-level and diversified. For example, the lack of educational opportunities leads to spiritual poverty and material poverty whose survival is threatened. This theory regards the nature of human capital investment in education to reduce poverty. Besides increasing income and wealth, it is more important. It has the function of promoting human development. Compared with the first two theories, the theory of human development concepts emphasizes too much on the economic contribution to individual development and neglects welfare. From this point of view, the deprivation of individual rights itself leads to a kind of poverty in rights.
Discuss whether you agree with the main arguments, explain why or why not you agree with the main arguments, explain why or why not.
In my opinion, I agree that the deprivation of education is also considered a concrete manifestation of poverty. We should measure the standard of living and quality of life according to the educational status of people. The theory of human ability is based on the further development of the concept of human development. It regards human development as a process of expanding capacity. Apart from poverty in income, poverty inability is an important manifestation. Once an individual's ability exceeds the poverty limit, it will be related to poverty, low income, low ability and so on. As an important way to enhance people's ability, education is an effective measure to reduce and eliminate capacity poverty, which means that reducing capacity poverty through education investment is an important choice to eliminate poverty.
Besides that, it is necessary for us to focus on the instrumental role of education to improve poverty, to avoid impeding the popularization and promotion of education and achieve the desired poverty alleviation effect. For example, China regards poverty alleviation as an important judgment index for the development of people's livelihood. Through direct measures such as increasing employment, providing food, raising income level and indirect measures, China is taking poverty alleviation as an indirect measure. Poverty is not an inseparable vortex. Lack of access to education and low participation in education are typical influencing factors of long-term poverty.
Whether it is the education support policy, free enrollment policy or giving women more opportunities to receive education in poverty-stricken areas. These are all important ways to get out of the poverty trap（Brown, 2002). They cannot be neglected for increasing employment, raising income level, improving ability poverty and improving the utilization rate of human capital. We should actively promote education to reduce poverty by combining formal education with non-formal education, vigorously strengthen investment in education with the strength of the state. To train actively many teachers and practitioners in various regions and jointly devolve the power of educational development to do a good job in the planning and management of education in various regions to facilitate the development of education. It can maximize the value of educational resources and the role of poverty alleviation tools in education. As well, solving the poverty problem in many rural areas, enhancing their survival ability and income level, eliminating capacity poverty, and solving the poverty problem from the root.
Summarize the main points presented in your paper and discuss how they may inform you (future) teaching.
There is an endogenous relationship between education and poverty. Therefore, to solve the problem of poverty, we should give priority to the development of education, give free education, transform educational resources into human resources, and improve people's ability poverty.
For future educators, it is necessary to help students establish a correct outlook on life and values. Not only to let them learn the knowledge of school textbooks but also to cultivate personal qualities of learning. Also, it is essential to provide scholarships to help them and minimize the probability of students skipping classes or dropping out. For those poor students, educators should give mental health education and build communication bridges with their parents.
