Bouzheer 1

Abdullah Bouzheer
Professor Batty
English 113A
November 12, 2015

According to Valdes poverty is the state of lack of monetary items and

material endowment. Poverty is a subjective aspect in that what is considered poor
in one area may not hold state. There seems to be an acceptable state that those
who below a dollar on their daily lives are considered poor. It is challenging to
measure poverty in monetary terms where the economy uses barter trade. In
commodity exchange economies, the measure of the state of well-being can be
linked to material possession. Those who cannot meet their daily needs of clothing,
food and shelter will be considered poor. With the education in the twentieth
century, poverty has been significantly tied to lack of quality education. World
economies have considerably changed to be education based for one to acquire
material or monetary items. However, also, to training other factors come to play.
The thesis of this paper is: Lack of education causes poverty.
Education has come as a weapon of success in the modern world
(Banerjee0People with high-quality education get a job faster than those with lowquality education. High-quality education is based on the level of education and
institution attended. In the world, Harvard and Oxford universities have made a
name for the premier institution. Their graduates get preference over others from
the different school. Graduates are getting better treatment to job opportunities
than those without the qualification. Thus, people who have an education are

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considered to be out of the poverty circle for they have. Those without quality
education suffer from lack of job opportunities.
Islam says that social factors play a part in the spread of poverty in our
communities. Some social rules are discriminatory in nature whereby they promote
discriminatory acts. Some societies like the Indian community have classes majorly
the low (poor people) and high (rich people) classes. Interaction within the groups is
limited to ensure the low class does not exploit the even marriages are highly
discouraged. To ensure the effectiveness of the system, rich people who interact
with the low class are considered outcasts by their families. The aim is to preserve
status quo in the community. Hence, low class is condemned to indefinite poverty.
Political aspect plays a role in the continuation of persistent poverty (Bane).
Political leaders use skewed development agendas to reward purported support
areas and people. Vocal political leaders are considered for top government
positions. Job distribution becomes an appreciation tool that is used to divide and
rule. Development activities that are to spur economic activities and the creation of
employment go to support areas. Areas that do not offer support to the leaders are
left to wallow in poverty. Favoritism in the distribution of resources becomes a
condemnation of the people in those areas to poverty.
Economic factor plays in the way the economy of a region is structured (Valdes).
Economies that are agricultural based to be sick than modern ones. Farm products
are sold cheaply to the international market for they are in their raw state.
Industrialized countries use the perishability of goods to buy cheaply. Once goods
have been converted to more durable products they are brought to market
extensively. That gives the industrialized countries an upper hand in trade because

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their goods have a longer shelf life. That makes agricultural based economies
operate at small margins that make the prone to poverty than modern ones.
According to Islam ,population pressure has become an issue that greatly explains
poverty. The increase of population has significantly put pressure on the limited
scarce resources. The available resources cannot meet the real needs of the
community. All formal and informal jobs are filled with occupants while the creation
rate of new jobs is very minimal. The resulting is self-employment option for people
though most of them die at their inception. The fact being that most lack start of
capital to actualize their ideas. Most of the people lack entrepreneurial skills to kick
start their business to have a competitive advantage.
Education is a critical step in empowering people to make informed decisions
that will steer them out of extreme poverty levels (Banerjee, 2011). Persons who are
enlightened will be empowered to make life changing decisions. When they miss out
on employment, they can make decisions that will generate income. They can make
sound investment decisions that can be supported by investors who nurture good
ideas for free. Such people have the ability to prosper in self-employment whether
in agriculture of business. Their critical thinking will make them good entrepreneurs
as well as good agriculturists.
Education changes the mindset of people in that they can make informed
decisions when they do not agree with underlying factors (Bane, 2009). Where
political favoritism exists, individuals who are educated can accept to play second
fiddle to benefit from the distribution of resources and development. Their aim is to
get the resources and development that will transform their communities in general.
Once they get the resources they ensure they are well distributed with

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accountability and transparency. That creates a ripple effect where people get
income from the projects and use it within their region to spur more growth.
Valdes alludes that communities that are well educated can export their labor
to countries that are in a state of need. Countries like South Sudan require experts
almost in all fields to fill positions in their public and private sector. Most of these
posts are available for expatriates for the local economy lacks the required
educational background for the positions. Countries like Kenya that have
established high-quality educational system have taken that advantage to export
labor to the country. In return, Kenya benefits from foreign income that is sent to
relatives back home to spur development. That will act as a deterrent to poverty
rooting itself in the community.
A well-educated population will adhere to high health status (Islam). A health
workforce will be productive for their will be no time wasted from sick offs and
leaves.

People will dedicate their lives to productive activities to generate more

income. People will make savings that the can use to finance personal investment
projects. According to Wenzen (2012), countries will benefit from savings from
money that would have been used in providing medical care to the public. The
savings will be used in development activities that will provide job opportunities to
the public. That will create a ripple effect for people will use the income to have
personal investments that will create more investment opportunities.
However, other factors like political aspect, social issues, population increase,
and economic factors play a role in creation and continuation of poverty. According
to Banerjee (2011), political leaders should ensure equal distribution of resources
even in opposition area to spur economic growth for the whole country.

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Communities should eliminate discriminatory aspects that exist in the culture.
Interaction of people from different classes will encourage growth for persons will
see opportunities in both classes to invest. Agro-based and industrialized economies
should work as partners to ensure both parties benefit. Exploitation of the
agricultural economies will be significantly reduced to ensure they get better prices
for their farm inputs that can be used to invest in other sectors of the economy to
spur development.
There are many factors of that contribute to poverty among communities.
According to Bane (2009), Education is one of the many factors. Others are
increasing in population, social issues, economic aspects, and political factors.
There should be a balance between the factors to ensure people are not exposed.
Access to quality education empowers people to make better decisions. Moreover,
to eradicate poverty, all people in the society should join hands.

References
Bane, M. J., & Zenteno, Q. R. M. (2009). Poverty and poverty alleviation strategies in
North America. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University David Rockefeller
Center for Latin American Studies
Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way
to fight global poverty. New York, NY: Public Affairs

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Islam, T. (2002). Microcredit and poverty alleviation. Aldershot
Valdes, A., & Mistiaen, J. A. (2003). Rural poverty alleviation in Brazil: Towards an
integrated strategy. Washington, DC: World Bank
Wenzen, K.,(2012). Poverty Eradication: An Introduction.
New York: Princeton Hall Press