In class this week, we spoke a bit about GiveDirectly, their unique method of philanthropy, and their impact on some select Kenyans
and Liberians .
We had a pretty good discussion over whether or not GiveDirectly’s actions would
bring about long-term change. It seemed like the majority of the class
(including myself) concluded that giving money directly would result
in more short-term improvements than long-term ones. A specific example of this
would be the inability to raise the Liberian man’s income even after giving him
the grant. His disposable income showed no increase, suggesting that the
improvements he has seen in his life from the grant he received are less
permanent than we would hope. This is but one example. Several other tell a similar tale. If we define "long-term change" as permanently improving one's disposable income, amount of assets, and overall standard of living, it is hard to say that GiveDirectly has created long-term change in these communities.
If GiveDirectly
wasn’t able to bring about long-term change (by our definition), we are left
with an unanswered question: How can a group facilitate long-term change in a community?
I decided to look at what the trial conducted by GiveDirectly showed to be some
of the weaknesses in their results. The trial showed that the grants had little
effect on education in particular. The controlled,
randomized trial showed that there was little significant change in the percent
of the population attending school, so I decided to search for info on
education’s impact on long-term growth. In my search, I came across a website with
some statistics regarding education’s impact on the economy, worker
productivity, and the well-being of a community. Here’s the link:
Though this data is from America, do you think it is plausible to conclude that education can have a similar impact in Africa as well? Personally, I feel that the value of education is universally felt and that data similar to this could be gathered (probably not at the same scale) from countries in Africa as well.
Also, the complete results of GiveDirectly’s experiment can
be found at the following link (it’s easier to just look at the summaries… the
rest is pretty technical): http://web.mit.edu/joha/www/publications/Haushofer_Shapiro_Policy_Brief_UCT_2013.10.22.pdf
Assuming that education has a similar effect in Africa as it does in America, analysis of this info leads me to believe that in order to
create long-term growth, an emphasis on education is necessary. While I commend
GiveDirectly for improving the Kenyans’ lives in other ways, like allowing them
to get iron roofs or enabling them to buy livestock, these changes really only
impact the short-term and will not lead to long-term growth. This type of
improvement cannot compare to the long-lasting effects education can have on
people’s lives.
Attending school is like investing in oneself and increases
one’s human capital. With an education that focuses on critical thinking and
problem solving, a person might be more capable of seeing how he or she can
better their life or the lives of their children. Education opens many doors to
a better future and allows people a greater opportunity to escape the vicious
cycle of poverty permanently. The data from GiveDirectly’s experiment as well
as the info from the educationvoterspa.org support this notion that education
can bring about more long-lasting change.
So what does everyone think about my proposal that an emphasis on education is necessary in order to bring about lasting change in Africa? Do you agree or
disagree with me on this topic? Do you think education effects Africans in ways analogous to how it effects people in America? I’d love to hear some of your opinions. (And
thanks to anyone who read this beast of a blog post. I apologize for it being so
long.)
I was one of the people in class that was very skeptical of GiveDirectly’s methods of philanthropy. I think you articulated it in a good way in that this organization lacks one of the most significant aspects of improvement, education. They are handing out the money to individuals who may not know how to use it effectively and they are not providing useful instruction. Most importantly, the Africans may not know how to invest the money in themselves or objects in a way that would increase rewards in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhen discussing older individuals in Africa, I think the issue is not whether education is important it is what kind of education they should receive. Education for younger generations should mirror systems in America that begin by building a foundation. This includes reading, writing and conversational skills. From there, they can refine their abilities for specific careers necessary in Africa. However, what about the older portion of the population? What about the Africans who are now in there 20’s and beyond who have reached a stagnant point in life?
I think it would be most beneficial to teach these older individual’s life skills, the potential uses of money and how to invest it in proper ways. This will, in turn, help them create a better learning environment for their children. When approaching this issue, it is also essential that we teach the Africans in a way that is not belittling. They must be looked at as equals in a journey to better their country, not adults who still need to learn the basics of life.
I want to take this opportunity to start a conversation about an aspect of education that is often overlooked. Many schools in America have some version of music education, however, they are increasingly being cut from the systems. Yet, music has been proven to valuably increase ones human capital, which is something you drew importance to in your blog post. Could incorporating music into education in other countries increase a child’s success later in life? Benefits include improvement in reading and conversational ability, increase in fluid intelligence and working memory as well as other improvements at a neurological level.
I personally believe that integrating music into early education in countries like Africa could have positive effects. Many of these countries are adept at making their own instruments so this could help stimulate the economy as well. Do you think this is a valuable avenue to pursue in education in struggling countries?
I one hundred percent agree that education is critical to developing economies and facilitating long-term change. However, what worries me is that the education that many people believe the people of Africa need is very Western oriented. A Western education is essentially useless in Africa because the magnitude of the differences between the two areas is so vast. For education to be effective in Africa, it needs to be tailored to the various cultures OF Africa. Simply because the Western education is deemed more "advanced and civilized" by observers does not mean that statement is necessarily true nor does it mean that Western education is the best education to be imposed on those individuals. This harkens back to the idea that Westerners know best and we have established that this is not true.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin brings up an interesting point about music education. Music and other art programs are extremely important and have a plethora of benefits. I am going to disagree though (sorry Kaitlin) that it should be implemented into the education in developing countries. It would be important in preserving the culture of African countries but I feel that there are so many more important topics that should be taught. This might be a little hypocritical considering what I just said but with many states lacking a decent education and the limited resources they have, music education would not be plausible or would not reap as may benefits as it does in other places around the world.
That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be an experiment with music, art or other types of education. Economic development and long-term change do not have an exact formula for what works or what doesn't work. Education is being implemented in many parts of Africa and other developing countries. I think this is excellent for experimentation because any education received will only help people; some types just work better than others. Kyle is right that it is an underutilized resource and would lead to more long-term change. It just has to be designed by people who know what is best for the country: the citizens.
I do agree with you, Nick, that trying to impose a completely “Western education” onto the Africans would be wrong. Clearly, as a world we have moved past this imperialistic views. To force a “Western education” onto Africans would be, in essence, reverting back to those notions of superiority over the less-developed world that characterized the world many years ago. However, I believe there are some aspects of our education system that can be universally beneficial.
ReplyDeleteOne of these aspects in particular would be problem-solving. In our coursework, we may lose sight of this critical aspect of education but ultimately, I believe education should be driven by the desire to improve your skills of critical thinking. Though exact examples cannot be drawn directly from a Calc 2 class, the underlying objective of the coursework should be to improve one’s ability to find step-by-step solutions when confronted with a problem. The skills of problem solving can be heightened through the teaching of basic math and science topics (ones of which that are not bias towards a Western-centered education). I think we can agree that these non-bias topics should be universally known and can offer valuable lessons for most everyone.
On a slightly different note, to reference Jesse’s comment on his blog post and to tie this back to GiveDirectly, I wholeheartedly agree with what he has said about the limitation GiveDirectly has in respect to instituting a standard of education. It is one thing to agree that education is important but if a village has no school, a $1000 grant to each person cannot really be useful to further educational aspirations. Jesse provides a very strong argument in his comment and post. I feel that reading his post would be useful for others in order to fully understand some of the limitations that GiveDirectly faces, which is why I am not convinced that GiveDirectly’s actions will elicit a long-term impact in the communities.
To summarize, although I do agree with you, Nick, that a completely “Western education” would not be what we want to institute, I believe that there are many aspects of “Western education” that are undeniably useful across the board. In this respect, I feel like tailoring an education toward the African way of life would still include general math and science topics in order to improve problem-solving skills, much like what is done in “Western-style” education systems. The simple fact remains that through the methods GiveDirectly has been using, improvements in education cannot be reasonably expected. And what can be said about the prospect of long-term growth? Though education may or may not be the ultimate answer, there exist many examples of its successes in instilling growth in other parts of the world (i.e. The Pennsylvania article I referenced in my original post).
I agree that education is necessary to facilitate long-term change. I also support Nick’s idea that the education should be geared towards the country in which it is being implemented rather than having a foreign system forced upon the citizens. However, I am curious as to how an education plan could be integrated effectively into a culture if many of the individuals are struggling to meet basic needs.
ReplyDeleteIt is a widely accepted fact that children who attend school on empty stomachs have trouble focusing and learning properly. So, in areas of the world where hunger is prominent, should education be stressed even though children may not reap the full benefits? It seems that any level of schooling in countries where education is rare would be advantageous, but I am unsure that it is more important than initially meeting basic needs. Education will undoubtedly help children with their futures, but they may not see immediate effects that they could notice if their hunger problem was solved.
In order to provide a beneficial system of education, one must identify the reasons behind the lack of schooling. According to SOS Children’s Villages, a global charity focused on helping children through building families, the main reason children do not attend school is poverty. In many developing countries, those children that are lucky enough to live near a school often do not have the means to pay the fees for education. Instead, they spend their time working alongside their parents – so, the cycle of poverty continues. I totally agree that lives would be improved through education, but in order to receive and benefit from proper schooling, basic needs (like overcoming poverty) must be met first.
In the article Kyle provided about Pennsylvania schooling, statistics were provided that showed how beneficial education can be. However, while it did mention the potential positive impact of a prekindergarten education, most of the focus was on the benefits of completing high school. In this sense, I do not think the facts truly apply to developing countries. Studies providing result about the benefits of basic education would be much more convincing because in a lot of developing countries schooling is non-existent or ends long before high school.
As Kyle pointed out, GiveDirectly’s methods do not support long-term change through education. They also do not specifically target the issue of meeting basic needs. Therefore, I do not believe that the manner in which GiveDirectly operates is most effective. While GiveDirectly has an interesting approach to philanthropy, I think it could make a more noticeable and positive impact if it used a different system of giving.
Also, here is the link to the SOS Children's Villages site, incase you'd like to check it out!
Deletehttp://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/our-work/education
This blog post actually touched on a lot of my personal interests and a lot of what I want to focus on in the community needs assessment assignment due next week. Throughout the course of this class, I have spent a lot of time focusing on education and the need for continued education in communities. It is my firm belief that an improvement and a focus on education is at the core of any solution for any issue in any given community. Without continued education that works on empowering individuals to help themselves, there is no possibility at all of helping people. My concern (as I voiced in class this past week) is that this idea of “helping people to help themselves” becomes paternalistic and almost condescending – we need to be aware in trying to help people that we don't view our method as the right method or as showing people the right way to do something.
ReplyDeleteI think that we need to be extremely careful when discussing how to educate people and how to help them continue to empower themselves – while education is at the very core of the solution, we (and anyone that wants to help others, really) need to make sure that we don't use this as a paternalistic weapon of sorts. I agree with a few of the points that have been brought up in comments to this blog post – to be honest, a few of these points were things that I hadn't even thought about. This issue of educating people using an African-centered approach as opposed to our own Western ideals of education is a critical one – it becomes paternalistic even to say that our Western approach is the right approach to education. There are huge disparities and differences in education given the different economies and political climate and the nature of the two different areas and education must take that into account and be specific based on the region and the needs of the region.
I also agree that while early childhood education is critical, there must also be a focus on educating adults and educating parents in the hopes that by educating them, they will be able to focus on the early childhood needs of their child. Finally, this blogpost really helped to solidify a lot of the concerns I have about GiveDirectly – there is no doubt at all that this is a great cause that works to help people, but I am concerned that it might not be the best way to help people and that it doesn't do enough to work on long-term help and long-term solutions.
I agree with what you said as well as what Kaitlin said about how GiveDirectly lacks one of the most important aspects of improvements, education. Giving individuals who are underprivileged a handful of cash could potentially be helpful, but that underprivileged person could most likely utilize the cash in a more helpful way if they were more knowledgeable about how to use it to the best of its ability.
ReplyDeleteOf course I think that education is one of the most vital components to one’s success, but we have to realize that most of these impoverished people in Africa have no access to an education. Also, learning accounting skills and reading Shakespeare are most likely the last things on these people’s minds. An academic education is not the type of education that would be most useful to impoverished people. They would gain more from learning life skills and work skills. Nick brings up that a Western influenced education is essentially useless in Africa; his argument reinforces my argument above. I feel that it is ignorant to say that poor Africans need an education like the one we are receiving at Binghamton. This, they do not need. A lot of celebrities travel to Africa and build schools for the children and teenagers, I can only hope the schools being built are instilling values and teaching skills that are helpful to these particular people, and not a Western education.
Kyle also made a comment about there not being access to a school in a village, which is what I discussed above. Giving money to someone with the aim of it being used for an education would be nearly impossible if there is no school near by. This definitely highlights a possible limitation when donating to GiveDirectly. This is a very unique and specific organization that has its own purposes and reasons being for why the organization does what it does. Although the organization cannot provide a long-term impact in African villages, doesn’t mean that the short-term impact that it is able to provide is not important. The short-term impacts that the organization provides to people makes their lives a little bit easier which in turn is one less thing they have to worry about. We must not forget that someone has to tackle the short-term goals for those in need, sometimes a little bit of money can go a long way.