Ciera Lederer 9/22/14

Education
Education is important regardless of the country or society you live in. There
is a direct correlation between education and benefits. Francis Bacon had it right
when he coined, Knowledge is Power. Knowledge does so much for a society and
that is why it is so important to fund schooling and teachers. World poverty is
significantly decreased with education. One extra year of schooling increases a
persons earnings by up to 10% (United Nations). If everyone were literate, it
would create the chance for 171 million people to get out of poverty. In figure 1, you
can see Chiles poverty line shrink significantly through the years as education leads
92% of Chilean people to be literate.
Not only does education diminish poverty, but it also encourages growth,
innovation, and environmental sustainability. When people are educated and know
about the good and bad in society, ideas are born and solutions are created. People
are able to think critically for themselves, vote more accurately and ethically, and
understand what is happening around them. When people are knowledgeable about
a topic, they become more invested in that topic. Think about a Nation were every
person had a passion and worked towards goals and innovative ways of exploring
that passion. That is how solar panels, running water, and electricity were invented.
These people had a foundation of education and took the ideas they had and
transformed them into something that all of society could benefit from.
One of the best thing education does for a society is medicinal discoveries. At
one point in time, if someone had a deep wound to the arm, the only thing they
knew was to amputate it completely. Nowadays we have numbing medicines,
cleansing material, protective measures to ensure HIV and other blood-transmitted
diseases do not spread, and stitches, just to name a few. Other medicinal benefits are
found even in third world countries where herbs and natural ingredients are used to
cure colds and sicknesses. As people work towards ways to cure HIV, malaria, and
other preventable diseases, education brings them closer. An interesting quote by
an anonymous author once said, What if the cure for cancer was trapped inside the
mind of someone who could not afford an education? Education saves lives and
transforms countries.
According to the United Nations, a child born to a mother who can read is
50% more likely to survive past age five. Thus, the life expectancy is directly linked
to the amount of education a society has. In Chile every single child has access to
primary school (as shown in figure 2). When looking at education, Chile is
fascinating because of how much they emphasize education. In fact, based on figure
3, the graph shows Chile spends 33% of public subsides on scholarships and grants.
That is more than double what the United States spends! (Figure 3). Chile is
rightfully considered to be one of the most educationally rich countries in the entire
nation. According to United Nations an average of 88% of registered voters actually
vote which is 17% higher than the National average and women out-vote men.
Its important to note that Chile is in the 92
nd
percentile of government
corruption ranked 156 out of 174. In order words, Chile is ethically and morally on
track and causes Chile to be ranked 19 for most happy place to be.
Ciera Lederer 9/22/14

Figure 1 above Figure 2 above

Figure 3 below







Ciera Lederer 9/22/14
Resources



Facts | Government. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2014.
http://country-facts.findthebest.com/l/40/Chile


United Nations Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2014.
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/efa/