 How do we decide what is poverty?

Poverty is the deprivation of basic needs to people. Poverty exists throughout the world and although the definition states that it can be voluntary or involuntary, poverty should only be recognized if it is involuntary. This is because voluntarily choosing to live in poverty is the indolence of the person to work for their gains, as the government will provide it free of charge.

 Does education help to prevent poverty?

Yes. In first world countries, educating the poor so they can see the benefits of working will drive them to look for jobs which will provide them with a source of income that they can use to get out of their poverty. In third world countries, education can help with the discrimination and selfishness that results from the poverty, which in turn will help solve the problem as there will be less conflict and the nations can focus on their citizens instead of foreign affairs. In both first and third world, education helps as it teaches the population that being productive in society allows them to lead a better quality of life.

 What are the implications of this for our lives as individuals?

There are none for the average person. The ones who should help with the problem of poverty are the world leaders, and if they wish, the upper class can contribute but they should not feel an obligation to unless they contributed to the problem. The average middle class bourgeois person is concerned with the furthering of his own life and that of the people he surrounds himself with. This is the way it should also be in the poverty-afflicted areas because this would help drive the people to get out of their poverty. If there is no willingness to leave from them, then there cannot be any progress. The middle class also cannot directly help the impoverished, as they do not have the means, and if they gather to contribute collectively, they do not have the organization. Contributing simple feel-good solutions such as donating to charities that send food to the impoverished may seem fine as a short term goal. But this does not help solve the inherent problems. Why should the impoverished try to get out when that involves work if they can just languish in their lethargy as they receive benefit package after benefit package? This goes back to the education, as they may also not know any other way of life. The problem is that while there may be attempts to tackle the roots of the problem, it will not work unless there is a massive movement to increase the world’s quality of life. This can only come if the upper class and the politicians unite for only this cause. This will never happen, though, as the upper class is too concerned with reaching the top of the upper class.