Developing Country’s Education Influence on Economic, Social and Political

Developing Country’s Education Influence on Economic, Social and Political Development

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Developing Country’s Education Influence on Economic, Social and Political Development

Introduction

Even though comparative and development administration is a study of the 20th century, this field was in discussion within European countries even during the 19th century. Education is linked to comparative administration and international development in many different ways. It is one of the major factors that contribute to developing countries development into what they are today. Education is seen as the basic ingredient of economic, social, and political development and stability. Any country whose members are properly educated on the basic and important concepts of life, social integration, and political soundness is likely to advance and become better and productive. Not only these tenets, but education has so many other tenets. Therefore when education is provided to the people of a nation with all its different areas of specialization, the people get to understand different ways to make life better (Krishnaratne & White, 2013). As individual progress advances, especially in the democratic countries whereby capitalism is mainly stressed, that country’s economy becomes better. Therefore, this paper discusses the role of education in developing nations from three perspectives: social, political, and economic spheres.

Background

Education is defined as the imparting of desired values and knowledge to individuals. Therefore education is very important in making sure individuals have the relevant knowledge for their productivity at work to be better and therefore raising their general output. There have been questions of how education influences the economic, social, and political development, especially in the developing nations whereby these three are still on a very low level. Therefore with the desire to know what it means to have proper education for the country, which translates into a good economy, better social relations, and a strong and good political situation, this paper is coined (Buchmann & Hannum, 2001). It examines how education in third world countries or developing nations is crucial and essential towards these three spheres.

Education is one of the major contributors towards the economic growth of any country since education determines the level of skills of a person and therefore the speed at which a person can do a certain job and their general productivity at their work or in everything they do. In developing countries, there are efforts to make sure that education is available to all people. Therefore this is seen as a development towards the education provision, which is expected to bring out higher performance economically.

The social development of any country is very important. However, social development is not possible without education. Schools, therefore, are some of the most important social institutions in any society. Family, education, politics, economy, and religion are all factors that come from the social aspect of a country, and they are all intertwined together. They act together to fulfil human needs like security, reproduction, food, socialization, and shelter. Socialization is the process through which different people learn about certain norms and roles they are supposed to take in any society. These include beliefs, values, attitudes, language, and roles assigned according to a person’s social group (Glewwe, & Kremer, 2006). Education is discussed under three tenets: education for everyone, education as a basic need, and education as a human right.

Literature Review

There are many writings and discussions about education in political, economic, and social development. Therefore focusing on these writings, this paper discusses these concepts. Krishnaratne & White (2013) talk about education in developing countries and focuses on what works for the developing countries. Lockheed & Verspoor (1991) talk about primary education in developing countries, how wanting it is, and how it is improved. Youngman, F. (2000) talks of adult education and how it is important and, therefore, this is an important part of education in developing countries. These and other literatures used lead us to the discussion based on political, social, and economic development (Youngman, 2000). The discussion in this section is based on the literature collected. The literature has influenced developing countries in terms of the three concepts and education.

Economic development

In the developing countries, however, there is a challenge of providing education to learners and those being educated. For example, in places like Africa, where most of the people were uneducated formally by the time formal education was introduced, there have been efforts to introduce adult education, which has not always been successful. Therefore this can be said to have very little effect on the economic development of a country. On the other side, most developing countries’ education systems are not up to standard. They still cling to the colonial suggestions or, rather, some of them are still the same as those left by the colonizers. Therefore, they are just for the basic education provision. The education systems left by the colonizers were for basic knowledge. They also provided the colonized with the ability to speak and interact with their colonizers efficiently. Therefore they were not to make sure that the economic development of those countries was stirred up and became better (Bloom et al., 2006).

Therefore, education in developing countries is still very low quality, and even though there have been efforts to change those education systems, there can now be proper economic propulsion unless an appropriate education curriculum is put into place. Some of the developing countries that have adopted a new curriculum that is seen as a way of breaking into the new world whereby education provides the required skills and knowledge for economic development include Kenya, which despite the many contestations about the new curriculum, has put it into practice.

To prove the role of education in economic development, different economists have tried to prove this by carrying out different tests. Professor Solow carried out an experiment whereby he tested the contribution of human capital to economic development. Education forms the human capital, and therefore, his assessment was the contribution of the human capital formed by education towards economic development. He tested this in the United States between 1909 to 1949, and therefore, his conclusions inform us that it is true that human capital formed by education has a very significant contribution to economic growth. On accounts of labor and measurable capital inputs, he came up with the residual factor, which determined the total output of the labor force. He subtracted this figure from the total output and thus got the contribution of residual factor (Krishnaratne & White, 2013). The residual factor represents the effect of technology and education, plus other factors that are not measurable. Therefore this proves that the contribution of education towards economic development is important.

Social development

In developing countries, socialization was present even before the introduction of formal education. Therefore, the major roles of informal education, which was mainly through apprenticeship and instruction, came about to make sure that every person fit into society. The developing country’s education has a low level of social impact on the formation of pupils and students. However, it still has a role to play since in most schools, teachers teach the children and act as mothers and fathers to them, providing the right manner of behavior and making sure that the children follow what the societal norms are and what is required of them. However, in developing countries, education is not limited to schools but is extended to church and the family when it comes to socialization (Buchmann, & Hannum, 2001). Therefore, this means a person’s behavior is not just taught in school but also at home. Here, the parent is the first teacher. In schools, the teacher is the second instructor, while in church, children are taught their moral values and how they should relate to each other by the religious. The church here may mean any religious affiliation.

Political development

Political development is another important aspect of education. This is because education generally improves people’s ability to determine the best political ideas and views to follow. Therefore it means that an educated country is a better country because its citizens can select the correct type of leaders into the office. Therefore, through the right people’s election into office, there is a guarantee that development and other social amenities will be assured and made better. Those to be elected as well are also part of the population. Therefore if educated individuals are chosen to represent the country, then it means that the country becomes better because if intellectuals come together, they are likely to make proper decisions for a country and lead it in the right direction(Glewwe & Kremer, 2006).

Analysis

Therefore, education is a vital part of socialization. Even though it plays a minor role within the school classrooms, academics are given the first opportunity education happens within the whole community. Therefore socialization is imparted into the mind and behavior of different children as they grow to become what society expects of them. Apart from socialization for the formation of a child’s behavior according to what the society needs, education also plays a very important role in the making a person get the right kind of information and being mentally sound they can socialize well with the people they meet. Education opens up the mind of a person to stop being judgemental and become even more clear thinkers, and therefore through education, a person can fit better into society (Krishnaratne & White, 2013).

This means, therefore, a person who is educated and one is not educated if given a chance to socialize, the one who is educated will likely socialize in a better way than the one who is not educated. This especially applies mostly in this current society and world. Traveling and other technological advancements have made the world a very small place where a person can easily reach anything.

Therefore, developing countries can put into place better education systems if they see their effects on the economic development of the countries. Education for political development is also an important issue for developing countries and how their education system is organized.

Conclusion

In conclusion, education in developing countries is very important, therefore in political, economic, and social development, even though the efforts put into education are not valued and are seen as futile. Therefore having a non-judgemental attitude and being ready to learn is one of the major social contributions of education, and this applies to everyone, even in developing nations. The governments and other organizations should not stop supporting education because supporting the education sector makes the country better, especially economically.

References

Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Chan, K. (2006). Higher education and economic development in Africa (Vol. 102). Washington, DC: World Bank.

Buchmann, C., & Hannum, E. (2001). Education and stratification in developing countries: A review of theories and research. Annual review of sociology, 27(1), 77-102.

Glewwe, P., & Kremer, M. (2006). Schools, teachers, and education outcomes in developing countries. Handbook of the Economics of Education, 2, 945-1017.

Krishnaratne, S., & White, H. (2013). Quality education for all children? What works in education in developing countries (No. 0000-0). International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).

Lockheed, M. E., & Verspoor, A. M. (1991). Improving primary education in developing countries. Oxford University Press for World Bank.

Youngman, F. (2000). The Political Economy of Adult Education and Development. Global Perspectives on Adult Education and Training. St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 (ISBN: 1-85649-675-9 (hardback), $69.50; ISBN: 1-85649-676-7 (paper) $25).