education empowers individuals. a firm belief and realization by observing how people around me have grown leaps and bounds by studying, making most of the available opportunities. but over the past few weeks, i also came across some other effects of education.
the best contraceptive is women's education - thats what my economics professor said in class. the context was that world population growth is declining. over the last 3-4 decades, 1 billion people were getting added each decade. but from 2000, it will take 20 years for the next addition of 1 billion people. why because people dont want to reproduce. out of the many quoted reasons, the simplest one is because babies are expensive over their lifetime. this even i realized after working on my wealth management project. if i have to raise two children and ensure good education for them, i have to earn a lot of money. lot more than what i would have earned if i were to become a social entrepreneur in an indian village. but thats for another post. coming back to women and education, apart from the prohibitive cost, women also are delaying reproduction. they have careers to take care of. if they take a maternity leave at such a crucial time, they will have to take a set-back in their career path. and they have landed on this juncture where they have to choose between career and children because of their education.
my dad calls it independence. i told him in a fit of emotion that i dont want to get married. and his response was that the fact i ensured you get good education has now turned back on me. i have given you the choice to make your life but i didnt know it would lead here that this thought of not marrying even crosses your mind. i probably have too many ambitions from life, what i would not have had if i didnt have this exposure, this education. and without the constraints that i do have, i would have probably gone on the route of indulgence, as an independent individual. his mom had a hectic career and as 5 brothers he remembers growing up among his brothers, each one taking care of the other. my mom probably wanted to be a teacher, but it never worked out for her. i have also heard of stories where husbands impregnate their wives just so that they are restricted at home . either they dont trust their wives, or are threatened by them in some way. so the easiest way to restrict their independence is to make them pregnant.
then also think about all those whose arrogance comes from the fact that they have studied at a certain university, scored a certain grade, mugged up and vomitted a certain number of pages. i recently came across an iit-iim guy who could not stop talking about how much he knew, how much he had travelled, how much he had worked, how many marks he had scored, how many interviews he had got. blah blah blah. i had an intellectual headache. same for all the super achieving consultants and bankers who did super important jobs straight after university, got into the best mba colleges in the world and got recruited by the best consultancies and banks yet again. i, me, myself and how much i earn. oh and also how useless and incompetent the rest of the world is. time for another intellectual aspirin.
but i am a firm believer in the empowerment that education brings. but for my education, i would not have even had the luxury of all this criticism based on a statement by my prof at this business school. and just to cit the other perspective, my other prof. ribera even thinks education is the best contraceptive in a good way. women particularly in rural areas suffer from having to give birth to too many children over their lifetime, and not being able to sustain too big a family. in poor households then, maybe education as a contraceptive helps them provide for their children in a better way. for example the awareness that too much of powder milk can dehydrate and even kill a baby. and that breast feeding delays childbirth. small things, but awareness as this goes a long way in balanced growth of a family. just as basic education goes a long way in securing healthy life, balanced diet, hygienic habits. what should children eat, how should they be protected from disease. even increased productivity. if a farmer were to know the importance of crop rotation because of education and not because of trial and error, just imagine how many seasons he would be able to salvage and actually make a positive income? take it one step further. if i can look for recipes and learn how to cook on youtube, a farmer can probably learn how to set-up a compost pit. or find out where to buy a cheap / second-hand generator from. one more step. if they have access to communication on internet and know the political developments, would they be fooled by vote-bank gimmicks so easily?
