Improving Society Through Developing Education
Text by Luo Tao
I was born in a village in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. Dubbed the “land of plenty,” Sichuan is ideal for agricultural development due to its favorable climate and geographical conditions. Therefore, people in the province’s rural areas lead an affluent life, without worrying about shortage of food and clothing. However, not all rural areas in the country are like this.
From 2013 to 2015, I worked as a volunteer teacher at a middle school in a township in Baoshan City, southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. Transportation was extremely inconvenient there. It took about two days to travel from the township to Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province. The township is a vast area, with the remotest village under its jurisdiction being 45 kilometers away from the seat of its authority. Locals led a poor life. Many households lived in shabby structures left behind by earlier generations and eked out a living by selling agricultural produce such as walnuts, corn, sugarcane, tobacco leaves, and pine rosins. Their incomes fluctuated with the prices of the produce. Most youngsters and some middle-aged people who received elementary school or middle school education left their hometown and worked as migrant workers in cities, and the rest survived on farming. Some of them were illiterate, thus lacking the education to find jobs elsewhere. Underdeveloped transportation and education are two main factors that impede the development of local economy and cause poverty.
During my two years there, I visited every village in the township. I realized that lack of education was a major reason behind poverty. The parents of most students I taught there had just about passed out of elementary schools; some never received school education. Thus, they couldn’t provide good family education for their children. Moreover, the poor educational facilities in the area had little to offer those children. Some students quit school without completing elementary education – repeating what their parents did.
It is to be expected, however, that the gap between the rich and the poor will broaden with the advancement of technology. Modern technologies, such as the internet, enable capable individuals to become rich easily and rapidly. Some under 50 years of age have grown into world-class billionaires. Technological development will eliminate some traditional low-tech occupations. For instance, industrial robots could put increasing numbers of migrant workers out of jobs and drive them to poverty.
The young adults are an integral part of the local poor. To some extent, their poverty was “innate” due to the fact of being born into poor families. However, they still have opportunities to shake off poverty as long as they receive good education. These young adults are easy to be educated, and they can become a major force in society. If we provide local children with good education, and more and better options in life, incomes in the township will rise as the children grow up and become the backbone of the local community. In fact, this is what we have long been committed to – transferring excellent educational resources to areas in need and improving local society.