Why poverty? Feb. 24

Bellwrite #52: Why is there poverty in the world? Why is there such economic inequality between countries?

We had a lengthy discussion of the causes of poverty. Students suggested the following possibilities:

• limited resources
• lack of education/training
• laziness
• corruption in government and business
• greediness
• overpopulation

There was some discussion over whether or not the world truly has limited resources or if, instead, the world has plenty of resources but poor distribution of those resources to when/where they are needed. In this sense, distribution is not meant to mean a handout, but the means by which resources get transported and accessed. This distribution question is connected to the question of overpopulation. The reasoning behind the overpopulation argument is that there is only so much cake and everyone wants a piece of it, but there are too many people to satisfy everyone's needs. Thus, the question of limited resources is an important one. Local scarcity may be better understood in terms of distribution since that suggests a solution other than jumping to overpopulation.

This discussion of poverty will continue as we work on our new unit on New Imperialism and the Industrial Revolution. We will look at some of the historical and economic arguments about the causes of poverty. Students will need to be able to give a well reasoned, principled argument about the causes of poverty. Furthermore, they will be developing a social entrepreneurship project proposal. More details to come.

Homework:

• Students should discuss the causes of poverty with their parents tonight. They should return to class tomorrow prepared to draw a diagram/model representing the causes of poverty. What are the root causes? What are the symptoms?
• Media essay due tomorrow.