We had a very interesting dinner talk with Dr. Dambala Gelo Kutela, a visiting scholar at Cornell, on Thursday of September 7th. He is an economist focusing on the income inequality and the child education opportunity in Ethiopia. We started the talk with he introducing his academic background. I was really impressed to know that despite he started his school at 12 years-old, but he finished primary school in 3 years and middle and high school in 4 years. I can feel his strong learning ability and motivation in his educational background. Then, he talked about his family, his children and his wife, to let us know him better, and we as students also talked about what each of us learns at school, our majors, and our interest.
The most interesting part of this dinner talk is when Dr. Kutela, talked about his research and his insight on the Inequal education opportunity and how it related to the politics and economic systems. He analysed the root cause of this issue and pointed out that the reason of many children unable to receive education, is not that they don’t want to go to school, but the incomplete social educational system that put the burden on each family. Since the predominant producing drive in Ethiopia is agriculture, which is highly versatile to the natural climate changes and seasonal situation. Once the climate is not preferable for agriculture, there will be a huge pressure on the families in the country, due to the lack of social security system. The way he connected the education issues with the economic system really is novel to me, and help me to understand the econ knowledge better as well as knowing what is the problems that are facing in another country, let me reflect upon what I can do, using my knowledge, in the future to change it and make a difference.
How interesting! I know education inequality is an issue, but also to have heard about education is a totally different part of the world (as well as how education connects to the economy in a different part of the world) is definitely something I hadn’t researched a lot about before. Thanks for sharing your insights.
This seems to be similar to the situation in India where kids in poverty must work to help their families put food on the table. I think this connects to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs where once the level of food security is met, communities and families are more likely to send their kids to school. This makes me wonder, maybe school is what should be reformed to fit the needs of these children. Creating a system where school is maybe twice a week and off times will allow kids to attend school and continue their familial duties. I am not sure, but this talk seems very interesting!