Jun 06
Did you know that Cambodia has a literacy rate of 74 percent? That is considered one of the lowest rates in Asia. Literacy rates are used to determine education quality in each country. However, the primary education completion rate in 2009 was 84 percent and has been slowly increasing. The literacy rate is fairly low …
May 31
In this world, there are those who are privileged and those who are less fortunate. Let’s face the fact that America’s history illustrates its structure of social inequalities. America is full of Americans who have and those who have-not. For example, the way in which women are screened and treated for breast cancer is no …
May 29
In an appearance at the Washington, D.C., Politics and Prose bookstore, Ehrenreich informed an adoring audience that previous attempts she’d made to pitch books about poverty to magazine and book editors had most commonly met with failure. Poverty wasn’t interesting to their readers, the editors had told her. This book, she said, was different; it …
May 01
Social justice, good. Charity, bad. At least that’s always been my philosophy. It’s simple. Straightforward. Easy to follow. Maybe that’s the problem. This personal philosophy first developed sometime around my sophomore year in college. After participating in several break trips, and spending a lot of time reflecting on systemic social problems and injustices, I grew …
Apr 22
Regular readers of this blog will know that Myanmar has long been one of my favorite topics. I’ve written many times, often quite hopefully, about what the future may hold for this isolated country as it begins to open up economically and socially. New president Thein Sein has made serious moves towards reforming the military-ruled country, …
Apr 18
Anne Mahlum is a runner. Always has been. And in the early mornings of spring 2007, you could often find her running the sidewalks of Philadelphia, before heading to work for the day. On her runs, she would pass apartment buildings, businesses, and even a homeless shelter, which was just a couple blocks away. She …
Apr 04
According to a report conducted by the Coalition of the Homeless last month, a record high 50,000 people slept in New York City’s shelters this January. Fifty-thousand people. More people are now homeless in New York City than at any time since the Great Depression. Want to know an even scarier fact? Almost half of …
Mar 07
There are moments which redefine you. Ones that give you a whole new perspective on yourself, your identity, and the world you live in. Such moments force you to reevaluate your values, your beliefs, and everything you have always taken for granted about your life. Last March, one of those moments happened to me. This …
Feb 25
In the 1970s Richard Easterlin wrote an article titled “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence,” in which he described what is now known as the Easterlin Paradox and became the father of happiness economics. The Easterlin Paradox, simply stated, suggests that people do not get happier as they get richer. …
Feb 01
A serious concern to me, and undoubtedly many, is that the words “I can’t find work” or “The Government needs to help us more,” are much too often heard from people living in developing countries like South Africa and Mozambique in Africa and India in Asia, and to lesser extent in developed countries.These words in …
