Project336fall2024
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CUNY Lehman College**We aren't endorsed by this school
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SOC 336
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Sociology
Date
Dec 21, 2024
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SOC 336 Final ProjectName: Idaliz OrtizMy countriesHigh incomeUnited StatesUpper middle incomeThailandLower middle incomeHondurasLower incomeUgandaWhy I chose the countries that I did: I chose the countries that I did because I have wanted to visit Thailand since I started learning themartial art Muy Thai. I wanted to attend an intense training program and competition in Thailand. I chose Honduras and Uganda because of people that I have met from these countries and my curiosity of what their home countries are like.1
Provide information about each country from the World Inequality Database in Education, including population, gross national income per capita, and population below $3.20 a day. Find information from the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/), including urban population, mother’s mean age at first birth, total fertility rate (all under “People and Society”) and government type (under “Government”). If the information is missing just put “missing” in the spotHigh Income Country’s NameUnited StatesPopulation341,963,408Gross national income per capita$65,880.00Population below $3.20 per day2% (2016)Urban population83.3%Mother’s mean age at first birth27 yearsTotal fertility rate1.84 children born/women Government typeConstitutional federal republicUpper middle Income Country’s NameThailandPopulation69,920,998Gross national income per capita$18,520.00Population below $3.20 per day1% (2018)Urban population53.6%Mother’s mean age at first birth23.3 years Total fertility rate1.54 children born/ women Government typeConstitutional monarchyLower middle Income Country’s NameHondurasPopulation9,529,188Gross national income per capita$5,510.00Population below $3.20 per day30% (2018)Urban population60.2%Mother’s mean age at first birth20.3Total fertility rate2.33 children born / womenGovernment typePresidential republicLower Income Country’s NameUgandaPopulation49,283,041Gross national income per capita$2,210Population below $3.20 per day70% (2016)Urban population26.8Mother’s mean age at first birth19.4Total fertility rate5.17 children born/womanGovernment typePresidential republic2
Discussion of your impressions of the countries and comparison of the countries, based on the information you retrieved:The income disparities are insane—even the difference between the US and Thailand is outrageous. Even more outrageous is even with the income advantage it is incredibly difficult to live comfortably in many places in the United States. I also noticed the lower the income the more children are born and the younger the mothers mean of age was as well. It is very incredible that I cannot buy lunch with $3.20 yet 70% of Uganda makes that in s a day and possibly even less.Outcomes1. Never went to schoolCountry nameYearAverageMalesFemalesHigh incomeUnited States20200%0%0%Upper middleThailand20191%1%0%Lower middleHonduras20191%1%1%Lower incomeUganda20193%4%2%Compare the “average” percent who never went to school across the four countries:The greatest disparity came from Uganda. 3% of children are shown to have never gone to school while in Thailand and Honduras 1% never went and in the US 0% never went, Compare the males and females within each of the four countries:In Uganda 4% of males never went to school and 2% of females never went to school. In Thailand 1% of males never went to school while 0% of females never went to school.Compare the differences between males and females across the four countries (for example,is there a bigger gender gap in your low-income country than your high-income country?):It appears that generally speaking a very small percentage of respondents never went to school. However, in the United States 0% of males never went to school and in Uganda 4% of males never went to school.3
2. Primary school completion rateNOTE- If there are two rates given, put both of them here. If there is just one rate, fill it in on theline numbered “1”Country nameYearAverageMalesFemalesHigh incomeUnited States20201.100%2.1.100%2.1.100%2.Upper middleThailand20191.99%2.1.100%2.1.99%2.Lower middleHonduras20191.89%2.1.86%2.1.92%2.Lower incomeUganda20191.27%2.1.19%2.1.37%2.Compare the “average” primary school completion rate across the four countries (if there are two rates given, discuss both):The average primary school completion has disparities from each class. The United States has 100% completion rate while Uganda has an astonishing 27% of completion rate. Thailand and Honduras has a 20 % difference with Thailand at a 99% completion and Honduras at 89%.Compare the males and females within each of the four countries:With the exception of Thailand, in all the other countries I selected, females had a higher completion rate with females at 99% and males at 100%. In Uganda 37% of females completed primary school and only 19% of males completed it. In Honduras, females had a 92% completion rate while males had 86% completion rate.Compare the differences between males and females across the four countries:It is quite alarming that 100% of females in the United States completed primary school while only 37% of females in Uganda completed primary school. 100% of males completed primary school in the United States yet only 19% of males completed school in Uganda. The 2ndlargest difference comes is between Honduras and Uganda, 92% of females completed primary school to Uganda 37%. For males the disparity is from Honduras at 86% completion rate to 19% in Uganda. 4
3. Higher education attendance(use “Tertiary Completion” for the United States)Country nameYearAverageMalesFemalesHigh incomeUnited States202045%40%51%Upper middleThailand201928%24%33%Lower middleHonduras20194%4%5%Lower incomeUganda20197%4%9%Compare the “average” higher education attendance/tertiary completion rate across the four countries:Compare the males and females within each of the four countries:Compare the differences between males and females across the four countries:5
4. Less than 4 years of schoolingCountry nameYearAverageMalesFemalesHigh incomeUnited States20160%0%0%Upper middleThailand20190%0%0%Lower middleHonduras20190%0%0%Lower incomeUganda20198%9%7%Compare the “average” less than 4 years of schooling across the four countries:Stunningly the averages in every country but Uganda is 0% so the vast disparity is in the 8% average of respondents that completed less than 4 years of schooling.Compare the males and females within each of the four countries:In Uganda less females completed less than 4 years of schooling at 7% while 8% of males completed less than 4 years of schooling. Compare the differences between males and females across the four countries:No data to compare Uganda to. 6
International EducationalInequalityOverview of this Unit Global Education Goals (“Sustainable DevelopmentGoal 4” reading) Progress toward the goals Obstacles ahead “Global education after COVID-19” reading “Where are the girls?” reading “High Price of Education in Sub-Saharan Africa”reading Instructions on final project2Global Education Goals7
In 2015, all member nations of the United Nationsagreed to 17 different Sustainable DevelopmentGoals to be achieved by 2030. Goal #4 is to ensure inclusive and equitable qualityeducation and promote lifelong learningopportunities for all. Within that goal, there are 10 targets that are meantto be achieved by 2030.310 Targets for Sustainable Development Goal #4 Note that these are abbreviated. To see the full targets,visithttps://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4#targets_and_indicators8
1. Ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitableand quality primary and secondary education 2. Ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality earlychildhood development, care and pre-primary education sothat they are ready for primary education. 3. Ensure equal access for all women andmen toaffordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiaryeducation, including university410 Targets for Sustainable Development Goal #4 4. Substantially increase the number of youth and adultswho have relevant skills for employment, decent jobs andentrepreneurship9
5. Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensureequal access to all levels of education for the vulnerable,including persons with disabilities 6. Ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion ofadults, both men and women, achieve literacy andnumeracy510 Targets for Sustainable Development Goal #4 7. Ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skillsneeded to promote sustainable development. 8. Build and upgrade education facilities that are child,disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all10
9. Substantially expand globally the number ofscholarships available to developing countries forenrolment in higher education 10. Substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers,especially least developed countries and small islanddeveloping States6Progress toward the Targets: Effect of Covid The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic onschooling is a‘generational catastrophe’. Before the pandemic, progress made wasalready slow andinsufficient to reach the SDG education targets. School closures brought by the pandemic have had11
devastating consequences for children’s learning andwellbeing. Hundreds of millions of children and youth arefalling behind in their learning, which will have long-termimpacts.7Progress toward the Targets: Effect of Covid The most vulnerable children and those unable to accessremote learning are at an increased risk of never returningto school, and even being forced into child marriage orchild labor. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, under an optimisticscenario of accelerated commitment and progress,countries could have halved the learning poverty rate by12
2030. New projections suggest that because of thepandemic it will take until 2034 to do so. Under a morepessimistic scenario assuming “business asusual,” withcountries making improvements at their current pace, itwould take until around 2055.8Reading: The Sustainable Development Goals Report2023 Countries were already far behind where they weresupposed to be and then COVID madeeverything worse. Between 2015 and 2021, worldwide primary schoolcompletion increased from 85 to 87 per cent, lowersecondary completion rose from 74 to77 percent and upper13
secondary completion grew from 53 to 58 per cent.However, the pace of improvement was significantly slowerthan the 2000-2015 period. Sub-Saharan Africa is especially far behind.9Reading: The Sustainable Development Goals Report2023 Despite the aspiration of universal secondary school completion, onlyone in six countries aims to achieve this goal by 2030 based on theirnational targets. We are not making fast enough progress toward universal minimumreading proficiency. According to national education targets, thepercentage of students attaining basic reading skills by the end ofprimary school is projected to rise from 51 per cent in 2015 to 67 percent by 2030. However, an estimated 300 million children and young14
people will still lack basic numeracy and literacy skills by 2030. Slow progress in early-childhood/pre-primary education Sub-Saharan Africa is especially behind Pre-primary education is not free in many countries.10Reading: The Sustainable Development Goals Report2023 One in four primary schools globally lacks basic services like electricity,water, sanitation and handwashing facilities. Access to computers, theInternet and disability-adapted facilities is even lower, with fewer thanone in two primary schools having access, on average. Regions with thelowest access to basic facilities include Central and Southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2020, more than 14 per cent of teachers were still not qualifiedaccording to national norms, with considerable disparities between15
countries and across regions. Sub-Saharan Africa faces the biggestchallenge, with the lowestpercentages of trained teachers in pre-primary (60%), primary (69%) and secondary education (61%) amongall regions.11The Importance of Education A child born to a mother who can read is 50% morelikely to survive past age 5. Each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces theprobability of infant mortality by 5% to 10%. Children of educated mothers are more likely to bevaccinated and less likely to be stunted because ofmalnourishment.16
12Poverty is one of the main reasons children are beingleft out of school The world’s 500 richest people havea combined incomegreater than the world’s 416 million poorest people. 2.5 billion people live on less than $2 a day, accounting for40% of the world’s population but only 5% of its income. Less than 1% of the world’s gross domestic product - $300billion - would lift 1 billion people out of poverty. Thisamount represents 1.6% of the income of the richest 10% ofthe world’s population. Each additional year of schooling raises average annualgross domestic product (GDP) growthby 0.37%.17
13From the UNESCO website 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if allstudents in low-income countries left school withbasic reading skills- equivalent toa 12% cut in worldpoverty. $16 billion a year in aid would send all children toschool in low-income countries. This is about half the amount Americans and Europeans spendon ice cream annually ($31 billion)14Dropping Out Many kids in developing countries drop out ofprimary school Difficulty in getting to school18
Expenses: lunch, uniforms, examination fees Quality of education is often poor – parents need to hire tutors Time in school is time not working for family’s wellbeing Those who do stay often don’t continue to secondaryschool In poor countries, job prospects don’t increase too much with a10thgrade education as compared to a 5thgrade education15Education Quality Problems Education For All 2013-2014 Monitoring Report: “Access[to education] is not the only crisis – poor quality is holdingback learning even for those who make it to school.“ An estimated 250 million children are not learning basic19
reading and math skills, according to the report, eventhough half of them have spent at least four years in school. Many developing countries have rapidly increased theirteacher numbers by hiring people without training. Thismay help get more children into school but it putseducation quality in jeopardy.16Additional Issues The focus on getting children enrolled in primaryschool has ignored other major educational issues,including literacy and adult education, in developingcountries. In some contexts, the presence of female teachers is20
crucial to attract girls to school and improve theirlearning outcomes. Yet women teachers are lackingin some countries with high gender disparity inenrollment, such as Djibouti and Eritrea.17“Education Response and Recovery During and After COVID-19” COVID-19 has brought about the longest school closuresworldwide in decades Some children may not return to school at all School closures and the resulting disruptions to schoolparticipation and learning are projected to amount to lossesvalued at $10 trillion in terms of affected children’s future21
earnings. Schools are also a site for nutritional and health support,and with their closure, children’s wellbeing is in danger.18“Education Response and Recovery During and After COVID-19” Three organizations – UNESCO, UNICEF, and the WorldBank – have joined together on a mission: To enable allchildren to return to school and to a supportive learningenvironment, which also addresses their health andpsychosocial well-being and other needs, by the end of 2021 There are three priority areas in thismission: 1. All children/youth are back in school and receiving tailored services tomeet their learning, health, wellbeing, and other needs.22
2. All children receive support to catch up on past learning. 3. All teachers are prepared and supported to address learning lossesamong their students and to incorporate digital technology into theirteaching.19“Education Response and Recovery During and After COVID-19” The article lists specific challenges, areas of action,and targets and indicators for each of these goals –be sure to review them. The three organizations (UNESCO, UNICEF, and theWorld Bank) plan to work at both the country leveland the global level to achieve the mission. The article says they will assess how well the goals23
have been met in early 2022. How did they do?https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/learning-recovery-education-transformation20“Where are the girls, and Why it matters as schools reopen” Article from UNICEF (United Nations InternationalChildren’s Emergency Fund – currently known asUnited Nations Children’s Fund) In recent decades, gains have been made in girls’education around the world, but there is still a lot ofprogress needed. Additionally, COVID has createda lot of setbacks.21“Where are the girls, and Why it matters as schools reopen”24
“Girls face multiple vulnerabilities that inhibit their ability toaccess a basic education: risk of child marriage, earlypregnancy, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation,sexual exploitation and child labour. All these barriers are heightened during crises. Indeed,previous emergencies suggest that girls are at elevatedrisk of dropping out of school.” When schools closed and children were at home, girls facedmore pressure to prioritize householdchores and childcare.22“Where are the girls, and Why it matters as schools reopen” There is evidence of a gender gap inre-enrollment already.In Kenya, boys have a 92% re-enrollment rate compared to84% of girls.25
UNICEF says: “Every reopening andrecovery plan mustapply an equity and inclusion lens. We need to ask not justwhat children need to re-engage in education, butspecifically, what do girls need?” It is especially important to get girlsenrolled in secondaryeducation. Review the examples of Ghana, South Sudan, andZimbabwe and what they are doing for girls’ education.23“The High Price of Education inSub-Saharan Africa” About 42 percent of Ugandans live below the poverty line ofUS$2.15 per day (about $785 per year). The cost of sending a child to schoolin Uganda varies from26
US$168 for government schools to US$420-680 for privateschools. Over half (54 percent) of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa arevery worried about paying school fees, and 29 percentname school fees as their biggest financial worry. Even if schooling is free, there are still costs: uniforms,exam fees, books.ConclusionsWhat have you learned from looking at the data? Are differences in educational outcomes bigger between countries of different income levels, or between gender groups within a specific country? Do you have thoughts about the specific countries that you studied and the educational outcomes that they reported? What are your broader thoughts on educational inequality worldwide? Discuss your findings as they relate to the readings fromNovember 4. 27