I don't think poverty provides that much of an obstacle to education as one thinks. I think the bigger obstacle to education is the fact that it's a very hard thing to do for a first-generation schoolgoer. Because not to have parents at home who can help you, motivate you, is a problem even when the parents are in the abstract very keen on children being educated.
Amartya SenThe anti-globalization movement is one of the biggest globalized events of the contemporary world, people coming from everywhere, ยAustralia, Indonesia, Britain, India, Poland, Germany, South Africaยto demonstrate in Seattle or Quebec. What could be more global than that?
Amartya SenThereยs a clear and strong connection between fertility reduction and womenยs literacy and empowerment, including womenยs gainful employment. If you look at the more than 300 districts of India, the strongest influences in explaining fertility variations are womenยs literacy and gainful economic employment.
Amartya SenIt is also very engaging - and a delight - to go back to Bangladesh as often as I can, which is not only my old home, but also where some of my closest friends and collaborators live and work.
Amartya SenThe understanding that women are not inferior across the world, it's something that you can get from school, not only from the book but also from chatting with other kids. It's a big impact. One of the curious things is that even when - and this we found from studies - the schools are doing pretty badly in terms of their education, about mathematics and literature and language, going to school transformed people because I think the action of schooling, the activity, is very important.
Amartya SenThe governments and the hard-headed military establishment and the general conservative part of America have never taken much interest in democracy, anyway.
Amartya SenThe identity of just one thing, the "clash of civilization" view that you're a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Christian, I think that's such a limited way of seeing humanity, and schools have the opportunity to bring out the fact that we have hundreds of identities. We have our national identity. We have our cultural identity, linguistic identity, religious identity. Yes, cultural identity, professional identity, all kinds of ways.
Amartya Sen