Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the UK, referred to reading as a ladder out of poverty. He also said, “It’s not just the joy of reading, father-to-son or in the classroom. It’s also the benefits of reading. It’s probably one of the best anti-poverty, anti-deprivation, anti-crime, anti-vandalism policies you can think of.”
I do not trust politicians, but I agree with Brown about this.
On this blog, I often stress the importance of education in ending poverty and hunger. Education empowers people. It gives them the knowhow to manage their own life and the skills to get jobs that pay enough to avoid or escape poverty.
I believe that people learn the most from reading. I believe that reading educates people more than anything. Formal schooling helps people learn, but even that happens as a result of the texts and books that students read in the school.
People usually only go to school for a small fraction of their life, but they can take on personal reading as a lifetime hobby. School costs a lot of money, but reading costs little to nothing. Many people can go down to a library and get a book for free, or they can hop on the internet and read about nearly anything.
As a society, we need to make sure all people have access to books to read. As individuals, we need to keep reading. Also, we need to encourage children to read and help them read. Doing so will greatly reduce poverty, and it will empower the otherwise disempowered.