Education vs. infrastructure

Hypothetical: You come stumble into a developing nation just hit with a disaster. The plight of the people moves you to act. You have millions of dollars and time at your disposal. What do you do?

A particular planet money podcast, referenced once already in a previous post, has had me thinking a lot about this sort of scenario. “Education is key to bringing these people to a greater level of independence and prosperity.” I would argue that is not sufficient enough to be true.

What good is calculus to a girl who hauls water for six hours a day for her family?

The education, one might argue, would allow her to leave and move on to bigger and better things, but would she be able to leave as long as the family depends on her for getting the water?

The Planet Money episode I refer to centers around one man’s attempt to build a school for a town in Haiti devastated by the earthquake. Originally, listeners raised about $3000 for the town to build it’s own school, but that money was used up before a foundation was fully laid. A volunteer with a long career in construction and planning then tried his hand. Ultimately, the school was built, but it took longer, cost more, and was tremendously scaled back from the original, but still modest beginnings.

People developed the use of roads and trade long before literacy became commonplace. Is it foolish to prioritize education over infrastructure? One of the main reasons the school took so long and had to have it’s scope of work reduced is that there was not sufficient industry to supply them with raw materials, nor roads to transport those materials to them.

There is the obvious trap that this is a guy living in a developed nation discussing solutions for developing nations, generalizing over a complex set of situations unique to each country. But, even industrial revolutions tend to happen before education becomes a priority.

There is also a need for balance, you can’t  focus solely on education or infrastructure, which is really what I worry is going on now. I also don’t think this contradicts my previous views on mission trips (though I had to stop and work on that for a bit). The best kind of trip involves education of the people going, while they help rebuild.