7.5.3 Education
Worldwide, there is a need
for education to shift the balance of power.
The inequality in the world has long been recognised, and recently there
has been a large movement to protest against the large levels of wealth. The financial crisis in the West is a sign
that the current system is unsustainable, and has arguably reached its natural
conclusion. The protest movements
starting with Occupy Wall Street in 2011 spread throughout the world to most of
the major cities and was a clear sign to the authorities that there is
resistance to the current world powers.
It is clear that there is
need for education with in the West, as people become more aware of the
disparities in the world they will make life choices to work towards a
sustainable future. Education in
developing countries will spread knowledge and help to alleviate poverty. It is the role of engineers, with their duty
towards society to be aware of the social problems and use their knowledge and
expertise to educate as well as implement systems and make use of technology to
better the lives of socially disadvantaged both in richer and poorer countries.