Introduction
Human development is the well being of the human beings. The human development is all about expansion of human life richness rather than the actual economy the human thrives in. The dimension of human development focuses on the opportunities and choices made by the human. Considering the people, human development focuses on the improvement of their lives, rather than the assumption that the economic growth will lead (Deneulin & Shahani, 2009, n.p).
Considering the opportunities aspect, then human development is about giving people more freedom to live the lives they please. The three foundations for human development are to live a long, healthy and creative life, to be knowledgeable and to have access to resources which are needed for decent living standards. The human development involves the ease of access to basic needs, which include food, clothing and shelter.
Once the basics of human development are achieved, they open up the opportunities in other aspects of life. Human development is achieved if there is an increase in output in a country, equity, sustainability, productivity, empowerment, cooperation and also security. From a human development perspective therefore, work, rather than jobs or employment is the relevant concept.
Work is the means for unleashing human potential, creativity, innovation and spirits. It is important in making the human lives productive, worthwhile and meaningful. Work enables human to earn a living, gives him means to participate in society, provides him with security and gives them a sense of dignity.
Work is thus inherently and intrinsically linked to human development (Kohlberg,1963, n.p). A job is just a narrow concept with a set of predetermined time-bound assigned tasks or activities in an output/input framework with labour as input and a commodity or a service as an output. For instance, in an established industry for producing commodities like computers, human being is the labour and the computer produced is the output. The output produced is purposely meant to ease the work for the human for the sake of his development.
The relationship between parents and their children has existed since time immemorial and still even today, the parents are striving to foster great children development. The only important investment a parent has to do their children is through educating them. Educating children is the only sure way that the children will have a promising future where they will be able to secure jobs and run their businesses successfully.
Research done in the United States shows that almost half of all children live in low-income families. The research suggests that there exist critical connection between parent well being and the child’s emotional, physical, economic well being, as well as the connection to the child’s educational and workforce success. No matter the case, parents have to give up on their current spending so as financing their children’s education. Studies show that families are paying a significant part of their earnings for child care. Some parents still struggle in the process of paying and upbringing their children (Economist, 2004, n.p).
Studies show that a four-year college costs approximately 22000 dollars per year. Some parents will not be able to reach that target since they make around 25000 dollars per year, leaving them stranded and being unable to educate their children. On the other hand, these parents can be helped to educate their children by the society. This will include offering scholarships, and also increasing the student loans with less interest charges. The ultimate aim of education is to develop autonomy of learning among the majority of citizens so that society as a whole becomes a learning society.
In a learning society, everyone learns and also teaches others throughout the life. The level of people’s education, intensity of their aspiration and energies, quality of their attitudes and values, skills and information all affect the extent and pace of development (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, n.p). Therefore, creating a learned society brings about human development, since through schools and colleges, people learn new skills which helps in the developing their society. Lifelong learning is a process that involves purposive and directed learning. Individuals set goals and objectives which they pursue by any means possible to help them become important people in the society. Thus in general, creating a learned society facilitates human development.
Human development is achieved through production of goods to the society. This calls for the existence processing and manufacturing industries where individual are employed to offer services and produce goods. Manufacturing processes avail a variety of goods and services that help improve the lives of the people. On the other hand this human freedom on the manufacturing of items has a negative effect on the environment.
Human development comes with the different environmental risks. Environmental risks vary with the human development levels. The poor countries tend to face household environmental deprivation such as indoor air pollution and inadequate sanitation whereas those in the rising economise faces the environmental risks with the effects such as urban air pollution due to industries. Industries emit gases which have effect on the human health. The greenhouse gas emission tend to have global effect and rising in the global temperatures. The human health is a threat due to these gases and the general pollution.
Air pollution kills more people in the countries which are more industrialized. The environmental related diseases like acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea results from the dirty and infected water from the industries which emit chemicals and direct them are the major cause of global warming (Deneulin, 2009, n.p). Despite the fact that human beings are doing all they can to improve their living standards through industrial development, the fact remains that they impact negatively on the environment and causes significant damages to the environment by polluting the air using poisonous industrial gases and polluting water bodies (Kumar, 2006, n.p).
Conclusion
The human development is all about expansion of human life richness rather than the actual economy the human thrives in. Enlarging people’s choices is achieved by expanding human capabilities and functioning. At all levels of development the three essential capabilities for human development are for people to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable and to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living. If these basic capabilities are not achieved, many choices are simply not available and many opportunities remain inaccessible.
Human development is about educating the mass and especially the children so that they will have a great future in which they will depend on themselves and help the society and the world generally. Parents should give up on their current spending so that they can finance the education of their children. Human development is all about making the world human is living in much comfortable and more standard.
Human does all this by setting up industries for commodities production, and also engage in farming activities, which also include setting up green houses. On the other hand, as much as a lot of people will argue that human development and globalization is important and gives rise to new industries and the general human life being improved, it should never be forgotten the cost the it comes with.
Considering the education aspect, it is evident that education is very important for human development and government in general but on the other hand, parents incur a lot when educating their kids. As seen earlier, studies done show that a four-year college costs approximately 22000 dollars per year. Some parents will not be able to reach that target since they make around 25000 dollars per year, leaving them stranded and being unable to educate their children.
Also, industrialisation is a great accomplishment but on the other side it has a lot of repercussions ranging from the environmental to the health problems. As stated earlier, industries emit gases which affect the respiratory organs for humans and also bring about deadly diseases which eventually lead to death. Water bodies are polluted and also the air. The ultimate effect is the global warming.
The human development comes with its coast, some being negative while others positive. It is only possible to allow reasonable costs to achieve the optimum human development, without harming the environment or the human race. The energy and aspiration of people who seek development forms the motive force that drives development. People’s awareness may decide the direction of development. Their efficiency, productivity, creativity, and organizational capacities determine the level of people’s accomplishment and enjoyment.
References
Deneulin, S., & Shahani, L. (2009). An introduction to the human development and capability approach: Freedom and Agency. London: Earthscan.
Heckman, J. J. (2014). The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility. The University of Chicago.
Kumar, A. (2006). Human development and natural resources. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
The Economist. (2004). Diversity and development | The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/2926697
Sengupta, K., & Sengupta, K. (2010). Human development: a Multi-dimensional approach to human well-being. New Delhi: Concept Pub. Co.
United Nations Development Programme. (1994). Human development report 1994. New York: Oxford University Press for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP.
Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children’s orientations toward a moral order. Human Development, 6(1-2), 11-33.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental psychology, 22(6), 723.
Ul Haq, M. (1994). Reflections on human development (No. HDOCPA-1994-11). Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American psychologist, 32(7), 513.