It is very important to try to understand the world and the nature of poverty, in order to grasp the content and context for many of the topics you will encounter in this course. It is also important to understand that great strides have been made in ending extreme or absolute poverty. Kristoff’s essay may surprise many of you, but what he reports is true. Rosling’s video on “How not to be ignorant about the world” should help prepare you for your discussion. How ignorant of the world were you? What surprised you the most? Discuss your perceptions of the reality of ending extreme poverty after reading the two Gate’s annual letters and viewing “Don’t Panic-End Extreme Poverty by 2030. Point out the difference between extreme poverty and relative poverty. Why is ending poverty so important to a country’s economic development? Talk about the historical data that points this out and what economic transitions look like when extreme poverty is ended. (See Two Hundred Years of Global Development.) What are the challenges to ending extreme poverty by 2030? Finally, looking at the video on Bangladesh, why is so much of the efforts to end extreme poverty focused on mothers and their children? https://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/ https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/Resources-and-Media/Annual-Letters-List/Annual-Letter-2014