From Casual Muse to Podcast and An Invention

During my limited travel around a few countries, I have cursorily noted that a comparatively smaller proportion of the population in Africa and south Asia wear reading glasses. In the attempt to understand why, I consciously avoided the ready answer that limited incomes hinders the purchase of these gadgets in societies with a large number of poor people. My view was maintained by the fact that there is no reason to think that the same proportion of the population in every country should have problems with eyesight and thereby create a demand for reading glasses.

A couple of weeks ago, the Freakonomics Radio featured a show in which an argument was made that the scores of school children could be substantially raised by provision of reading glasses to children with poor eyesight. Still, I did not see that connection but I appreciated the fact that school performance could be raised through what is a non conventional approach. I have had to take back my thinking cap upon reading here of the invention by Prof. Josh Silver. As stated in the Guardian here, he has invented a cheaper and self-adjusting set of reading glasses that would be suitable for correcting eyesight in low income countries.

The simplicity of the gadget is clear and proves once again that one could improve the employment prospects and learning outcomes through the non conventional devices. And I find a perfect connection to my musing, a podcast and an invention So its really true that reading glasses make kids smarter.