Teach a (person) to fish?
“If you give a man a fish, he will be hungry tomorrow. If you teach a man to fish, he will be richer forever.” Indian Proverb
Recently, I heard a religious leader tell a webinar audience that giving food to people on the street “enabled them to stay on the street.” He seemed to be weaponizing the teach-a-man-to-fish adage, in which help is seen as weakening the struggling person, preventing their success.
I graciously beg to differ. By not easing the pain of poverty, we make sure the person cannot escape it.
Let’s take a close look at the fish fable. First, we have a person who does not know that fishing will help them – it has never occurred to them. If fishing is the stand-in for working, all our present-day students already know about it. Even among people who are homeless (who have many obstacles to working), 40 to 60% have a job. Presuming that fishing/working is new to anyone is condescending.
Still, let’s continue our journey. To fish, you need
A fishing rod and reel
Bait or lures
A body of water
A fishing license/ knowledge of rules
In short, it takes resources and access to go fishing. Creativity and grit can overcome many obstacles, yet not everyone has the same access to the waterfront, the opportunities to succeed. For example, take a young Black man who left high school to work when his mother had cancer. He could be a math genius, but his pool of opportunities is limited to his (economically segregated) neighborhood and to what people are willing to offer him.
If we take a more expansive view of “learn to fish” – and have it include mentoring in self-confidence, resource development, soft skills, etc. – then how can we expect all this learning to take place while the person is still hungry? Coping with scarcity takes up mental resources and handicaps a person’s ability to take in new ideas.
Everyone deserves the dignity of working and meeting their own needs. We need to remove, not reinforce barriers to this. When we let hunger go unsatisfied, no one is learning anything.
