This document discusses an interdisciplinary approach to addressing socioeconomic inequality through engineering, education, and healthcare. It proposes that by bringing these fields together to focus on improving living conditions, increasing access to education and technology, and promoting healthcare, entire communities and nations can be lifted out of poverty. The framework suggests starting with small, localized projects to experiment with different solutions before expanding efforts. By meeting basic needs and empowering communities, people will be able to help others and strengthen entire societies from the bottom up over generations through collaborative efforts.

1. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 1
Many Hands Make for Light Work:
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Socioeconomic Inequality.
Dane P. Arnold
Texas Tech University
May 2015

2. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 2
Introduction:
One of my biggest strengths is that of an innate technical ability. In my various forms of
employment, I have been tasked with troubleshooting equipment and done so with great success.
In my previous report (Raising the Floor, 2015), I covered the importance of decreasing the gap
of technology availability between the upper class and the lower class. I want to effectively raise
the lower class up from “dirt poor” and past being “technology poor” into an enriched
environment.
Having grown up below the poverty line and experienced the emotional and
psychological turmoil of not having privilege to do what we desired as we were always enslaved
to the dollar that never seemed to be ours. There were many missed opportunities because we
could not afford to move or to travel out of town for summer school programs or take advanced
placement courses. Education available to students worldwide is not equal and is most visible to
us on a nationwide level. In an article by The Washington Post (March, 2015), they outlined the
disparity between wealthy school districts and those that were in lesser developed or dense urban
areas with students in families of little to no income. There are many states that have a “Robin
Hood” program that displaces some tax money gained in richer districts and redistributes it to
those with lower tax income, but some such as in Pennsylvania, had almost $1,500 per student
spending deficit per year. Many students that live below the poverty line come to school already
at a disadvantage compared to middle and upper class. Add a financial disadvantage on top of
that and the richness and quality of the educational environment can be hampered as well.
As a hobby, I modify and tune cars for myself and for others for a little money on the
side. One of the common questions you will see from those new to the community is, “What can
I do to make my car faster or make more power?” This in itself is a very ambiguous question as

3. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 3
there are many ways to accomplish this goal. Without knowing their intentions, budget and
personal skill set, it makes it quite difficult to assist. Usually a person is looking for something
that is as cheap as possible, and this is where the trade-off happens. There is a mantra of “Fast,
cheap, reliable…pick two.” This means that if you want something fast and reliable, it cannot be
cheap. If you want it cheap, you do so at the cost of reliability and performance. In reality it is
more a sliding scale in what some in the business world call the “Iron Triangle” (Flateby, p. 88)
where some aspects are focused on more than others without entirely cancelling out the lesser
option. Unless you have your resume updated and a nice nest egg set aside, providing a low
quality product is never an option and this includes those in political offices. This in itself is a
challenge as when there is a social problem in our country, there seems to be a push for a “quick
fix” to get through the next elective period without any intention of pursuing a long term
solution. I believe a multi-pronged approach to improving the disparity in socioeconomic
inequality may not be an endgame solution, but it may help provide the catalyst that helps bring
about sweeping changes through improved infrastructure, living conditions and education. Just
as the civil rights movement brought about the beginning of change in the sixties but racial
inequality has not been completely eliminated, this is a problem that may not see direct results
this generation.
Literature Review:
Socioeconomic inequality exists due to many reasons, including failures in government
policies, misappropriation of funds, poor oversight, disparity in education, limited access to
technology and proper healthcare/living conditions. Outside of direct government assistance,
humanitarian aid or philanthropy, there has to be the presence of some incentive to attract the
assistance needed to make improvements worldwide. The import focus is that of revamping

4. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 4
communities from the bottom up to the effect that it spreads a positive influence while slowly
choking out oppressive cultural archetypes that were engrained by ruling/governing classes from
well over a century ago. This really is a case of eating the elephant in tiny little bites to the final
goal of achieving socioeconomic equality.
This begs the question to be asked, how can this be accomplished? What can be done to
promote a shift in the way money moves in the world market today? How can we effectively
raise up an entire lower class to a point above the need of relying on government assistance?
Because of the complexity of this challenge, this must be achieved through an interdisciplinary
approach. Not all countries are equal in their needs and inequalities. Some countries like Japan
or Sweden do not have as much of an income disparity between the top 20% and the bottom 20%
as compared to larger economies like the U.S. (Wilkinson, 2011). Targeting economies with
large disparity is the main focus. I have seen so many complain about how taking money from
the rich and giving to the poor is such a bad idea. By empowering the lower class, you can
revamp the entire economy through reduction in dependency on subsidies, handouts and other
aid. By increasing the purchasing power of the lower class, this will increase demand for goods
and services which will increase the drive for expanded industry in more countries. By having
the entire population living above the poverty line, overall quality of life and perceived
happiness is greater. There will be an increased demand in specialized and skilled labor outside
of menial labor. Advances in technology through focused engineering approaches can aid in the
phasing out of manual labor in many aspects, promoting the need for artisans, technicians, and a
skilled workforce in general.
Incorporating Engineering is something I am most familiar with. Having spent a few
years pursuing a degree in this field, I have learned to approach things with an approach of,

5. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 5
“What can I do to make this thing work better?” Using unique approaches to solving problems
or bringing about improvements to existing solutions is something I am keen on doing. Our
class last semester built a tower out of wood with very specific constraints. One thing that the
professor mentioned is no team in the history of the class has succeeded in steaming wood into
an arch. I saw this as a unique challenge even more than the specific limits of the tower itself. I
developed a method to steam the wood using small dowel rods and bent them into an arch on a
board, leaving them to dry into that specific shape. Our team succeeded in both building a tower
design incorporating arches, as well as exceeding the minimum criteria for load to mass ratio.
Incorporating engineering into a socioeconomic approach is important as efficiency, decrease
waste, and maximizing performance are keynote focuses in this field. Engineering can assist in
bringing proper needs and unique solutions to underdeveloped areas that are lower maintenance,
higher efficiency and more durable including the incorporation of local building techniques to
decrease the necessity of training a workforce in entirely new methods of construction.
Healthcare comes into play here as the engineering aspect improves living conditions,
healthcare picks up in the taking care of the needs for educating in nutrition, hygiene and other
subjects that affect people and communities based on lifestyle choices. Vaccinations, dietary
counsel, dental, and training staff as local assistance for aid services is an important job for the
healthcare sector. By promoting and expanding secular healthcare over the use of superstitious
medicines that are derived from endangered species, this can decrease further ecological damage
and encroachment into sensitive ecosystems for the sole pursuit of a placebo.
Education is by and large the most important after the needs of society are met. This
provides a legacy of continued growth, expansion of understanding and capabilities of people in
society and directly increasing access to skilled human capital. I believe that starting with small

6. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 6
communities as primers for larger scale programs will allow for experimentation to see which
approaches succeed the most. The most enticing aspect of this program for those in the upper
20% is that they have the opportunity to present education through academies. I have seen large
companies and research firms establish “feeder” or “seed” schools with the end goal of attracting
and cultivating talent with young, capable minds. To be able to bring about unique solutions on
a worldwide scope, we need to have as many brilliant minds able to work at their best potential.
Connections:
In elementary school, I remember performing an experiment that involved growing one
set of bean sprouts in planters out in the sunlight, with another set of bean sprouts in planters in
the darkness. Both plants grew, but the ones that were placed in the dark were stunted and not
quite as healthy and pale due to a lack of chlorophyll production which aids in converting
sunlight into chemical energy. The ones that received sunlight on top of the nutrients were
healthier, green, and had grown to a taller height with a stronger root complex. This works
closely with that of conditions in the social classes and castes. Low class citizens might get the
food and nutrition and some of the basics, but still not receive that light which the upper classes
might enjoy, with light being education, access to technology, and the width and breadth of the
developmental needs to become successful in this highly competitive world. A person raised in
an environment that promotes growth will tend to have a stronger developmental foundation, a
stronger knowledge base as well as other advantages such as better health. Hypothetically
speaking, they have the potential for their roots to grow deep, and develop into a healthier more
robust person that can thrive in their environment while those that are in lower classes at times
can be stunted, without as much potential and limited for growth. This is very close to the
proverb related to the farmer that scattered seed in fertile soil, and on the rocks. The sun dried

7. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 7
the seeds up that were on the rocks or were lost to the birds as they pecked them from the
ground.
Insights on Engineering:
Just this last year, I remember seeing the film Meet the Mormons (2014) which had
followed an engineer by the name of Bishnu Adhikari. Bishnu had returned to his homeland in
Nepal with the intent to help improve the living conditions in his village. He saw the
underprivileged living conditions and lacking opportunities there and searched for ways to help
others get a chance at the same opportunities he had to live a better life. He has worked for a
wide variety of humanitarian programs and helped oversee the planning and construction of 21
water projects, 33 schools, 900 biogas digesters all in the effort to help bring the Nepalese up out
of poverty (deseret news). This is the type of person that should be recruited for any field of
study for the end goal of improving the lives of others.
Insights on Education:
Education is important and by working hand in hand with engineering and healthcare
professionals, people can develop a stronger knowledge foundation. This can lead to a decrease
in extremist behavior, irresponsible farming and development practices like deforestation, over
farming and exhausting crop areas to the point of failure. Engineers can offer methods of
making it easier for educators to reach out to isolated villages while still from a centralized
location. This allows one educator to cover much more ground with less overhead cost of travel
while still being able to connect to their students as well as colleagues in other areas with similar
focus. Education gives the tools necessary for people to expand their knowledge on their own.
To think for themselves instead of what might be taken at face value as well as learn critical
thinking for further development of their communities.

8. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 8
Insights on Healthcare:
Healthcare and education go hand in hand. Just like traditional tribal medicine
men/women, many basic aspects of proper healthcare and hygiene can be handed down from
generation to generation. It is important to develop a strong foundation and stress the necessity
of proper healthcare to people in underdeveloped communities. A healthy body and mind is
more productive, less prone to secondary infection as well as decreasing the chance of putting
the rest of the community at risk. Better knowledge of how the body works including how
reproduction works can decrease high birthrates and infant death risks through promoting safer
practices and nutritional guidelines.
Engineering, Education and Healthcare cover the important bases of STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering & Math). These are the areas of development many countries are
lacking and therefore considered “backwoods,” or “primitive.” By bringing these fields together
with the focus of making lives better, their success can have a marked impact on humanity as a
whole, especially within the span of a few generations. It is not a one size fits all design like
using a fast food chain like Chick-fil-A, but more like a general recipe like what you would
expect at a Mexican Food restaurant. The fast food chain has the same recipe and products
available at each and every location, whereas the Mexican Food restaurant might have an
enchilada plate but made differently depending upon the location and availability of ingredients.
I am not interested in developing a rigid community improvement chain, I would much rather
give teams a fluid framework to guide them towards improving areas.
Integrative Framework:
Bringing a team together a team of this scope can test some factors to their very limits.
What can the engineers do with materials that are readily available while still maintaining a

9. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 9
safety factor for a dwelling? What is the environmental impact of developing equipment that
gathers scarce resources such as water traps in the Sahara or other locations where there is
extensive labor put into just the effort of finding and gathering water? What will people do with
that spare time gained? Much like the ways of automation and introduction of technology in the
household caused a dynamic shift in the way Women were empowered by being able to focus
their time and talents elsewhere from just being a homemaker, decreasing the labor expended on
tasks for living necessities can increase productivity in other areas. That labor penalty that the
poor have to pay on a daily basis will be eliminated. It took Bishnu’s mother 30 minutes to
retrieve water from a well, imagine how 30 minutes times a few billion people on a daily basis
could change the entire aspect of the world. Think of how much you can learn in 30 minutes a
day, or use that time for other productive tasks that might further improve the world around you
especially when you team up with a group of people in your community at the same time for
those 30 minutes? As the old saying goes, “Many hands make for light work.” This is the
reason I titled my paper as such.
By lifting up a community to an area above being impoverished, they are able to reach
out and help others to become a product of their own efforts, promoting a network of
communities to string together. By doing so, they provide the latticework necessary to bring an
entire nation up to its feet. By having your needs taken care of and feeling secure in that aspect,
you are more likely to reach out to those in need with the efforts of bringing them the same
happiness and quality of living that was brought to you from caring hands of another. We must
effectively pay it forward on a humanitarian level with the desire of helping bring the world
closer together to better solve other complex problems. By ignoring or downplaying the needs of
billions and sacrificing it for the comforts of only a few million people, we are promoting one of

10. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 10
the greatest injustices to humanity. Bringing disciplines together to work on such a profound
problem is important in that these groups can in fact work in synergy not just within their own
team, but within the community to bring about a stronger and more robust development within
these small communities that should last and even thrive over the passing of generations.

11. Running head: MANY HANDS FOR LIGHT WORK 11
References:
In 23 states, richer school districts get more local funding than poorer districts (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/03/12/in-23-states-richer-school-
districts-get-more-local-funding-than-poorer-districts/
Flateby, Teresa L. (2011). Improving writing and thinking through assessment.
Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Richard Wilkinson (2011). How economic inequality harms societies.
https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson
Meet the Mormons [Motion picture]. (2014).
Bishnu Adhikari: The humble humanitarian from Nepal
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700071606/Bishnu-Adhikari-The-humble-
humanitarian-from-Nepal.html?pg=all