Monday, November 10, 2014
The Malala Problem
After reading I Am Malala, I am still shocked about the differences
between our life in America and Malala’s life in Pakistan. I know I
have a good life, and that I should be thankful for living in a
democracy and that I receive rights that we as American’s take for
granted such as freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of
assembly and free and fair elections. Malala’s life was just awful.
She was scared to going to school since the Taliban threatened her
life and the lives of others. The only time I have been scared about
school was when I was getting back a test. As a civic engagement
class we need to help Malala’s goal and try to give every person an
education. We need everyone treated fairly, and receive the proper
treatment that an American would receive. We are living in the 21
first century it’s about time that every person gets equal rights.
There is so much I learned from Malala. Whenever I give up hope and
think about how bad things are going, such as school, I think about
Malala and how she is fighting for everyone to get an education. I
think about how she never stopped doing the right thing. When I am
scared to do something because of the uncertainty of the outcome, I
think about Malala and her family being scared for her life every
single day that she and her dad were advocating for women’s education.
Malala is the symbol for hope, freedom and bravery.
From this I learn that even under the most dire circumstances one
should never give up hope. With effort, one can always make a
difference; one should not be scared to stand up for what it is right.
If you stand for nothing you fall for anything and Malala stood for
education and that is something that is very important to both of us.
I learned that age does not matter. The number of followers is less
significant, but with careful work and planning, support is likely to
grow over time, as it did with Ziuddin's school. One can make a
difference at any point in their life. Most importantly, one needs to
believe in them self, just like Malala.
It’s time that Malala learns from the rest of the world. We have
learned a lot from here it's her turn to learn from us. What is the
best way to solve Malala's problem? How can we education to everyone
in the world? Is it by telling Malala’s story? Is it by speaking out
about education? Is it going to rallies and marches to promote
education globally? Is it calling or sending letters to politicians
around the globe?. While I cannot say with certainty that any of these
answers will completely solve the problems of educating the world, I
do know that the only way to find out is to test these solutions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI liked your post because it brought up some points that I often reflect on. Very often do we get caught up with the monotony of our lives and focus too much on the negatives that seem so apparent in our lives. However, reading your post it brings things to perspective.
We live in a country where we have the freedoms that you stated; one in which we are able to stand up for what our conscience tells us. While we are far from perfect, we have it very well off in comparison to others, especially those like Malala. It is important that we always remember what we have when get bogged down by all the burdens in life.
The second point that you bring up that strikes me is education. We live in a society where education is held to a high standard and where everyone receives one. While everyone's education may not be equal, we all have the opportunity in this country to receive it.
Education is what can be describe as an equalizer. Without education, it is very hard to become successful (when I speak of education I don't just mean the traditional sense, but also vocational education). It is inherently important that all people get education, and I think Malala's campaign for it is inspiring.
We need to live in a world where all can receive this education, because not only does it benefit those receiving the education, but it benefits society as a whole. Problems can only be solved when we come together and work together.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you really enjoyed the Malala book and got a lot out of her experiences. I think one of the main points of the memoir project was to not only understand why these people are doing what they are doing, but how we can learn from what they are doing and I think you really got that. Looking at Malala as a sign of hope despite all of the negative aspects going against her is exactly what she probably wanted people to take from her story. I agree that we often take advantage of our privileges as Americans and until you hear a story like this you can't really understand what it's like to not have a right to speak or other rights we have in a democracy. IAs you said it is the 21st century and everyone should be entitled to basic rights, however with an issue as important as education is here, it is often not priority in other parts of the world. like how you looked at this from a global perspective, saying that Malala has taught us and now it is her turn to learn for us. However, I think the world still has more to learn from Malala. Although she must seek help from the rest of the world to accomplish her goal of having education accessible to all I think she already deeply understands how to make change she just can't do it herself. Your questions on how to solve the education problem in Malala's country and other countries like it around the world are important to consider in trying to solve this problem. Although an answer can't easily be met, it is definitely important to share her story and spread awareness to as many people as possible so change can finally be made.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBen – it’s so interesting to read about how much Malala’s story affected you! Similarly, her memoir made me reflect on how easy it is for us to take our right to an education for granted. It is sad to think that we so thoughtlessly attend school while others cannot do so at all. Isn’t that what a right is – something all human beings intrinsically have?
ReplyDeleteJen – I really like your comment on how we can still learn from Malala. Her endless dedication and bravery are truly laudable and qualities we should strive to have. Unfortunately, she is just one girl and fixing this issue will require more than the efforts of Malala alone. You’re right that she must reach out to rest of the world for help, but something that concerns me is that no one will do so if they don’t view it as “their” problem to solve. Thoughts?
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that we should understand what the people we
read about for our memoirs are doing, and how we can learn from their
experiences. These people are upstanding citizens. They are role
models for the world. Jen, you said that you think that education is
not a priority in other parts of the world. Don’t you think that is
a problem? We saw on Wednesday in class that is very hard for a poor
person in the South to get out of their economic class. One of the
reasons for this is that the South does not place high priority on
education, but rather on football. As Professor Campbell pointed out, some
of the highest paid public officials in the South are the college
football coaches. If the South would spend the same amount of money
in football as they do on education, then the public schools would not
be so bad. The same thing could apply in foreign countries if they
would spend as much money on something that is high priority to them
on education, then there would not be this problem. We need to make
education a priority for the rest of the world because we see how
important education is to else.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI think it is good to reflect on your privileges as an American citizen, but it is also crucial to realize that Pakistan is a completely different world, and different does not always mean terrible. As you described Malala's life as "just awful", I did not get the impression after reading the book that that is how she would view her own life, and if she is not describing her life that way, I don't believe others should. Throughout the book Malala expresses a great sense of pride in her country and I don't think would ever describe her circumstances as "awful". While Malala understands that she lives in fear and a loss of human rights, I think we should talk our role as civically engaged people from another country, embody her spirit that she has for her country. We should use our privilege to support her and her educational standpoints instead of labeling and judging her situation.
I do agree with much of your self reflection in the positive characteristics of Malala. She is inspiring to the world and her efforts as a young teen are astounding. In your last paragraph you talk about Malala learning from the world, as much as we have learned from her. In this approach, I think we should not create such a dichotomy, rather we should stand on a united front to combat improper education for all, regardless of their background. If we all work together, then larger and more effective strides can be made to improve social and institutionalized issues all over the globe.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteHelping Malala and people in the position of Malala is not easy. Sending in military may further complicate the issue, and sending money will just cause it to be wasted. The Taliban will take any food items sent, and awareness doesn’t help much, it just makes people feel better about themselves because they are informed. As long as there are people there, there will be conflict. The only way to truly get rid of all the violence in that area would be if all of the people disappeared, and bombing the place until all traces of life are gone is horribly cruel and self defeating since we want to stop the violence and killing, not cause more of it. Asking the people what would be best for them is hard since communicating with them is almost impossible, and many would lie because they are afraid of being killed if they go against the Taliban. The government doesn’t want to help them either, so working with the government is not an option. The only other option would be to send in troops from every corner of the area, fully loaded with tanks, and completely take over the area and immediately kill all Taliban members, and place the area under strict surveillance and lock down. This would mean detaining children or killing them if they are Taliban members (since brainwashing occurs and cannot be removed easily), which is also an issue of ethics. I truthfully do not think the problem can be solved without killing people in some way.
As far as education is concerned, that will not get better until the conflict is gone. Feminism could help this area, since a lot of violence is rooted in misogyny. As important as education is, nothing will change unless there is a regime change and the Taliban are overthrown (by a non-radical group). Stopping the conflict is the most important goal.
Ben- I also read the Malala memoir and I had many of the same feelings that you did. It definitely gave me a chance to reflect on how lucky I was to receive a great elementary and high school education. I attended an all- girls high school and feel that it gave me so many opportunities and really encouraged me to pursue whatever career path I want. I was always encouraged to study hard and go get what I want and throughout the book I found myself thinking about how I’ve taken that for granted.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I also feel like in some ways I feel like we got two totally different messages from the book. Yes, Malala continued to pursue her education even though she feared it may have been a threat to her family, but I never got the impression that she had an awful life. Malala described Swat Valley as a paradise. She had an extremely supportive family, one of the major factors that made it possible for her to speak out for education equality. Throughout the book Malala is so positive and brave and I think that’s why she was so inspiring. I think we need to keep in mind that Malala loved a lot of things about her culture and wasn’t fighting to bring American culture to Pakistan.