“The Price of Going to Class”
Dexter Filkins in Kandahar, Afghanistan
February 2009
February 2009
Directions: Use the article, “The Price of Going to Class,” to examine the role/importance of education in society today.
1. Analyze the importance of education to the girls of Afghanistan. Use quotes from the article to reinforce your viewpoint.
2. Based on your knowledge of Social Studies and the article, explain why the pursuit of education should be an unalienable right, especially in today’s society.
The Price of Going to Class
In Afghanistan, the basic right of an education can be ripped from young women in an instant.
ReplyDeleteWhile walking to school, something most girls can do without worrying about being ATTACKED, a young girl was sprayed with battery acid, marring her face forever. There was later several more attacks on innocent woman, just for daring to learn. For daring to overstep their "boundaries".
Most Afghan women never had the opportunity to get an education because the Taliban forbade it, along with other basic rights for women. But by sending their children to school, they are able to defy the Taliban's strict rule, even in a small way.
In today's society, education should be an unalienable right because without it, it's almost impossible to get a good job. Without a good job, you earn no money, you cannot support your family, and you cannot live life the way you would with a good-paying job.
These girls, and others in their situation, should be able to do something as small as walk to school without being physically and emotionally scarred for wanting to learn.
*Madison Hines
DeleteI think you said that perfictly. If women can't get a good education, can we really exspect thier econemy to get off the ground? These girls are taking one of the first small steps twards a better future for thier children's children.
Delete"The people who did this to me don't want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things." says 17-year-old Shamsia Husseini after being sprayed with acid by men opposing women education. Shamsia is only a few of the many girls wanting to get an education in Afghanistan. "My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed." Shamsia shows no fear in pursuing what might be her greatest achivement in life. She knows education is key to a succesful future.
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ReplyDeleteThese girls go through public humiliation, life long scares, and the worst, the thought of not being safe. All these girls want is an education so that they can do more than cook and clean. They are not trying to over rule anything, they want to be able to say they can read and write, do simple math. Gods creations are all equal, so why are women in the middle east treated with no respect? They call it religion, but it's sexism. What makes you different then a girl? A Y chromosome? The government is just now starting to intervene in all of this chaos. These girls have more balls than anyone I know, they continue to fill the classrooms, over flowing them to wear they use tents as classes. These girls should be allowed to go to school without fearing for their lives. The courage they show is outstanding and unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteYou said it perfectly, its sexism, but it's also brutal cruelty! I cant understand how someone could do this to another human being but especially a little girl. Some of these girls so young that they are just now adjusting to sleeping in their own bed at home and grown men are coming around and scarring them and potentially killing them. How could a man live with himself knowing that? How would they feel if it was the other way around and they wanted their girls to go to school and they have been killed walking into the front entrance of the school?
DeleteWhen I first read this article I was amazed of how dedicated these girls are to receive an education. Something that many of us take for granted.many girls are being terrorized into staying home to avoid them from going to school. A 17 year old girl named Shamsia Husseini was disfigured by battery acid the Taliban threw at here for going to school.even though that happened she was still determined to to learn and get an education. " My mother told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed" say Shamsia.There are many wounded girls walking the streets of Afghanistan. About 1,300 of these girls returned to the classroom. These girls want to learn how to read and write they want to make something of their selves in a place were women don't have many rights. The Taliban's brutal attacks have put fear in most women. More then 80% of women in Afghanistan are illiterate. My blessings go out to these girls like Shamsia who are willing tk loose everything for their education.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I believe these girls do not want to become a statistic, they want to show that it wouldn't kill anyone if they could write to people or enjoy literary. I think these men are control freaks that don't deserve to go to heaven, I don't know how their religion works, but Im sure Allah would not approve. These man do not even have respect for themselves, and I hope one day when they are creating their contraction of battery acid it just so happens to splash completely on their face. I want them to feel the hurt and rage they've given these girls. These girls are probably motivated to go to school more! They have nothing else to lose, why not gain? Go get the education of your dreams!
DeleteBeing brave enough to walk the path that you have been disfigured or almost killed and still could be killed everyday to get an education to change your life is something probably almost nobody could do. This is an everyday battle for the girls in Afghanistan. Mere children and young adult females are horrifically damaged because they want to be able to read the signs down a street or write a letter to a friend but in doing so they are "out of their place" supposedly to the men there in Afghanistan."The people who did this to me don't want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things." said Shamsia. A women's job is to cook,clean and obey to the husband as its said but that isn't what they want, so why is it a big deal for them not to be able do the traditional roles and simply be able to read a book to their siblings or children?
ReplyDeleteThe women of Afghanistan are so determined to go to school that they are willing to endure things like battery acid being sprayed on their face. Even though this causes mental and physical pain, they keep trying to go back to school. I admire them for this. There are some days that I don't want to get up and go to school, and when I do head off for school, there is nothing stopping me. These women have a whole country trying to stop them. There are some students that would leave school in a heartbeat if they could, just because they don't like it. If Afghan women had the chance to walk in an American teenagers shoes, I think they would be overjoyed. I think that everyone at Bryan High and every other school in America should think about all that these women have to go through to have an education the next time we think about cutting class.
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ReplyDeleteBeing attacked while going to school! Now this is outrageous that when you mind your own business and getting attacked by the taliban and get put away and never get to see your family ever again and have to live in captivity. WOW I am glad I dont have to worry about all of that mess.
ReplyDeleteIn America we believe in equal rights. Men do not over rule us women, they are our equivalent. Yet not all places are the same. For example in Afghanistan the girls have a life expectancy of 43 years, while in the US girls have one of 81 years. This is caused by the men terrorizing them into staying home, but still they keep on going to school trying to get an education. As Shamsia says, "the people who did this do not feel the pain of others." They will die to get an education, but what do we Americans do? We drop out, we think education is a waste of time we go to school but don’t bother learning. Yet here these girls are going to school even though the men throw toxic at them scaring them for life. “My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed," says Shamsia.
ReplyDeleteThe resurgance of the Taliban after most United States troops left is tragic. After the Taliban returned in 2006 they began to enforce their ideas again, one such idea is that girls should not be educated. They even payed people $1,275 for each woman or girl they sprayed with acid. This is horrible because they are hurting people who want to better themselves, futhermoore they are in truth hurting themselves as well. It's also hurting America along with the rest of the world. I say this because every person who is educated and grows up helps us advance a little further. Who knows, maybe one of the brave girls in Afghanistan could find a room temperature super conductor, or a cure to cancer. More than four fiths of the women in Afghanistan are illiterate. The Taliban wants to keep it this way, for with edjucation comes thinking, thinking is how ideas are made, and an idea can do almost anything, even topple an orginazation or a government such as the Taliban. I respect what so many girls are doing and hope that it leads them to freedom.
ReplyDeleteThese girls are truly brave human beings. They risk their life on a day to day basis just to go to school. The pursuit of education should be an unalienable right. 80 percent of Afghanistan women are illiterate. There are many forced and underaged marriages in Afghanistan. Even if these girls were to escape from their husband's there is not much for them. Without proper eduction there are not many jobs to get. The pursuit of education should be an unalienable right. Out of all the restrictions taken from Afghan girls education is one of the worst. These girls need an eduction so they can have a future.
ReplyDeleteThe girls who strive to improved their lives in the future are an insperation to me. These girls risk their lives everyday to gain the education that they want. No mattter how many times these girls are threaten or hurt, their dreams are more important to them. Shamsia was burned with battery acid, the injures are so bad she might need plastic surgery if she ever want the scars and burns to dissapear from her face. Even though Shamsia has been harmed, everyday she gets up and walks to school. If Shamsia, and all the other girls, contiune to follow their hopes, their dreams will come true.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad how many people here at school take their eduction for granted. Here we are hardly ever hurt, or worse get sprayed with acid. Yet people slack off, and some don't even show up to class. Then there are girls like Shamsia you risk their lives just to go to school.
DeleteWomen in Afghanistan have about a 20% literacy rate and die before the age of 50 on average, compared to the US where the life expectancy is 81. Under the Taliban rule women were not even allowed to go to school or work out of the house. Even when the Taliban was thrown over they made attacks on girls going to school trying to get a decent education. There have been numerous attacks on them, some were sprayed or splashed with acid. The people disfiguring the women were paid over a thousand dollar for every one.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one way to describe the girls of Mirwais School and that is brave. No matter what the Taliban tried to do to keep them from the school they still went. Battery acid couldn't stop them because they are determined to make a better future for themselves. Not only do they want it, but their parents want it too "My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed." Maybe it is a bit extreme for Americans, but Afghani girls in actuality have to face this. What we take for granted these girls have to fight for everyday. This make me grateful for the education I receive, and the rights that I have, that they are wrongfully denied. Education is the key for Afghani women's first steps to equality.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Cristina. Going to school is such a simple right that everyone in the United States has, yet so many people skip school, act inappropriate when they're there, or don't show up at all! But if only they knew what Afghani women are put through just to go to school! You would think that the men would at least grant them the right to have an education but no, they can't even give them that. I hope the women of Afghanistan eventually win the rights to everything that a man is so easily given in that region.
DeleteIt amazes me what these girls would do just to better themselves and get an education. Here in the United States, most people seem to take school for granted. These women would love to have the oppertunity to go to school for half the amount of time we do.
ReplyDeleteIt's absolutley absurd that they are so sexist against women in the Middle East. How do they expect for their community as a whole to improve if only the men can provide and make the rules for everyone. The women there want to get an education so they don't have to be locked up in their houses all day cooking and cleaning for their familes. It's not fair that they have to be abused for trying to do better for not only themselves but for the whole area. It's not right that they have to be humilated, and tortured with acid. If i was in this situation,I would definetly fight to get my education, just like what these girls are doing.
Education, in America it is taken for granted and blown off. But on the other side of the world, people are dying and being put through physical pain to go to school. The girls who are sacrificing their physical appearances to further their educations are very brave to not give up. It would be easy for them to just give up and go back to the submissive life of a woman in the Middle East, but they persist. They understand the value of education, and that it is crucial to having a successful life.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban, the Islamic extremist group, know this and that is why they try so hard to keep the girls away from school. By threatening and harming them, they hope to crush their will to go to class, and crush their future. The Taliban is afraid of what might happen to them if the women start to become literate and decide to rebel, and the Taliban do not want women to have rights because they believe that the Koran says so.
In many countries, people take education for granted. However, in Afghanistan, women and young girls are risking their lives to help change the future of women in their country.
A good education is crucial in the world today. Especially in a country like Afghanistan, where education is not always an option. The girls in Afghanistan have to risk their lives just to go to school each day. This is unacceptable. Why should these girls be punished to try to do better for themselves and their family? Do these men that are attacking these girls not know that the girls going to school are improving Afghanistan? If they go to school they can get good paying jobs and do something with their lives. It is ridiculous that at one point it was against the law to go to school. I don't think at any point a person should be denied an education. Why do the Taliban deny women this right? Is it because we are capable of having a mind of our own? Or is it because they are scared that women will one day have more power than the men in their country? The torturing from the Taliban will only remind the women what they are fighting for and help them persevere until they reach the goals of equal rights. Killing people doesn't kill ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn Afghanistan education is extremely important because it's like these girls' way out of their misery. The parents that send their daughters to school every day no matter what are the smarter ones. They see their daughters have a huge future. "'My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed,' says Shamsia." It's crazy for the Taliban to be so controlling to say whether a young girl should have a right to education. "...the Taliban had moved into the area near the school. As they did, posters began appearing in local mosques. 'Don't Let Your Daughters Go to School,' one of them said." Honestly, education is the most necessary thing in the whole world, it's a way out of some place that you think is going to end your life. These girls have every single right to education and need to be given that. I respect those parents who still pushed their daughters to go to school no matter how bad the consequences. They knew exactly what was right and what was wrong.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs.PBJ!!!!
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