~ February 28th
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." ~ Nelson Mandela. In America, children do not understand how privileged they are to have an education. I hear so many children talk about how much of a waste of time school is. They say it is stupid and that it will not better them for life. They are wrong. Our ability to learn in schools is special. Many countries around the world do not enforce education, Also, the citizens of other countries are so poor that they cannot afford to send their children to school. This is a travesty, as children should have the ability to earn an education so they can grow up to be successful.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, education is a very important thing to Laila. Her father always preached the importance of education and told her she could grow up to be successful if she worked hard at her studies. During her childhood, she worked hard to be the best student she could be. However, once her parents were killed, everything changed. She was forced into marrying Rasheed and could no longer go to school. She lived the life her father wanted her to avoid at all costs. However, what other choice did she have? On her own, she would not of been able to care for herself or make money necessary to survive, let alone go to school. Education became just as important when Aziza was born. Laila wanted her to get a good education. However, it was hard with Rasheed making close to nothing. It was hard to put food on the table. It all worked out by the end of the novel. When Laila and Tariq were married, the children were able to get a solid education, and Laila was able to work in a job she loved.
In life, lower developed countries have a much more difficult time educating their children. This topic reminds me of a documentary we just watched in Spanish class called "Living on a Dollar". The documentary takes place in Guatemala. What happens is these four guys live in Guatemala for three weeks, and must live with an average of one dollar per day. Throughout the documentary, we meet their neighbors and learn about their lives. In the documentary, there was this one boy named Chico. He was about ten years old. However, he was unable to go to school because his parents needed him to work in the fields for money. The sadder part was that the boy said his dream job was to become a farmer. What the documentary showed was that these children are assuming at a young age that they will be degraded to lower paying jobs. It is sad that they will never be able to live up to their potential. The reason they cannot live up to their potential is the lack of education.
It is disappointing that so many children around the world are unable to earn an education. An education is extremely important for any human being. It allows are brains to grow and allows us to acquire well paying jobs. Americans should be blessed they have the opportunity to learn. There are thousands of children in the world that would do anything for the opportunity we are presented. We need to take advantage of this opportunity we are presented and not waste it. It'll make for a better world where eventually, every child will go to school.
