Malala Yousufazai- Teacher and Heroine

 How far would you go to defend your right to an education? What would you be willing to do so that you would not be threatened for reading a book or attend school? A fourteen year old girl in Pakistan was willing to risk her life to be able to learn. Malala Yousufazai was the victim of assassination attempt by the Taliban in Peshawar Province in Pakistan. She was shot in the head last week while on a school bus for the crime of trying to teach other Pakistani girls. Her father is a former school administrator whose school had been shut down by the Taliban. Malala had been running a blog under a false identity. Yousufazai was airlifted to a hospital in Birmingham, England for long term treatment for her head injury.

You may recall the efforts of Greg Mortinsen to educate young girls in the region in his bestselling books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. It has been difficult to effect a change in the thinking of the role of women and their desire to obtain an education. In additional to the cultural issues that have prevented many Muslim women from going to school, there is the political desire of the Taliban to maintain their stronghold by keeping the female population subservient and in the dark.

This is a current events news items with a message. While the American education system in not perfect and it can often be prone to politicization, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have compulsory education laws and they apply to both girls as well as boys. While the issue of the glass ceiling for women executives has been a presidential debate topic, American women are not denied the opportunity to achieve in the classroom and in the business world. The role of educated women is critical to success of a democracy and thus we as a nation must continue to encourage young women to further their education, become entrepreneurs, engage in the political process, and encourage other women to do the same. The courage of Malala has become a teachable moment where you point out to your students that in the USA the role of women is far different than the roles of women in Pakistan or other Muslim countries.  We continue to hope for her recovery and to encourage her and others like her to raise their voices to extol the virtues of an education for women and how it can serve to help their country.

c .J. Margolis 2012

The Death of Osama Bin Laden-A Teachable Moment

The Teachable Moment

Every now and again, an event occurs that just jumps out at a classroom teacher saying this is a golden opportunity to create a relevance between  current events and history. Whether you are teaching geography, social studies,civics or current events, the death of Osama Bin Laden is one of those opportunities that should not be passed up.

There are any number of web sites that would be excellent teaching tools for classroom teachers.

You could direct student to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list where they can see the poster of Osama Bin Laden, with the caption in red and white showing “deceased” at the bottom. The web address ishttp://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_by_the_fbi.

 Another unique opportunity is to have students access the web page of Al Jazeera, the Arab news agency. Here students can obtain, in English, another perspective. They can read how the Arab world is responding to the death of Bin Laden.  Go to http://english.aljazeera.net/.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ This is the official web site of the White House. Currently you can view video clips and photos about the US government’s successful plan to get Osama Bin laden.

There are many other links to this site, including the story of the White House as an historical building and stories about its past residents.

Additional information about the Bin Laden death can be found at the Defense Department’s web site, http://www.defense.gov/

The major news networks all have links to many of the back stories that have come to the forefront as a result of the Bin Laden killing. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=13505793  is just one example.

Last week as part of the James Madison program at Princeton University, a panel discussion was held to discuss the impact of Bin Laden’s death. One of the recurring issues was the role of the Pakistani government.  Many of the participants found it incredulous that Osama Bin Laden had been hiding in a town with a military academy only 35 miles from Islamabad for five years. (Incompetence or duplicity)

One of the other issues was the resolve of the US government. This Special Forces mission, ten years in the making, proved to the world that when the US makes a commitment to bring a terrorist to justice, it makes good on its word.

There are many issues that make for great class discussions. Take advantage of them. Your students are ready.