Ziauddin Yousafzai: Do Girls Get Higher Education?

Merriam Webster defines education as the knowledge, skill, and understanding that one gets from attending a school, college, or university. Many different aspects in today’s society are determined by the type of education that one receives; receiving the best education possible, only puts one ahead and brightens their future. There are a number of social benefits in getting higher education, college students have higher self- esteem, self direction, are more satisfied with life. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a young adult with a bachelor’s degree makes on average $49,000 per year; a person with only a high school degree makes an average $30,000 per year; and a person with no high school degree will only make $25,000 …show more content…
This quote is from Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala. Around the world, young girls are also being denied education, but the only difference is that their situation is life threatening. Back in 2009, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the face after daring to go to school after the Taliban banned girls from attending school. This is one extreme example of what girls in developing countries go through trying to get their education. There are many different reasons why girls do not get an education, and some of them include distance to school and an early marriage and pregnancy. In some parts of the world children have to walk three hours just to get to the closest school. Traveling three hours to get to a school is difficult enough for any primary or secondary student to make; however, when it is a female making that commute, it becomes more dangerous. She now has to face the violence, both physically and sexually, that may come her way, even if she is travelling in a group of girls, and because of the reality that girls might get attacked on their way to school, many parents choose to keep their daughter at home. Another reason girls are not getting their education is because of early marriage and pregnancy. Girls, who are forced to marry young, often leave school to become a wife, and once they become a wife, they become a mother. When they become mothers, many of them do not go back to school because they are busy taking care of their children; they also do not return to school because of the social stigma that is now surrounding them. The reasons that girls are not going school needs to be fixed before they can get to school, but education can be one of the reasons that future generations do not have to suffer through that