Throughout the memoir, Malala Yousafzai speaks of her remarkable passion for
education. Her determination to continue her fight for education even after her
tragic shooting is made clear in the last few pages of the novel where
Yousafzai summarizes her after thoughts on her journey, her present state, and
her future. When she speaks of her father’s plea for her to stay in England to
be educated, she responds by saying “he is right. I want to learn and be
trained well with the weapon of knowledge. Then I will be able to fight more
effectively for my cause”(311).
This passage
impressed me not only because it metaphorically displayed Yousafzai’s passion
for education by comparing her knowledge to weapons and her goal of winning her
fight, but also because it made me contemplate my own thoughts on education.
Yousafzai says she wants to learn because it will enable her to make changes in
the world, which is perhaps the greatest reward of receiving an education.
However, when my peers and I get caught up in the difficult and less rewarding
aspects of school, we begin taking it for granted. We easily forget that school,
and doing well in school, should be about more than enabling us to make a
comfortable living.
Many people say
that education is the key to success. But what kind of success are they talking
about? Yousafzai speaks of a kind of success throughout the memoir that doesn't
have to do with money, but rather the success of making a beneficial change in
the world. When Malala Yousafzai speaks of her excitement about being educated,
it made me take a step back and think about what I want to do with my education.
I understand that a successful education will be one that leads not to a high
salary, but rather to an opportunity to make change in the world, like
Malala.
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