A picture is worth a thousand words? For some pictures, no adequate words exist.
L’Express caption in English:
The audacity! – 17/03/2010
To go to school, a child crosses the scene of clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the refugee camp Shuafat, near Jerusalem.
Rather puts into a different perspective the whines of students about “having to go to school,” not bringing pencils or paper, and not making it to class on time, doesn’t it? What value does this girl and her family place on education?
To those who think the U.S. should in no case offer aid to Palestinians to build or operate schools, I ask: Who do you want to pay for this child’s schooling, and direct the curriculum?
Teachers, is this photo useful for studying human rights? Education? Middle Eastern human geography (AP), geography, or other issues? Contrast this girl’s path to school with that of Linda Brown in Topeka, Kansas, in 1951 (Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education).
Is education a civil right? Is education a basic human right?
Tip of the old scrub brush to James Kessler, who posted a slightly profanely-captioned version of this on Facebook.
Update: Amusing Planet has this photo (with a nice shout out) and several others, showing kids risking their lives to get to school in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia — it’s awe-inspiring, scary and encouraging at the same time.
More:
- Palestine: Not Just a Country My Identity (yd-p.com)
- Indoctrinating Children in America: Palestine Solidarity in the Classroom (iranaware.com)
- Choosing a Preschool: What to Consider (education.com)
- The Struggle Within (Words From a Deep Heart to Palestine) (dailymuslima.wordpress.com)
- Hiyam : Palestine (kiva.org)
- An average day in an unusual office; human rights research in Palestine (palestiniandiary.wordpress.com)
- Palestine Youth Orchestra: a Bridge to the World ~ by @docjazzmusic (occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com)
- “Graffiti was my education”: interview with Palestinian designer Hafez Omar (ramyabdeljabbar.wordpress.com)
[…] modest departure from the occasional series on how kids get to school, and the classrooms they get to. Perhaps more […]
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[…] Going to school in Palestine […]
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[…] view for students who complain about “having to go to school”. Ed Darrell, who blogs at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, questioned: What value does this girl and her family place on education? Is education a civil […]
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[…] It’s even worse in Gaza than it was for the West Bank earlier. […]
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[…] Photographs for which there are no words: Going to school in Palestine, Millard Fillmore’s Bat… […]
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Heartstopping. She looks so fragile. What the picture doesn’t show is that the real threat to her person and education comes from the guys standing behind her.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/02/discriminatory-privilege-academic.html/comment-page-1
Another teaching link: Ruby Bridges. There is a nice children’s picture book about her story that can be used even at the elementary level plus the amazing Rockwell painting “The Problem We All Live With
Also, Malala Yousafzai.
I just hope she and all her peers will get an education if she can get safely to school. I have been greatly saddened by the trend toward the industrialization of education these past couple decades.
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Then there are the kids for whom the trip to school may be the most pleasant part.
http://twitter.com/IntEngineerings/status/374463839657803776
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Be sure to click over to Amusing Planet for a collection of photos of children from around the world, risking their lives to get to school.
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