Garrett Kheshtinejad Book Review:I am Malala Critical Pedagogy
As I approached the last few chapters in the book, I am Malala Malala I found myself trying to relate to her story. I have a father who spent the majority of his life growing up as a Muslim in Khorramshahr, Iran. After all, Malala Yousafzai’s ideas and passion for education received global attention. Surely my father had heard about her. I called him anxious to hear his thoughts and ideas about Malala and to find out whether education was restricted in some form for his three sisters. sisters. Was the role of women the same as those women in Pakistan? How would my own sister’s life have been affected if she had grown up in Iran and been receiving a restricted education? He assured me that Iran and Pakistan are completely different different in many of their practices. Iran has always been a moderate Islamic nation, meaning people do not observe many of the laws laid out in the Quran. My father also informed me that Iran has many western style public schools meaning their education is modern. Also education was encouraged among all families rather than viewed as something that went against Islam. Islam. It then occurred to me that that Malala’s story stands alone and is miraculous. My sister never had to go through what Malala endured in order to receive an education and that is something that makes this story inspirational
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This is primarily because education in the United States is viewed
differently than education in Pakistan; moreover the cultures are dive rse. Malala Yousafzai Yousafzai was born in 1997 and grew up in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. When a girl is born in Pakistan, Pak istan, her birth is not celebrated as a bo y’s is. It was Malala’s parents that greatly influenced her thinking. While this book is centered on Malala’s life, it also has much to do with h er father. Instead of “[clipping] the wings of [his] daughter to fly”, Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, encouraged her. He himself was an outspoken activist for for education and freethinking. Ziauddin Yousafzai raised his voice against many Islamic traditions traditions so as to to liberate Malala as she she grew up. Malala quickly realized from her father that receiving an education was her right. Growing up with this mindset however proved to be very difficult in a conservative Islamic nation such as Pakistan. Malala succeeded in her schooling, but
when she was ten years old, hard-line Jihadists known as the Taliban began to terrorize her valley. Their leader Fazlullah quickly took over multiple multiple media outlets and soon turned his attention to excluding girls from attending school. To achieve this end, the Taliban bombed schools and killed people, stating, nowhere in Islam is this [education] required. It was at this time that Malala and her father continued to speak out on the importance of education. They were unfazed by the numerous threats they received from the Taliban and others. Malala continued to attend school, thinking that the Taliban would never target her directly. One evening on her way home from school, two armed men confronted her saying, saying, “ Who is Malala?” Without being given an opportunity to answer, they shot her in the head. Against all odds, she survived. In order to gain a deeper understanding of Malala’s circumstances, it is important to address the numerous issues that Pakistani woman face face on a daily basis. Women who attend school in Pakistan are being marginalized, because the dominant culture encourages women to contribute to society onl y through developing basic skills in the home. Another form of marginalization is through econo mic status. Malala raises this issue when she states, “Some of the richer parents took their children out of school when they realized they were sharing classrooms with the sons and daughters of people who cleaned their houses or stitched their clothes”(Lamb, clothes”(Lamb, Yousafzai 83). Furthermore, we need to analyze anal yze the reasons why marginalization in occurring in society. At first, we notice that the Taliban’s presence in P akistan plays a role in the hegemonic practices against women. Similarly, in history, history, we see women being confined in Nazi Germany also Hitler was clear in stating that women were not allowed to work .
and should remain in their homes to raise their children while their husbands worked. He also encouraged women to get married when he passed the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage. By doing this Hitler wanted women to have more children. A law was even discussed later on that all women should have hav e a minimum of four children. While the Taliban are scared simply by the idea of others gaining knowledge and questioning their authority, the Nazi party wants to confine women strictly to their homes for similar reasons. Secondly, one must take the social and geographic environment into account. Girls living in urban areas are more likely to attend school than those who grow up in rural areas of Pakistan. The Swat Valley, the area in which Malala grew up, up , is a rural
area. Those growing up in rural areas are at a disadvantage when it comes to education. Issues such as poverty and cultural constraints are constantly recognized as influencing the gender gap in school enrollment for for those growing up in in rural areas. Lastly, it is the parents’ attitudes towards schooling in Pakistan that lead towards towards many disadvantages among girls in schools. “The least educated educated parents, who are also the poorest parents, are least inclined to educate their girls and typically live in villages where others share their views”(Lloyd, Mete, and Grant 102). Another thing that was interesting to note is the fact that many private schools have banned Malala Yousafzai’s book in Pakistan. Many have proclaimed that this does not show respect to Islam and that Malala follows Western traditions. This poses a problem; is education viewed as a human right or as a cultural privilege? Ultimately, it will be up to future generations of educators to answer that question. Until we can allow woman and men to coexist and be treated on an equal footing, we will continue to confront these problematic issues. This story has allowed me to gain a new perspective as a future teacher and as a student. It has become apparent to me that different cultures cultures have different approaches to to education. Additionally, woman in both education and society are being marginalized. I had never even begun to to question this in society. My mother’s role as a schoolteacher is the main reason why. She was able to support two children by herself with her salary; moreover, it never occurred to me that other forces in society might have been hindering her growth and development. Learning more about critical pedagogy has broadened my views in regards to questioning the dominant power. But who are we as Westerners to question the culture in Pakistan? This in itself is another issue. Regardless, Malala chose to respond instead of rea cting. It is her determination that had an impact on society and prompted Pakistan to begin changing its education practices in respect to women. I support Malala intentions and only hope that the gender gap among males and females fe males in education will continue to shrink in Pakistan. Let us also hope Malala Yousafzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
Works Cited and References
Lloyd, C.B. C. Mete, and M. Grant. 2007. “Rural “Rural girls in Pakistan: Constraints of policy and culture”, culture”, in in Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed (eds.) Exclusion, (eds.) Exclusion, Gender and Education: Case Studies from the Developing World (pp. 99 – 118). 118). Washington DC: Center for Global Development. Theguardian. Theguardian. Associated Press in Islamad, Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014 Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I Lamb. I am Malala: The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. New Taliban. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2013. Print. Yousafzai, Malala. Interview by Christiane Amanpour. CNN, 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014
