The Phoenix

become more and more enticing, offering alcohol and drugs that allow a tough week in frustrating studies to melt away almost instantly. The social scene of the party is all too much for a young adult to resist. In a student’s mind, it makes no difference whether they party on a Saturday night instead of studying for midterm exams. It is America, after all, and it is the land of opportunity. No one is going to take that opportunity away from a young person. They can study for midterms the following Sunday, and the exams will still be there in the coming week. Education will still there when they go back to school on Monday.

The idea of the omnipresent chance at education that swims around in the head of a student may be true, but it is not the right mindset for a young person, and not all students are able to enjoy that kind of attitude. School-age children in the war-torn countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan have lost all hope at gaining an education. Before the Taliban’s takeover, children in Afghanistan went to school as usual, usually going on to graduation and college. Now, schools have closed down due to lack of funding or because they have been destroyed by the effect of the war.

The Taliban have made it against the law for girls or women to attend school. Any female that attends school is punished, usually by torture or execution.

Even before the Taliban took control, girls were usually forced to quit school by their families and entered an arranged marriage with a man they have never met before. Girls as young as thirteen were sworn into marriage and started families, spending their adolescent years in the repetitive duties of a housewife.

Pfeiffer Phoenix 38