Revised: An Insight into Educational Equality

Hillary Clinton began the “Equality for Girls and Women” segment of the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting stressing the need for more educational opportunities. Not just educational opportunities, but more importantly, equal opportunities for girls. Through worldwide efforts, we have reason to believe that we have more-or-less closed the gender gap in primary schools, but when we get to the secondary level, it gets a little sticky. I am very much in support of the idea that everyone has a right to education, however, I think we may be taking a slightly idealized approach to solving this problem.

One point that cropped up not only here but also in the plenary I previously discussed, “Putting Education to Work,” was that including women in the workforce and education will end poverty. The first time I heard it, I thought it was very profound (refer to my previous blog post for my initial reaction). However, Clinton repeated it in her opening, and I found myself wanting some sort of explanation. I was recommended to find the answer for myself using some other sources. As Kathi Matsui says in her article on business week.com, having educated women increases "the quality, size, and productivity of the workforce." Women are bringing essential skills to the market and it has been found that places who engage in women's education have seen increases in GDP. What these gains could mean for developing countries are enormous and should not be looked lightly upon.

One collaboration among many that have been born at the CGI Annual Meeting is CHARGE, which stands for the Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girl’s Education. This initiative has caused donors to commit $600 million with the goal of sending 14 million girls to school in the span of five years. Some of the specific goals of CHARGE taken from the Clinton Foundation website are listed below:

•   Ensure that girls can attend and complete primary and secondary school;

•   Make schools safer and more secure;

•   Improve the quality of learning for girls;

•   Support girls’ transition to higher education and employment; and

•   Cultivate local country leaders to champion this work at the grassroots level. 

This initiative has many different countries, businesses, and leaders involved, which  shows a heartwarming global unity for this issue. Click here to find more information about CHARGE. Another interesting initiative that was featured in this plenary is the African-based Solar Sister, which not only gives women economic opportunities, but creates solar powered lights so that students can read despite the electricity situation.

I do have opinions on how the issue of equal educational opportunities for girls should be handled. My one criticism for this movement is the disregard for other societies' cultural practices. Just because we feel that everyone has a right to education does not mean that every other country, city, or province does. If people do not agree with a practice, they will stop it if they want to, despite what anyone else thinks. In order to open lines of communication with these stagnant groups, we should have representatives from programs such as CHARGE or even government officials sit down and explain the benefits of girls going to school past the primary level or opening an all-girls school in town. If people see (for themselves) that a practice can actually help their society, they will want to carry it through. In general, humans are more willing to do something if they will gain from it or if they are doing it of their own accord instead of being forced to. The leaders in charge of these initiatives should keep this in mind.

Overall, I am pleased that people are taking action on this issue. I think that empowerment through education is the best way to achieve equality and is a practice I very strongly support. However, we must be careful how we tread or else we may be stopped short of our goals.

Hillary Clinton during the "Equality for Girls and Women" segment of the CGI Annual Meeting 

For photo credits, click here

"Putting Education to Work"

Nicholas Kristof led a diverse panel for the Clinton Global Initiative's 2014 Annual Meeting titled “Putting Education to Work.” The plenary focused on the idea of learning skills that would be adaptable and useful in the workforce in light of the high amount of qualified and unemployed graduates. The panel ranged from one of these once-frustrated graduates to a CEO of a company who trains over a billion students. Below are short descriptions of the moderator and panelists:

Nicholas Kristof (Moderator): A well-known columnist for The New York Times, Kristof mainly specializes in education issues.

John Chambers (Panelist): The Chairman and CEO of the company Cisco, an IT-driven company stationed out of California.

Reem Al Hasimy (Panelist): The Minister of State for the United Arab Emirates

Nisreen Mitwally (Panelist): A West Bank area alumni of one of the Clinton Foundation-partnered programs, Education for Employment, which works to match college graduates with jobs.

Ashish Thakkar (Panelist): The non-college graduate who is the Founder of the Mara Group and Foundation, an organization that empowers rising African entrepreneurs.

The panel kicked off with Kristof asking Mitwally about her experiences with Education for Employment, which just started at the Clinton Global Initiative conference last year. Mitwally began by discussing the high unemployment rate of college graduates in the West Bank area and how frustrated she felt by this. She then went into the programs Education for Employment offered. Mitwally learned how to “attractively” write her resume and gain an understanding for what the workplace would be like. After a month in the program, she was placed in a job with a huge insurance company that she is seemingly very passionate about.

The conversation transitioned into criticism for the style of education that is in place right now. Chambers repeatedly stated that education is training students for where the jobs used to be, but not where they are now. This sounded good, but he never explained what he meant by this or how the education system should be changed. Al Hasimy had different criticism for the education system, saying that we cannot use a cookie-cutter approach or purely analyze education by numbers. She said that we must look beyond this because education cannot be standardized.

Thakkar has a very different outlook on what education means based on his history. He quit school and then started a very successful company. He mediated that education is important, but so is informal education, such as knowing how to network, soft skills, computer skills, and mentorship. Mitwally also shared that the best part of the Education for Employment program was the untraditional education She recounted one particular activity in which they were split into groups, given pasta and marshmallows, and instructed to build the tallest tower in a short matter of time. This is an activity that even I did in a group interview for a student organization and the results were the same: after failing miserably, you realize you were supposed to communicate with the other groups and all work together to build the tallest tower to show that in teamwork, everyone wins.

A standout portion of the panel in my opinion was the discussion of women in business. Al Hasimy brought up that the United Arab Emirates is a pioneer in integrating women in business through technology, which is a “massive enabler” for women. She said “…empowering women is not because it’s a nice thing to do, if you don’t have that, you are not going to have prosperity.” Al Hasimy connected a topic that often causes controversy to something everyone cares about: economic prosperity and stability. She and Kristof discussed that poverty will never improve if women do not work.

To conclude, I found this plenary to be extremely fascinating and it really hit home as a current college student. This really highlighted to me the importance of not only academic experiences in college but also the interactive and hands-on ones. And for the future, I think we should take Nicholas Kristof’s advice— we need to support an education that will make a difference.

 The "Putting Education to Work" Panel: L to R: Nicholas Kristof, Nisreen Mitwally, 

Ashish Thakkar, John Chambers, Reem Al Hasimy

From http://www.clintonfoundation.org/blog/2014/09/23/cgi-10th-annual-meeting-tuesday-highlights

Two students impressively tackling the pasta and marshmallow tower challenge.

From http://acementor.wordpress.com

We're the Kids of the Future?

A recent dinner at the Cheescake Factory with my roommate made me think about my generation. And by “my generation” I mean “Generation Y” or “The Millennials” or whatever else people call us. We sat at the table before, during eating, and after eating, simply talking. Talking about anything and everything. We discussed everything from which stores in the mall we would go to after dinner to why I had ordered Diet Coke instead of regular. After we ate our mouth-watering meal, I stood up to use the restroom when something hit me. I spoke my observation out loud to Aryanne: “We didn’t look at our phones once this whole time.”

I sometimes think my generation has become so full of ourselves. Why do we feel the need to document every second of our lives while reciting the phrase: “Pics or it didn’t happen!” Have we become so conceited that we think everyone on our social media CARES about every action we take? I sometimes feel that there is no hope for a generation that prides ourselves in creating a way to make sure we are easily included in every picture we take (aka “the Selfie”).

This also goes along with the idea that people feel that they need to match up to others on social media by constantly showing how awesome their lives are. Carl Richards discusses this concept in his article in the New York Times and talks about how people only derive happiness from the amount of likes they get on a photo. We put so much time and effort into something that ceases to exist outside of our mobile phones. It is quite possible just to do something without needing proof that it happened. I think this trend has just gotten out of control.

Although I don’t agree with much of what Jennifer Graham discussed in her article "A Generation of Idle Trophy Kids," I do agree with her point about how inactive and lazy we are. Why go on a walk outside when you can scroll through your Twitter feed or play the new Kim Kardashian game on your phone? Why bother doing something in real life when the world is at your fingertips? Why? Because it is not real!  

I feel so frustrated with the mentality that people cannot even sit down and enjoy a movie with their family without checking their phones. Do face-to-face human interactions mean nothing anymore? I think my generation may have killed this, and I am a little upset about it.

I am not saying that I am completely innocent to any of these traits. I have done my fair share of Snapchat stories and Instagram posts to make myself feel better. I have also been culprit to checking my phone mid-conversation or even during a meal. My main thing is, our time on this Earth is so precious that we should enjoy every second we have. I won’t remember that Facebook post I made, but maybe I will remember that debate I had with my roommate about how race is seen differently around the world. At dinner last night, I pulled my head out of the technology hole, sniffed around, and saw that we could still live like we did before the complete invasion of technology. And I think I might like it better up there.

Why I Strive to be like Phoebe Buffay from "Friends"

Friends is one of those shows that I can watch at any given time and enjoy it immensely every time. It is always lighthearted, a little ridiculous, and has hilarious/ spastic characters who are lovable as can be. Although I don’t mind the glamorous leading lady Rachel, or the OCD clean-freak Monica, I have never connected with either of them as well as Phoebe.

Phoebe is so different from everyone else on the show. She walks to the beat of her own drum and does not let anything bother her. I admire how she just goes with flow, even when life tries to bring her down. She is always upbeat and a little kooky. I find it inspiring how when the other characters are upset about something, she acts like the personal cheerleader and always lightens the mood.

Phoebe also serves as one of the main comic relief characters of the show (Joey being the other). Although all of the characters are put in sticky situations that they handle with less than grace— the Rachel and Ross relationship is always tricky and emotional, and Monica and Chandler are often pursuing more professional lives— Phoebe always lightens the tension which is demonstrated in the episode “The One with the Prom Video.” Phoebe articulates Rachel’s importance to Ross and her support of them being together by saying “She’s your lobster!” This is one of my favorite Phoebe moments in the whole show. I love her comedic outbursts and in general different outlook on life.

This point also brings me to my next— she really does not care what others think. She wears what she wants, says what she wants, and does what she wants. In one of the episodes, she and Rachel  make plans to go on a run in the park. Whereas Rachel proceeds to start a light jog, Phoebe stampedes down the trail with pigtails and a bandana stating that it reminds her of her childhood and she feels so free when she does it. I think our society in general is not very tolerant of people who are different and I just love how she completely ignores any social guidelines and doesn’t let it stop her from doing what she wants. Most people, including Rachel, would not have the courage to do such a thing, and would even feel embarrassed by this, as Rachel does, until she tries it herself.

Phoebe makes me realize how stupid it is not to do something because of worrying what others think. In the long run, I think I might regret something I was too scared to do more than something I did do. So much of life is spent worrying about other people when we should really just be happy with ourselves.

Case-in-point: I believe if we tried to live our lives more in the style of Phoebe Buffay, we would lead much happier and less stressful lives.

Below I have attached the two clips I talked about above. Enjoy!

The Lobster Theory

Phoebe's Run