In our country, the United States, every child gets public education. However, that’s not always the case in other parts of the world. Almost 13.5 million children in South East Asia do not finish school. That number will not decrease unless we have people standing up for what is right. Trying and failing is much more satisfying than not knowing at all. Malala Yousafzai, the girl that wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she believed in. Malala is a teenage girl that fought against the Taliban for education. And she is still fighting. Being shot on the bus didn’t stop her from doing what she was born to do.

Obstacles like money, lack of teachers, discrimination, and violence play a huge role in lack of education.  College is worth a lot, and not many students can afford it. For example, in Japan, lack of money was the popular reason for why students left college (Japan Times). Besides being able to afford college, lack of teachers creates the problem of having 60:1 students to teacher ratios. It’s hard because when a teacher has a class of about thirty students, they might have time to go around the class and get majority of the questions; however, when there are sixty students and one teacher, not all the students will be getting the same amount of education as others. Discrimination plays a key role for why girls choose to drop out of school or not be allowed to go at all. In Malala’s case, this is what she’s fighting for. The Taliban destroyed nearly 200 girl schools which left thousands of girls with no access to books or education. Since trying to kill Malala didn’t work, the Taliban used more violence to not let anyone else that might be brave enough to step forward.

Just how a ship can’t rely on one small anchor, life shouldn’t rest on a single hope. No problem goes away on its own. Malala, only about sixteen years old, has put her life on the line for kids to get the education they deserve and have a chance at a successful life. Now it’s everyone else’s turn to join and fight against lack of education around the world.