Power of Ten Update
Reminder: Event Tonight (Friday Oct 11)
Beloved Educator Battling Cancer
Former Assistant Superintendent for East Ramapo Pedro Santana has been diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer and is fighting for his life.
Pedro’s friends and family invite you to “join us to celebrate a man’s challenges through life’s journey” at the Nyack Center, 58 Depew Avenue in Nyack, this Friday, October 11, at 8:00 PM. There is a $20.00 suggested donation.
Pakistani Education Activist Wows American Audiences
If you want to know how important education is, ask Sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai, an education activist from Pakistan, who was shot by the Taliban for espousing the radical idea that quality education should be available to all.
I STRONGLY recommend watching all three parts.
Here is a transcript of a statement in the interview:
I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala?’ then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’ But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.’
Fortunately, our student education activists in East Ramapo don’t have to face down armed killers. But the effects of poor educational opportunities are the same everywhere: Poverty, Hopelessness, and Violence. And the need to fight for what you believe in through peace and through dialogue and education is the same everywhere. We should all be like Malala and wish for a quality education for everyone’s children, an education that teaches all children about equality, and justice, and respect, and how to live together. Our challenge in East Ramapo is to ensure that this kind of education is provided to every child in every school. – Steve White, editor