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stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 09:50 AM Aug 2015

Malala graduates from High School with Straight A's, Taliban apoplectic

http://qz.com/485120/heres-how-a-nobel-prize-winning-teenager-did-on-her-school-exams/

For many teenagers, winning a Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16 might offer some license to coast through the rest of school—but most teenagers are not the young Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. For her, being the youngest person ever to win the world’s most prestigious award didn’t overshadow the importance of studying for her school-leaving exams.

In recent months, Malala, now 18, has put aside some of her busy agenda of appearances and international talks, and focused exclusively on her studies at Edgbaston High School, the private girls’ school in Birmingham she has been attending since she relocated from Pakistan in 2013. She came to the UK for treatment after surviving being shot in the head at the age of 15 on her way home from school in Pakistan by a Taliban gunman, who targeted her because of her advocacy for girls’ education.

Today her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, proudly announced her academic success on Twitter. She received her General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) with straight As—including six scored at the top of the scale as A*.


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The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistan’s Taliban group, also reacted to the news, albeit less enthusiastically, according to the Pakistani publication Khabaristan Times. “You can get as many As in the worldly, Zionist, CIA-sponsored education system but the only A that matters is for Allah,” read the press release.

The TTP’s press release closes with a renewed threat to the activist: “Malala, no matter how much the Pakistani armed forces spank us, you’ll always be our number one enemy.”
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Malala graduates from High School with Straight A's, Taliban apoplectic (Original Post) stevenleser Aug 2015 OP
I'll never understand the British educational system treestar Aug 2015 #1
These are GCSEs, exams normally taken around age 16 in several subjects muriel_volestrangler Aug 2015 #4
So happy to K&R this!!! nt riderinthestorm Aug 2015 #2
Yaaaaaaaay!! shenmue Aug 2015 #3
Bright, beautiful girl with a beautiful heart. TexasMommaWithAHat Aug 2015 #5
Carry on, Malala. You are a wonderful source of good in a messed up world. mountain grammy Aug 2015 #6
Congrats Malala romanic Aug 2015 #7
Congrats Malala LeftishBrit Aug 2015 #8
Wonder if walker would include her in the handful of Muslims who r non violent dembotoz Aug 2015 #9
Congratulations, Malala Jack Rabbit Aug 2015 #10
Wow Malala lunamagica Aug 2015 #11
This girl is an inspiration for people all over the globe tabasco Aug 2015 #12
+ a zillion hifiguy Aug 2015 #13
Talibans' big fear...Educated women irisblue Aug 2015 #14
A lot of republican men, too. nt awoke_in_2003 Aug 2015 #18
very few R men send out hit squads to kill school girls though irisblue Aug 2015 #20
Not yet, anyway... awoke_in_2003 Aug 2015 #21
WORD! irisblue Aug 2015 #22
Malala is a miracle... a blessed gift to an undeserving world! TahitiNut Aug 2015 #15
She is a gift indeed. Boomerproud Aug 2015 #17
Kick nt stevenleser Aug 2015 #16
Since she is in England... awoke_in_2003 Aug 2015 #19
Rec! progressoid Aug 2015 #23
I love her. I LOVE that girl Number23 Aug 2015 #24
We're in good company. TahitiNut Aug 2015 #25
"we don't deserve her" I agree completely Number23 Aug 2015 #28
You go girl. oasis Aug 2015 #26
A woman who wants nothing more than to get an education is PatrickforO Aug 2015 #27
This is a *perfect example* of "Be the change you want to see"! This young lady serves as an Ghost in the Machine Aug 2015 #29
Congratulations ! Salina Bujosa Sep 2016 #30

treestar

(82,383 posts)
1. I'll never understand the British educational system
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 09:54 AM
Aug 2015

Does that mean As as we think of them in America, or passing an "A level."

muriel_volestrangler

(101,161 posts)
4. These are GCSEs, exams normally taken around age 16 in several subjects
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 10:28 AM
Aug 2015

After that, if you stay in education you do a few subjects for A level, normally for 2 years. A place at university normally depends on you getting a certain set of grades at A level (your GCSE results will be taken into account for whether it's worth making the offer). In recent years, rather than just cutting straight down to, typically, 3 subjects for A level, pupils study 4 subjects for 1 year and sit AS exams for them, then drop one and sit 3 A2 exams the next year, and this all combines to be 'their A levels'.

These 'A's and 'A*'s are the grades she's achieved in the GCSEs.

Malala is a little older than most GSCE students, but she had to take medical time off, changed national systems, and I think Urdu is her first language, and English second, so that's not surprising.

While some schools do stop after GCSE, and students move to others if taking A levels, Edgbaston High School, like most, continues on to A levels too (it actually starts pre-school, so a girl could spend her entire school career at just that one school). She might be switching schools, but I doubt it, so she hasn't 'graduated' in any sense.

romanic

(2,841 posts)
7. Congrats Malala
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 11:11 AM
Aug 2015

Despite what those useless Taliban and TTP losers have to say, I am sure people of your faith revere your desire to learn. You are a hero!

LeftishBrit

(41,192 posts)
8. Congrats Malala
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 11:17 AM
Aug 2015

and quite the reverse for a bunch of vicious reactionaries who can't stand a girl who has more brains than all of them put together. (I suspect that the A* in Religious Studies was the last straw for them!)



irisblue

(32,829 posts)
20. very few R men send out hit squads to kill school girls though
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 08:11 PM
Aug 2015

altho educated women shrivel R mens....'manly' parts.

TahitiNut

(71,611 posts)
15. Malala is a miracle... a blessed gift to an undeserving world!
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 12:59 PM
Aug 2015

I'm blow away with her! She's one of the most courageous, generous, enlightened souls it's ever been my privilege to discover. Her beauty is transcendent ... and her parents should be justifiably proud of having raised and nurtured an awesome human being like her, especially in the cultural context in which they did so. Her grace, resilience, and determination should be an exemplar to generations of people everywhere in the world, but particularly for young women and girls in Pakistan and other Islamic nations. If she takes a husband, he'll be one of the luckiest men on the planet and likely to be a pretty awesome dude, as well ... since I have nearly complete faith in Malala's judgment.

Boomerproud

(7,890 posts)
17. She is a gift indeed.
Sat Aug 22, 2015, 06:58 PM
Aug 2015

The world does not deserve her, as you so correctly stated. She is a blessing to us all.

TahitiNut

(71,611 posts)
25. We're in good company.
Sun Aug 23, 2015, 02:08 AM
Aug 2015

What's not to love about her? She's a miracle ... and we don't deserve her. Millions if not billions love her.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
28. "we don't deserve her" I agree completely
Sun Aug 23, 2015, 02:41 AM
Aug 2015

She is a miracle and you're right. If we had a billion more like her, maybe this rock wouldn't be in such a sad state of affairs.

PatrickforO

(14,516 posts)
27. A woman who wants nothing more than to get an education is
Sun Aug 23, 2015, 02:36 AM
Aug 2015

the 'number one enemy?'

Something twisted about that.

Ghost in the Machine

(14,912 posts)
29. This is a *perfect example* of "Be the change you want to see"! This young lady serves as an
Sun Aug 23, 2015, 03:36 AM
Aug 2015

example across the globe. I, personally, think that she needs around the clock body guards and protection, especially after ding targeted, and shot in the head, by Taliban Extremists. Right now, she's giving the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award" to the Taliban and their supporters. In other words, for the young ones unfamiliar with the term from Rowan & Martin's "Laugh In", they tried to silence her permanently, failed at it, and she's flipping the bird in their faces and still moving forward. She has got a LOT of Moxie!

This is one case where I would support Military Action to wipe out every piece of shit Talibanista and/or ISIS member off the face of the Earth. They like their religious extremism so much?? Let's help them meet their "Maker"!

These A-Holes have been killing each other in the name of religion for a thousand years since before "America" came into being... just *WHAT THE HELL* do we think that WE can do to stop them, short of carpet-bombing the whole Middle East into a parking lot, but that would be WAYYY TOO FAR over the line and cost millions of innocent lives.

I don't know what it's going to take, but this young lady has the leadership skills, and in today's world, it is the YOUTH who hold the POWER OF CHANGE. It's the Youths who need to rise up in some sort of revolution to get rid of the relics of the past and start over fresh.

Peace,

Ghost

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