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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMalala 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 schoolbut most teenagers are not the young Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. For her, being the youngest person ever to win the worlds most prestigious award didnt 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 Asincluding six scored at the top of the scale as A*.
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The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistans 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 TTPs press release closes with a renewed threat to the activist: Malala, no matter how much the Pakistani armed forces spank us, youll always be our number one enemy.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Does that mean As as we think of them in America, or passing an "A level."
muriel_volestrangler
(101,390 posts)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.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)I hope she goes far in life. And I hope she stays safe.
mountain grammy
(26,658 posts)romanic
(2,841 posts)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
(41,212 posts)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!)
dembotoz
(16,864 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)All people of good will are proud of you.
lunamagica
(9,967 posts)tabasco
(22,974 posts)Her courage and humanity are eminent.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Wonderful young woman.
irisblue
(33,036 posts)way to go Malala!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)irisblue
(33,036 posts)altho educated women shrivel R mens....'manly' parts.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)they sure try to take away all their reproductive rights, though.
irisblue
(33,036 posts)TahitiNut
(71,611 posts)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
(7,970 posts)The world does not deserve her, as you so correctly stated. She is a blessing to us all.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I will say "good show". K&R
progressoid
(50,000 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)TahitiNut
(71,611 posts)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)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.
oasis
(49,428 posts)PatrickforO
(14,594 posts)the 'number one enemy?'
Something twisted about that.
Ghost in the Machine
(14,912 posts)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
Salina Bujosa
(2 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 28, 2017, 02:10 PM - Edit history (1)