Cover Story

Not educating women cuts the potential of a nation in half

By Georgette Braun

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Aug 22, 2008 @ 04:07 PM

Serious idea
Why is it important to educate females in countries where girls and women are oppressed?

Rockford Woman asked that question of two local women who have the expertise to answer:

Catherine Forslund, associate professor of history at Rockford College, and Phyllis Peterson of Machesney Park, an author (skylarkpubl.com) who has traveled to Africa and other countries to educate adults to train girls to protect themselves.

The question is being asked in light of this year’s One Book, One Rockford program, which culminates with Greg Mortenson, co-author of “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time,” appearing in Rockford in mid-September. The book tells about his efforts to build schools for girls in mostly remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Here’s what Forslund and Peterson had to say:

Catherine Forslund
“There are multiple reasons. They are at least half the population. When countries do not educate women and allow them to contribute to society, they are limiting the productivity and success of their own countries. It limits your horizons, opportunities. It limits your vision.

Education is about learning how to think, and by denying education, you’re limiting the capacity to think.

“Another factor is that women generally are charged with the raising of the next generation.

The better educated women are, the better job they can do in that role.

“Denial of education is one of the best ways to suppress people. But doing so is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

Phyllis Peterson
“Not educating women. That is oppression.

“In China, female children are not recognized as having worth. And in India, ultrasounds are being used to determine the sex of a child, and if it’s a male, (the pregnancy) goes on.

“Everybody recognizes easily that girls are not as physically strong as men. But spiritually, they are. Unless women are allowed to attain their highest possibilities, men will be unable to achieve the greatness that is theirs.  

“What having everyone be educated means is that there is justice for both genders. Unless we achieve that, half the world will be unhappy.”

Rockford Woman writer Georgette Braun can’t wait to join a book discussion about “Three Cups of Tea.” If you’re hosting one and want to invite her, or to comment on this story, contact Braun at 815-987-1331 or gbraun@rockfordwoman.com.

‘Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time’
This year’s One Book, One Rockford selection is “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time.”

The idea behind the Rockford Public Library program is to have all of Rockford reading the same book at the same time and to talk about it.

Greg Mortenson co-authored the book. It tells his story about wandering down from a failed mountain-climbing attempt, recovering in the village of Korphe in Pakistan, meeting children who wrote with sticks in the sand, promising to return to build them a school, and then all the struggles and joys in doing so and more.

The Central Asia Institute he founded has established more than 61 schools, mostly for girls in remote villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Why girls? Girls are more likely to stay in their villages and influence the education of their children. And once educated, they’ll be less likely to give permission to their sons to join a violent jihad or terrorist holy war.

Mortenson will appear in Rockford at several free events: International Day of Peace activities from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, at Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza, 3600 N. Perryville Road, Rockford, and at a lecture at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Coronado Performing Arts Center, 314 N. Main St., Rockford.

Mortenson will talk at a Rockford Public Library Foundation fundraiser, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at Forest Hills Country Club, 5135 Forest Hills Road, Loves Park. Tickets are $100. Proceeds will support children’s summer programs.

David Oliver Relin, who co-authored “Three Cups of Tea,” will host a discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at Rockford College’s Maddox Theatre, 5050 E. State St. The discussion is free. Reservations are required. Call 815-965-7606, ext. 763 for tickets to the discussions and the fundraiser.

Local philanthropists Jim and Pam Keeling are spearheading a Pennies for Peace drive among local schoolchildren to raise $50,000 to build and maintain a school in Central Asia and will present Mortenson with a check Sept. 19. To donate to Pennies for Peace, mail a check to Rockford Education Association, 4949 Harrison Ave., Rockford IL 61108. For more information, call 815-398-0995 or go to educaterockford.org.

Book idea
For the love of learning
“Letters To My Teacher: Tributes to the People Who Have Made a Difference”
By Barb Karg and Rick Sutherland
198 pages, 2006
The teachers who we remember most are those whose lessons extend beyond the classroom. With these teachers in mind comes “Letters to My Teacher,” a collection of inspiring letters to teachers from adults looking back and kids looking up.

“Elaine’s Circle: A Teacher, a Student, a Classroom and One Unforgettable Year”
By Bob Katz
219 pages, 2005
Elaine Moore, a veteran teacher in Eagle River, Alaska, is a firm believer that the classroom is, first and foremost, a community. When one of her students, 10-year-old Seamus Farrell, is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, Elaine, her students, and her innovative methods of teaching are put to their most severe test.

“Freedom Writers Diary”
By The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell
292 pages, 1999
As a 23-year-old English teacher, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. So she and her students, using the books “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” and “Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo” as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding.

“Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year”
By Esmé Raji Codell
194 pages, 1999
Esmé Raji Codell is no ordinary teacher. She wears costumes in the classroom, dances during math lessons, rollerskates down the hallways and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library. In “Educating Esmé,” the uncensored diary of her first year teaching in a Chicago public school, she opens a window into the closed world of a real-life classroom.

Fun idea
Give students a boost
Think booster clubs exist just to support athletics? Think again. At least that’s not the case for the Guilford High School Booster Club in Rockford.

And recently sworn-in club President Cheryl Kunz aims to get that word out.

In fact, the booster club in 2006-2007 raised the same amount of money — $15,000 each — to be set aside for sports and academics for the 2007-2008 school year.

Where does the money come from? Fundraisers include Moonlight Bowling, a spring garage sale, concessions for the Guilford football game against Boylan Catholic High School and other game concessions, father/daughter and mother/son dances, and selling Market Day foods and T-shirts and other “spirit wear.”

Who gets the money? Sports, and academics, with the latter including science, library, art, math, music and drama, social studies, art, special education, health, foreign language and English activities.

Kunz also said she hopes to boost school spirit. “Over the past few years, I have seen a definite decline in school spirit,” she said. “Homecoming game attendance seems lower than normal, and school-sponsored dances don’t seem to attract the kids that they once did.”

Her plan to turn those things around revolves around communication. “We’ll communicate the value that school spirit has to overall high school life through initiatives to try to regain it.” She’s not sure exactly what those initiatives might be, but she said she’ll use her professional skills to make it happen. Kunz is advertising and public relations manager for Aqua-Aerobic Systems Inc., Rockford.

Kunz likes to be involved in her daughter’s school life. Kelsey, 17, will be a senior this fall at Guilford.

“I enjoy the whole networking thing, not only with staff and faculty but with other parents,” she said. “If you don’t have fun in doing it, it will probably not be a success.”

Rockford Woman writer Georgette Braun, who was a cheerleader in high school, says, “Gooooo, booster clubs.” Reach her at 815-987-1331 or gbraun@rockfordwoman.com.