The Op-ed Project
Jessica Lander teaches history and civics to recent immigrant and refugee students at Lowell High School. Her students are all learning English. Each year, she challenges her students, who come from more than 20 countries, to research and write about an issue in their community that matters to them. Last school year, more than 80 students wrote op-eds. Here are five of those essays, all written by Lander’s students.
Education crisis in Afghanistan
At the very end of December 2022, tens of thousands of women were banned from universities in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Already the Taliban had banned most high school girls from schools since August 2022. These Afghans girls and women are no longer able to continue education anymore. These new bans really hurt Afghanistan’s next generation.
Now roughly 2.5 million Afghan women and girls are forcibly not allowed to go to school, according to Al Jazeera. Four out of five Afghan girls and young women are out of school according to UNESCO. They spend their days working on farms, weaving carpets, and doing household chores. In August 2021 when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they began banning girls from school. At the very end of December 2022 they banned girls from universities.
Some of my female relatives were university students, one of them was a medical student, but unfortunately beginning on Dec. 25, 2022, when the Taliban closed universities, they were no longer able to study. Staying at home for days and weeks unable to study, definitely impacts the mind. Afghan girls are facing depression, in some cases girls have chosen to take their life.
Some organizations are helping Afghan girls to continue their education. The Malala Fund supports Afghan educators who offer alternative education programs for girls while schools remain closed. Another organization, Sahar, provides equal education opportunities for Afghan girls and women. Sahar has built and repaired schools, specifically for Afghan girls. In addition, the organization provides literacy classes for girls and women.
I think all people, women and men, around the world should come together and raise their voice for Afghan girls. I am a Lowell High School student and I want to bring awareness to Lowell High School and my community in Lowell to let people know about education bans in Afghanistan so they can help try to put pressure on the US government to then put pressure on the Afghan government to bring changes in Afghanistan for girls’ education. One way the US Government could put pressure is by putting new economic sanctions in place. Many countries can do this too. I personally support Afghan girls on social media and I write posts against the Taliban’s ban on education like many others Afghans do. If it doesn’t bring any change for girls’ education, at least it can help us to let other countries know about Afghan girls’ lack of access to education. So maybe they can in the future help Afghan girls continue their education.
If you want to destroy a nation, first stop its people from being educated. The more women are educated, the brighter a society is.
Haroon Akhlas, 18, was born in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.
He graduated from Lowell High School in 2023. He likes to play cricket. Haroon hopes to study business administration in college and become a businessman.
— Ly Na Thi Son
Join hands to help Vietnam’s poor pe ople
Vietnam is known as a beautiful country with delicious foods. But possibly one thing you don’t know, is the large number of people living in poverty there. Poverty is a major social and economic problem not only in our country, but also globally; however, the place I know best is where I was born. Vietnam has more than 3 million poor people.
Too many poor people don’t have stable jobs, many poor people in Vietnam have large households and low education and skills. Poverty really hurts people’s ability to access education. Education drives economic growth and development. But many poor children are not able to go to school because they cannot afford to go to school, or pay for uniforms and books. If students can’t pay they may choose to go to work instead of school. Maybe students will leave school early while they are still in earlier grades to help their parents. In poor regions many students drop out because families can’t pay tuition. If some member of their family has a serious illness, they will have to spend a lot of money to treat illness or buy medicine. If a child is born into such a family, there is a higher risk of children getting sick, because their houses are more likely to be in slums which are not that clean, and they are more often surrounded by a lot of pollution from cars. The poor in Vietnam are more likely to be from an ethnic minority, who live in more rural areas.
The Vietnam government is helping with humanitarian grants. They build houses for people particularly in disadvantaged areas. There are a number of local nonprofits that help in other ways. Some organizations make calls for donations, and help pay for poor children to go to school. Some provide supplies (for example bicycles, bags, briefcases). Others provided education scholarships.
I want to help think of more solutions. I have learned from living in the United States that there are places for the poor to temporarily stay. What if Vietnam had more temporary shelters for the poor in every city. That way people without homes would not have to worry about where to live or shelter when a storm came and their families and children would have a place to live and for kids to study for a short time. I also know the problem of food is very important. I think it’s good that the president of Vietnam has created places in every city where the poor can get food and clothes for charity for free.
In our life, there is always someone more less fortunate than us, so it’s important to share and to help create solutions, because we have the power to help people who don’t have enough.
Ly Na Thi Son, 17, was born in Vietnam. She is a senior at Lowell High School. Ly Na likes to help others and learn new things from everyone. She hopes to get good grades at school and to be a nurse in college so that her parents can be happy and proud of her and also she wants to work to heal and support poor people.
— Haroon Akhlas
Unemployment, fear, and overload of single mothers in Brazil
The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the lives of single mothers in Brazil. During the pandemic, approximately two in every five single mothers in Brazil lost their jobs. More than half of them lost income.
In 2020, Latin American women experienced a historic setback in financial and professional terms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Brazil, the country with the 9th highest inequality in the world according to the World Bank, the consequences were particularly bad: almost 8.5 million women left the labor market, and their participation went down 45%, the lowest in three decades according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.
The impact on single mothers’ lives was especially dramatic. There are almost 11.5 million single mothers in Brazil, and they not only started to face more risks and financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic, but they also suffered from mental exhaustion and a greater accumulation of tasks to support their children due to school closures. Single mothers did not receive enough help from the government. Many had to leave their jobs because they didn’t have anyone to leave their kids with during the day.
Fortunately there are some people and organizations trying to solve this problem. In April of 2020, the federal government approved a minimum income of 600 reais (120 USD) per month to every self-employed and unemployed person during the pandemic, for single mothers they gave double this value. However thousands had their applications rejected. One Brazilian senator is advocating for a bill to ensure benefits for single mothers, including: priority in daycare, double payment of benefits, hiring quotas in large companies, maternity leave of 180 days, and transportation subsidies. Another project, Mães de Favela, was created in April of 2020 by the Central Única das Favelas, a nongovernment organization, to help families led by single mothers in the favelas, with food parcels, hygiene supplies and free Wi-fi.
I think the above projects are a great start, but I believe we, particularly Brazilians, can do more. Childcare is hugely important for single mothers and yet, there are too few options available. Creches (nursery schools) are open to babies from 3 to 18 months and are free, however many have long waiting lists. I believe that the government should open more creches, which could make the wait shorter. Even better if companies create daycare centers in their buildings, that way mothers could have more options for day care and day care close to their work.
As a Brazilian, I believe I and my fellow Brazilians also have the responsibility to stand up for single mothers so they and their children can have better opportunities in life.
Maria Eduarda de Melo, 17, was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil. She is a senior at Lowell High School. She likes to listen to Lana’s music and learn new things. Maria hopes to attend med school and to become a general surgeon in the future. — Maria Eduarda de Melo
Teen vaping
Roughly half of all Massachusetts high school students have tried vaping, according to Massachusetts government data. This problem is not only affecting their health, but their education.
Across the country, walking inside many high school bathrooms during class, or at lunch or at the change of classes, you might see a group of students, but they won’t be waiting to go to the bathroom, instead they will be vaping. This is an issue that is happening most days around the country. Looking at things from my perspective as a student and as a teenager I can say that there are many reasons why young people might start using vapes including being influenced by friends, anxiety problems, personal issues, or many times it is just to do it and fit in today’s society.
According to the Truth Initiative, a study in 2016 included middle and high school students found that 43% of young people who used e-cigarettes tried them because of the many appealing flavors. Vape flavors include: watermelon, kiwi, strawberry mango, cotton candy, children’s cereals, and skittles. In addition, many vaping companies created social media marketing using young people to promote vapes. One of the most popular ways is doing marketing on Instagram posting pictures of young people looking good and using vapes.
Many organizations are trying to help teens to quit vaping. One of them is the
Truth Initiative. This organization is a health organization whose mission is to help provide the real facts about why young people should not smoke, the impacts on health, and it explains the marketing tactics that vape companies use to try to get kids to think vaping is normal and something teens do regularly. Another organization is INDEPTH, which is a national program that is creating different ways to address students who vape. Many schools suspend students for vaping, but suspensions don’t often stop students from vaping. INDEPTH has an approach that is different, that teaches students about the risks of vaping. It gives information to students about the other healthy ways to control your stress.
Here at Lowell High, too many students are vaping and we have to find a solution. Security guards have been near the entrance of some of the bathrooms at different times, but I think this doesn’t help enough. One solution could be to install vaping detectors in the bathrooms. These detectors have been installed at different schools in the US and have worked to reduce the use of the vapes in the restrooms. Truth Initiative offers a prevention-forward digital course that gives students core knowledge around the dangers associated with using vapes, and offers resources to help young people quit if they already vape; some of the schools are already implementing these types of courses to help students to quit smoking. Lowell High School could join these other schools.
It is no secret that our generation can lose its way because of their friends and bad habits. Making the change in schools is important because now it’s vaping in the school bathrooms, but later it could be other drugs in the streets.
Ana Sofia, 19, was born in Medellín, Colombia. She graduated from Lowell High School in 2023. She likes going out to eat and listening to good music around good people. She would like to be a social worker or psychologist since she likes to help others in any way possible.
— Ana Sofia Osorio Benjumea
The issue of electricity in Pakistan
There is a serious problem with electricity in Pakistan. Many power plants in Pakistan are run on imported fuel. But this makes the country vulnerable to events that happen in other countries. For example, events like the war in Ukraine make it harder to get gas to Pakistan. It can also make gas more expensive because many people need electricity and it is hard to get.
This January, millions of people in Pakistan, all over the country, lost electrical power because there was a huge electric grid failure. This was not the first time it had happened. It had happened only a few months before. When I lived in Pakistan it was normal for the electricity to shut off for two or three hours at a time. It could happen at any time of day.
Many people cannot do many things without electricity. If electricity controls their water source, they don’t have water to drink. They don’t have heat for cooking food. They don’t have lights to use at night. Children are sometimes not ready to go to school, or do not want to go to school, because they get too little sleep when there is electricity. It can be hard to sleep without electricity, because it can get very hot and without electricity you can’t have air conditioning or fans. Without electricity in hospitals, many machines can’t run, which can put patients’ health at risk. Enough electricity is really important for the economic development of the country.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority in Pakistan is trying to solve the issue of electricity in Pakistan. Their responsibility is to provide the transmission and distribution of electric power. They are also creating standards to ensure the quality and safety of operating electricity. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with the Pakistan government to build electricity lines and it is helping diversify Pakistan’s fuel sources.
Saving energy reduces air and water pollution and conserves natural resources, which in turn creates a healthier living environment for people everywhere. Individually we can save electricity by using solar panel systems that could help lower utility bills and use less energy from the national grid. But many people in Pakistan can’t afford to put in solar panels. If the government helped the poorer people in Pakistan to be able to get solar panels, this could help many people when there are power outages. Also the government should create new systems for getting energy, that are not just from fossil fuel.
Without electricity it is very hard to live in the modern world. The Pakistani government should invest in new systems and work with others to make sure that all people in Pakistan have electricity.
Azka Yasir, 18, was born in Gujranwala, Pakistan. She graduated from Lowell High School in 2023. She likes to read. She hopes to get an education and study in a nutrition program.
— Azka Yasir