Under The Persimmon Tree: An Essay On Education

UTPT Essay - Education

Dreams, visions that people see hoping it will come true. Dreams, a goal set fairly high for us to achieve. Dreams, an unrealistic sense of hope that people try to make reality. Staples portrays a true sense of a dream coming true in Under the Persimmon Tree. Children across the world, in the Middle East, are not as fortunate to be given the opportunity to fulfill a dream. But for Najmah, one of her dreams was education - which came true. The fictional portrayal of education in the text impacted Najmah 's life positively. Yet everyday, education can impact students ' lives daily by not getting one.

In reality, education in the Middle East is extremely hard to obtain. It affects everyone because those who cannot access an

Najmah always wanted an education, and was very lucky to be able to receive one for a fairly low cost. Najmah is shocked to realize that “she’s [Nusrat] giving me a safe, clean place to sleep, food, and an opportunity to go to school" (Staples 203). To be able to have a safe and clean learning environment is considered luxurious. Najmah was not able to obtain an education in her village as a result of the long distance, high risk, and there fact that there would not be anyone to help her family. This was also a similar issue with one of Najmah’s classmates. He said, “there is no school in their village, not even a madrassa” (173). The statement that there are barely any schools is an issue. Many kids, like Najmah and her classmates, love going to school, and respect not only the school and the comparably low amount of education - but also respect their teacher. Najmah decided to call “the teacher Bibi Nusrat, a term of respect and affection” (204). Other students in Najmah’s class call Nusrat “‘Khanum Faiz, Mrs. Faiz … or Muallem Saheba, madame teacher’” (204). Najmah’s classmates enjoy the little education they are getting seeing that it is better than