Genie Academy Student Wows Teachers with Profound Essay

Though the transition to online life / realities of Coronavirus have been difficult upon us all, students, above everything else, have been a glimmer of hope for the future to come. Perhaps this is best exemplified by 11 year old Ashrita D., from Marlboro, who wowed her teachers with an insightful and poignant quote analysis essay.

Rather than us elaborating on the profoundness of little Ashrita's prose, we've decided to let her writing speak for herself, below:

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” This was said by Malala Yousafzai. Girls in Pakistan have not been able to have an education for a very long time. Malala decided that she wanted all girls to get one; the Taliban shot her for protesting in 2012. However, she survived and was the youngest person to win one of the most important rewards, a Nobel Peace Prize.

In the first place, this quote means that even if something bad is happening in the world, it does not mean you should be silent. As Gandhi says, “be the change you want to see in the world.” He was also a huge influence on the world. Another influential example was Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also a person who won the Nobel Peace Prize. He got it because no one where he lived wanted to stand up and stop segregation. He wanted to change the world and did his best to stop it. Rosa Parks was with him in providing help to end segregation. Rosa parks was also a huge inspiration to the world. She went to jail for not giving her seat up to a white person who was trying to bully her out of it. The context  of this quote is that if the “world is silent” you should stand up and be the “one voice that becomes powerful.”

Coupled with Malala as a whole, and the meaning her words brought to females all over, this quote is important because if you are mean to someone then they might be mean to you back for what you did. If  something bad happens that hurts the world, then you should be a person who is brave and risks your life to save other people's lives. For example, soldiers are brave enough to go and help our country by risking their lives for the greater good.

In addition to its importance, I can connect this to my life because, when I see someone being mean to me or any other person I do my best to make it stop. If people are just watching then, they are part of the problem. I would go and try to help the nice person, even though they are not my friend or if I do not know who they are. I am still a nice person and will help because that is the right thing to do. Even if I am getting hurt I will not just go and wait for someone to help me or another person. I will defend myself and others so we can work through it. I can also help another person who cannot defend themselves. We should never show hands when fighting. Violence does not solve anything. Malala proved that by showing that when we fight we should show only words.

As a matter of fact, I can tell Malala was just a girl, like me, who wanted to make the world better. This is why I think we should all be very brave and fight for what we want but with only our words. Nothing else will work. Be nice not mean.

Even in these highly uncertain times, it's impossible to dull a child's inner genius. We hope Ashrita's powerful analysis of the power of one voice offer brightness and hope to you, today.

But remember, Ashrita isn't the only super star. Here at Genie Academy, we believe that within every child, there lies an inner genius. That's why we are launching our own online writing competition, open to all ages, where students can share their voice and thoughts, within the Genie Academy community. If your child loves to write, or just has a lot to say (which is a wonderful trait!), sign up below!