On October 9, 2012,United Kingdom, a young man with a handkerchief over his face boarded a bus filled with 20 singing, chatting girls on their way home from school in the Swat Valley of northern Pakistan. "Who is Malala?" the man asked. When the girls unwillingly glanced toward their 15-year-old friend at the back, he lifted a black Colt .45 and fired three shots, sending a bullet through her head.

The attack caused outrage around the world and it was given widespread coverage in the local and international media.

Malala barely survived after doctors in Pakistan and in England performed multiple surgeries on her face and head.

Today she lives in the United Kingdom and has vowed to continue working for the cause of women’s education in Pakistan. She works especially in the areas of the country where extremists and militant outfits are said to have been blowing up girls’ schools, according to the New York Times.

While many girls are fighting for their educational rights in the West, girls in the United States are not taking advantage of what they have.

According to World Stats, it is said that every year in the U.S. 50% of Native American girls, 4-in-10 black female students and nearly 4-in-10 Latinas drop out during their high school years.

It is not right to think that it's right for girls in other nations to not have the education rights that our country has. Everyone deserves to get the same opportunities that we have.

It is not fair how boys can do basically whatever they want, while girls cannot do specific things either due to their customs or a situation which is holding them back.

Honestly speaking, I think that the Taliban shot Malala because they were afraid that when one girl stands up for her rights, then all other girls will stand up for them as well. They are afraid that females might become powerful, what they don't realize is that they already are.

Terrorism not only has attacked the U.S. but it has also affected the rights of many girls. By reading thousands of books, female students say that they will now power themselves with knowledge. Pens and books are the weapons that defeat terrorism, according to the CBC.

Many can rebel in their own ways, but those individuals should know and understand the limits, like Malala, for example. You just need to know how much of an impact you are really going to make on an issue.

Unlike the female students in the U.S., many non-Western girls have to fight for their education rights. Malala is not the only female who fights for female education rights; Azeera Gul, who is 12 years old, from Pakistan, is also fighting for her education rights. Malala has inspired her.

It seems as though education isn’t really valued here because everybody has access to it and so it’s taken for granted. I guess if something wasn’t given to you, people would value it a little bit more.

Education should be valued because it is important, and will help you in the future. Education is necessary worldwide. I think girls around the world should have the same opportunities as girls in our country. I don’t think they should be destined to a life of taking care of their family and doing household chores, along with male children who live in poverty.

When I visited Bangladesh last summer, I noticed how the poor families did not get the education that they wanted to provide for their children because they did not have the money. And even if the children did go to school then they would get kicked out of school because their parents did not pay for their fees. But here it’s free. Girls are treated differently than boys because basically, they're there just for family and household chores.

When I visited India, I also observed how many girls want to go to school but cannot because of several reasons. One of the reasons is because of their family heritage. In some cases, it is required for a girl to get married at a young age and be sent off to her groom's house for the rest of her life. Girls are considered to be outsiders, which is why some parents do not want to waste their money on them. Another reason why is because the families don’t have much money to pay for their tuition and if you wanted to go to a good school it would cost a lot of money.

I think that girls should be treated like human beings in some places. I don’t understand why in many places girls can’t do the things that guys can do. I mean we are human beings as well. I think what Malala did was optimistic. I probably would’ve not been as courageous as her.

Like Malala has said, “The extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them. they are afraid of women.”