Still thinking about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram and the amount of women and girls throughout the world who never receive education (or whose education in this case is fought against violently). I think as Americans we take our access to education for granted, but I think the opportunity to get away from our parents and hear other perspectives, to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses, and to discover the joy of learning are tremendous privileges. 

"The highest result of education is tolerance."
— Optimism (1903) by Helen Keller, American deaf & blind lecturer, writer, 1880-1968; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1964

" The arts personalize knowledge and visions, demanding an ever growing development of the mind and spirit. We do our children and our country ill service by not supporting them adequately in our schools."
— Letter to Elaine T. Partnow (19 December 1989) by Shirley Trusty Corey, American arts-in-education specialist, educator, 193?-

" ...it has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is ever laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up in the world of thought--that is to be educated."
— Edith Hamilton, American translator, classical scholar, writer, 1867-1963; Quoted in the Bryn Mawr School Bulletin (1959)

 "In some parts of the world, students are going to school everyday. It's their normal life. But in other parts of the world, we are starving for education... it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond." -Malala Yousafzai