This year we read Girl Rising, by Tanya Lee Stone, as our education common text. It is based on a documentary, also titled Girl Rising, about the struggle of girls worldwide to gain an education. There are interviews from women of many different cultures and places, all of whom are fighting to secure a better future for themselves amid societies that want to keep them out of school and at home. In addition to the stories, Girl Rising includes important statistics about education rates worldwide and outlines the potential benefits that human society could reap if education were made accessible to all. Finally, it concludes with a chapter about what readers of the book can do to make change, both locally and internationally.
I was extremely curious about the process of taking a documentary and turning it into a book, so I was excited to see that Tanya Lee Stone was coming here, to Saint Michael's College, to speak about exactly that. I wanted to know why she felt the need to make the documentary into book form and what it was like.
The first thing that Stone discussed in her speech was why she chose to create the book in the first place. She said that she went to see Girl Rising in theatres with her teenage children and despite the fact that they all greatly enjoyed the documentary, none of them could recall exactly where the girls were from, what their barriers were, or how the barriers were challenged and overcome. Stone wanted to take the information that was displayed in the hour and a half long documentary, slow it down, and unpack the issues via a new medium. She chose to make a book both because she is a writer, so she is very familiar with them, and because books allow the reader to read at their own pace, skim where they choose, and go back and re-read in their own time.
Stone "cold-emailed" the producers of Girl Rising, who were more than happy to help her with her vision. They sent her huge files of raw photos and video footage. The video footage in particular was extremely helpful in the writing process because Stone was able to see the body language of the girls being interviewed and more accurately characterize them in her writing. She also emailed parts of her book to the producers as she wrote it so they could give her feedback and let her know if she got any details wrong. It is really incredible that Stone was able to create such a detailed and accurate book on these girls experiences without ever traveling to any of the countries in question. She made sure to thank the Girl Rising documentary crew for their enthusiastic help because without them it would not have been possible.
The book itself is huge and beautiful. Its content is moving and powerful. There was a question asked about why the photos of the girls in Girl Rising are generally so positive and "smiley," when all of the girls interviewed had suffered so much trauma. Stone replied that she made the photo selections because she was so impressed by the resilience and positivity and hope that each girl embodied. The photos represent their attitudes, which are focused on moving forward and working to improve their own futures. She also said that although men are not a large part of her book by any means, there were quite a few instances where it would not have been possible for certain girls to fight against oppressive social situations without the love and support of their fathers or brothers who stood up for them and their right to choose their own destiny. Stone concluded her speech, saying that it was hard to find any girls in developing nations who were unhappy about being in school.
As a future educator, hearing Stone speak reminded me about how incredibly important it is to consider how the experience of education can vary worldwide and from place to place. Depending on where I end up teaching, I may have classrooms full of students who are refugees from places in the world where education is not a right like it is here in the United States. And even here, I need to remember that students ability to do projects and homework often depends on what their home life is like. Some students work jobs after school and have to take care of their siblings while their parents work late to pay the bills, while other students have much more free time and academic and financial support from their parents. The moral that I take away from this is that it is critical that I establish positive rapport in my classrooms, where students feel comfortable telling me about their own background. That way I can provide better and more individualized academic support for them in class. Stone mentioned in her speech how important it was for her to remember not to "swoop in as a white savior without listening" while she was writing her book and that is true for the classroom environment as well. Stone writes that education is the most powerful tool to change the world and I could not agree with her more.
Photo source: https://www.champlain.edu/about-champlain/news-and-events/girl-rising
