In honor of the first month back at school The Vivette times wanted to explore education around the world while also connecting us with current events of our world! In this article we will be highlighting education for elementary and highschool kids in Norway and in Afghanistan. While here in Missouri our required education is from ages 7-17, in the kingdom of Norway compulsory education is from ages 6-16. meaning that in Norway we could all graduate two years earlier! Additionally the state covers the cost of all education in Norway including higher education such as college. Here at our lovely Visitation Academy we are graded with numerical percentages and letter grades, but in Norway students are graded on a 1-6 scale with their 6 equating to our "A". Lastly our vivette start the day early 8am and don’t finish off the academic day until 3pm. However the kids in Norway are living the life with classes running from 9am -12pm! Wouldn’t it be cool to go to school in Norway for a day or two? Pivoting to a more pressing issue: education, particularly for women and girls, has unfortunately become a hot topic in Afghanistan. In much of the world, education for women has been highly valued. Until quote recently, Afghanistan was included in this majority. On August 15, 2021, just four days before school started, the Taliban took control of the capitol city of Afghanistan. In the midst of the panic that ensued, many women were fearing that their rights as educated citizens would be infringed. Many young girls were too scared to return to their schools and many women thought of burning their diplomas to hide their education. However since then, new rules have been instituted on women receiving an education in Afghanistan. The current government has stated that girls will be able to attend school as long as they wear a Hijab and attend gender segregated classes. This means that girls will learn in a classroom with other girls while boys will learn in a classroom with other boys. In regard to higher education and Afghani women attending colleges the rules are the same, however due to the lack of female teachers many are speculating that women will not be able to attend universities since they must be taught by a woman. As of now, women in Afghanistan are being encouraged to stay home until current safety risks can be averted. Sources: https://www.internations.org/go/moving-to-norway/education https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/16/middleeast/taliban-control-afghanistan-explained-intl-hnk/index.html https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58537081