Our Maria can do it too!

3 people. 3 names. 3 lives. 

Sanna Marin and Greta Thunberg are the 2 names which probably you hear about them quite a lot during the last few days. The third name is one of our choices. I will call her Maria, you can choose any other name that you wish. Maria is a symbolic person rather than imaginary to represent the regular child in the Romanian educational system.

Sanna Marin is from Finland. She has been just elected as the prime minister of her country. She is 34. This makes her the youngest prime minister ever elected in the world. Besides her age the fact that she is going to rule the country with other 4 female politicians has attracted lots of attention world-wide.

After being elected as the prime minister of Finland, I’ve seen a video on the internet where she was interviewed. I could see that she was happy and proud however she was also quite humble. More focused on her responsibilities rather than making a deal of her age or gender. Financially, socially and environmentally. These are the 3 main areas which she considers herself responsible. “I am an individual, real person” she says to describe herself. “Have just been doing my job”. Regarding the way she ended up being the prime minister she puts it out very clear and simple; “People and my party have trusted me.”

Sanna Marin. She is from Finland. The country which occupied place 4 of 149 in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Gender Gap Report Index. So, not having gender gap issues is a country wide success. 

I also had a quick look at her childhood and education life. Just like many other real children today she also faced some problems within her family. Financial problems, alcoholic father, divorced parents. She graduated from Pirkkala Highschool in 2004 at the age of 19. I don’t know what it looked like in 2004 but when I checked the school’s website this morning, I’ve seen terms as independent courses, student council, theme day..etc

Not far from Finland, another reputable and developed country; Sweden. Yes this is the country where Greta Thunberg is from. As you all know she has been chosen as Time’s Person of the Year in 2019. “We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow. This is all what she is saying. Aged 16. She began a global movement by skipping school. She is quite harsh against the politicians but spending her days camping out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign in painted black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk f?r klimatet: “School Strike for Climate” caused her to discuss with many politicians, heads of states and even met with the Pope.

The idea of skipping school, strike, her harsh comments on some of the politicians can be arguable. However, we all have things which we can improve. Especially if we are 16. Still the commitment which she has towards her goal is very clear. She too, wants to have a voice in the world in which she will live tomorrow. It’s not only her though. Unless there is an agreement on transformative action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution will hit the 1.5°C mark- an eventuality that scientists warn will expose some 350 million additional people to drought and push roughly 120 million people into extreme poverty by 2030.

Our 3 person in this article, is just a symbolic one. Our Maria from Romania. Lovely child who also had big dreams. Her imagination and creativity was really high. She loved to  play. She loved to take responsibility. She was not afraid to make mistakes when she was trying to play new games or to try new experiences. In her small world not everything was perfect as sometimes she also had some conflicts with the small brother or just because she had to sleep when she still wanted to continue to play. But still, Maria was a very happy child. She was being allowed to take some safe risks by her family. She had to take some care of her brother. She liked doing this. So in 10 years maybe she could do this at a higher level. She could be the voice of her generation. I don’t know if she would be the Time’s person of the year. But I am sure that she would care more about her future. In 20 years? Don’t ask me if she would be the prime minister in Romania when she was in her 30s. I don’t think she would mind ruling the country. I am sure she would be able to do it. But I too have concerns if she would be allowed to do so. Yes you are right. I also think that it would still be her legal right to be elected in her 30s. But I am not sure if we (the society) would trust her enough. Don’t get me wrong it is nothing wrong with Maria. It is just us who are having difficulties in trusting people.

Maria will soon start going to school. Soon she will face difficult days growing older and older. She needs to get used to being told what to do. Thinking? She will not need much of that. If she follows instructions and does not ask too many questions she will be a good girl. Success. Of Course, some of the instructions will be the homework which she will be expected to do. Exams which she will need to prepare for. As she is a smart girl, she will get good grades. Maybe no one will still won’t know what those grades will mean but they will still think that they are the most important thing in a child’s world. The number of exams and subjects that she studies will increase more and more. She will need to study more than 15 subjects just in the 7th grade. Independent learning which exists in Sanna Marin’s highschool. Maria will not need that. Remember, she is not expected to think. She will be a perfect student if she can just memorize some facts, get good grades at some traditional style exams and that's it. However she will not be happy anymore. No, not because she will not be famous as Sanna Marin or Greta Thunberg. Just because she will not be getting the trust which she should deserve from the community. It will be her future which will be decided by others and she will not have a saying in this. 

So let’s all look at the things that we are doing. How many times we give our children the opportunity to discover themselves, to take risks, to fail, to make mistakes, to make decisions. There is a lot more that could be done. At least a parent or a teacher can start thinking more about how to help Maria and get to do some things differently. Otherwise we will continue talking about Maria’s from different countries,to whom are given all these opportunities.