Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Afghan schoolchildren

Afghan schoolchildren

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 4 Mar 2014 at 18:49:12 (UTC)

Original – August 2007: "Schoolgirls sit in the girls' section of a school in Bamozai, near Gardez, Paktya Province, Afghanistan. The school has no building; classes are held outdoors in the shade of an orchard."

Reason

A vivid, unique, high resolution image which is featured on the Commons.

Articles in which this image appears

Education, Literacy, Pashtun culture

FP category for this image

Culture, entertainment, and lifestyle/Culture and lifestyle

Creator

Capt. John Severns, U.S. Air Force

• Support as nominator --JJARichardson (talk) 18:49, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose The key feature this photo is illustrating is that these kids are attending an open-air school, but you can hardly tell from the image (it's a group of children with all their school equipment packed away in their bags sitting on the ground, not an image of them participating in school). The framing also seems a bit tight given that elements of the children and their bags are cut off, and I suspect that the colours are slightly over-saturated. I'm not sure how this passed a FP nomination at Commons to be honest. Nick-D (talk) 22:41, 22 February 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose as above. Also comes across as US military propaganda. J Milburn (talk) 12:07, 23 February 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose per Nick-D. Also, what's school without a schoolteacher? These kids could have been watching an open-air theater show for all we know. And, by the way, the caption talks about schoolgirls and girl's section while there are clearly three boys in the back row. --Ebertakis (talk) 14:21, 23 February 2014 (UTC)
• Question I don't want to oppose this nomination however I do have a problem regarding the description; it says schoolgirls sit in the girls' section of a school, however there are 6 boys in there, clearly 3 boys in the back and one in the first row (the ones that don't wear a hijab); Can this be clarified? --CyberXRef^☎ 23:35, 24 February 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose over-saturated. Kaldari (talk) 07:35, 27 February 2014 (UTC)
• Support- Let me answer your objections one at a time:

1. Nick-D, the children are plainly participating. The expressions on their faces tell you that they are eager for whatever is being imparted to them. How do you know that it is "school"? The bags and papers indicate that. The close crop add to the intimacy. The children are in focus.

Re saturation of the colours. The colour used in the dye of clothing is extremely intense, particularly the pinks and oranges. The colouring of the faces is not over-saturated.

2. J Milburn US military propaganda? What rot! The fact that the image was taken by a member of the US Military does not lessen its significance. Malala Yousafzai doesn't happen to be a member of the US Military. This is what she took a bullet in the head for.

3. Ebertakis, what is a school without a teacher? Where is the teacher in this picture? Right in front of the children, of course! The children's eyes tell you exactly where the teacher is. She is a real presence, although unseen in the image. No, they don't look as if they are watching an open-air show; they look like children who are paying attention to something that is not too easy to understand.

4. Boys in the back row? Yes, there are boys in the back row. Well spotted. But the picture is not of the boys. They are there, but are not the subject. They are engaged in an activity that is separate from the girls, and the focus of the image is not on them. The emphasis on "girls' is because this situation of girls being educated is a matter of intense opposition from the Taliban and other radicals both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

5.CyberXRef, All the children in the two front rows are girls. Two of the smallest girls are not wearing hijabs because little girls are not obliged to. Notice that their hair is bobbed, not clipped like a boys. No boy would wear his hair like that little child in the front row. They are also wearing embroidered garments of a feminine type.

I wholeheartedly support this as an image of education in a poor community, as an image of the education of girls, as an image representative of the rights of females.

Moreover, the image contains much human appeal. The faces of the individual children tell their own individual stories, in the gaining of knowledge. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that such an excellent and telling picture could have so many knockers. Put it on the front page, and it will be a favourite.

Amandajm (talk) 11:37, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

• Support per Amanda's well-informed and well-argued position (though I admit that I do see the propagandic potential in an image such as this: "Of course we're better than the Taliban! We're letting these kids study.") I am not sure if the culture is the same in Afghanistan, but here in Indonesia Muslim it is most common for young women to start wearing the hijab (in the meaning of headscarf, not covering of the aurat) after puberty (in some children's books, it's said that it's required, but that's not actually based in the Quran... just social convention). The students not wearing the headscarves in the front two rows all appear to be girls to me. The one in yellow has an earring, and the cut of her clothes is quite feminine, and the facial structure is also feminine. The ones in the back row are both wearing dresses and other pieces of clothing traditionally considered to be feminine. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:54, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Not Promoted --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 00:30, 5 March 2014 (UTC)