[hr-education-na] Re: Rationale for Human Rights Education revisited

Kevin

> preparing ourselves to answer in January:  Why create a human
> rights-themed school?  Why would such a school be any more effective than

I work in the field of domestic violence and chair a local violence
against women committee. Our committee has just begun introducing the
notion of VAW as a human rights violation to our local community -- so
far, all of our swimming has been upstream.

Having at least ONE institution somewhere that is infused with
acknowledgement of human rights and the subsequent daily structural
support of those might just actually result in a community of people that
think nothing of respecting human rights as opposed to thinking nothing of
them at all.

Seems like a terrific opportunity to me. Being able to have human rights
as the organizing principles of daily life, IMO would dramatically
increase the likelihood of the knowledge, respect, and protection of human
rights in other arenas.

In short, as a sociologist, I am very much aware of the effects of
institutions on values, beliefs, behavior. It is an easy argument to make
that the current lack of acknowledgement of human rights is due to our
institutional structures. IMO, what needs to occur for human rights to
become second-nature is the creation of institutions that mimic our
current ones in their effect, NOT their content. Your proposed school
sounds just like that.

John

John E Glass, Ph.D.
Sociologist
Director, Program Evaluation
The Family Place
P.O. Box 7999
Dallas, Texas, USA 75209
+1 214-443-7702
jeglass@familyplace.org
http://www.familyplace.org




======== North American Human Rights Education listserv ========
Send mail intended for the list to <hr-education-na@hrea.org>.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education-na/markup/maillist.php
If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact
<owner-hr-education-na@hrea.org>.
**You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this item,
but please retain the original and listserv source.