[hr-education] Re: Teaching and neutrality

Dear colleagues and friends,

It is interesting and challenging how dialog and communication among
members of a community, in our case human rights educators, is built. I
started a dialog by asking a central question. What is the relation
between human rights and citizen education? It is amazing that we have
received so many remarkable answers and opinions, but also a Pandora's box
has been opened. Now we are talking about neutrality, indoctrination and
accountability in human rights education.

In relation to neutrality let me say, first of all that I conceive human
rights education a political education, therefore it can not be neutral.
Second, in human right education the learner should, in my opinion, be
seen as an active agent in his learning. Therefore there is no room for
rigid and inflexible indoctrination.

The question of indoctrination has been raised long time ago (George S.
Counts, 1932).  The social reconstruction ideology of curriculum has faced
the question: does the curriculum developer have the right to attempt to
change the social patterns of a culture against the will of the member of
the culture?; does the educator have the right to indoctrinate students
either with or without their consent?  In the social reconstructive
conception: " educators are not be simple reflectors of the culture but
leaders of the culture" …the social reconstruction educator must take a
stance with respect to the current social crises and educate students in
such a way that they too adopt that stance" ... "to work to reconstruct
society…" In the social reconstructive conception impartiality within the
school is impossible; indoctrination is an integral and essential part of
education.

Human rights education, in my opinion, can not be neutral. But the real
questions are: from what source should the non-neutral stand come?;
toward what ends the non neutral position came?; how the non-neutral
posture be imposed? Meaningful answers to these questions, in my view, can
derive from the paradigm of human rights.

In regard to accountability let me tell you that just the last year, to be
more precise in November 2004, we have organized in Chile a Conference on
Accountability and Evaluation in human rights education. Many educators
from Chile and abroad were present a summary of the many discussion and
conclusions of the conference will be delivered soon

With love to all of you, let us stay in contact

Abraham Magendzo
Coordinator of Unesco Chair
Santiago- Chile




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