Teaching Global Human Rights

This article highlights the importance of increasing awareness about human rights and how to preserve them, and classrooms around the world are the best place to do this. We take human rights for granted here in the USA, but these ideals are not as well established in some places around the world. As the article states, we can use teacher and student-led discussions to communicate with people the goals of human rights awareness, such as the fact that rights violations can be state-sponsored, that human rights are open to interpretation, and that efforts to curb violations have been succesful in the past. Case studies, international law and politics studies, and historical context are all ways students can become more aware about human rights, and I think this awareness is crucial because it fosters respect for human life for generations to come.