Tutoring Experience

This semester we have studied the diversity of educational systems in the world as well as the similarities that transcend national borders. Working with students of many different cultural backgrounds and tutoring them on their academic subjects has not only been a challenge but a tool in understanding the themes in this course. On one of the first days of class, Dr. Armento came to teach us about ways of connecting with students from different countries with different educational backgrounds. She gave us strategies and informed us of the challenges we would face in working with these kids. After working with these multicultural students at Fernbank Elementary School, I have found these tools helpful and necessary in tutoring. To teach, you must first understand that your student may have outside circumstances or be accustomed to a different style of learning than you are prepared to use. As an educator, you must alter your approach to cater to the needs of the student. For example, I was having trouble with one Hispanic student who could not distinguish the different classification between animals and people; for example, she thought that tigers were just another gender like male or female. I tried explaining to her the difference, but she did not understand. It was not until I used pictures and the grouping method (Demonstrated by Dr. Armento) that she understood the concept. In this course we have learned that it important to observe other educational systems and learning to better our own. If we adjust our own ways to implement some techniques used by other countries, it may be easier to educate our own students while also helping students from other areas of the world succeed.

Benefits of Human Rights Education in Schools

As discussed by the two articles in the reading, a curriculum that includes the study of human rights creates a better functioning society. A society educated in human rights leads to a citizenry that is better equipped in a democratic society. I think the Gaudell and Fernekes article makes an interesting point about this in its mention of counter-socialization. This learning process of counter-socialization encourages social criticism in students and enables them to question the dominant ways of their society. Any principles learned as a child now come under scrutiny as young adults and are assessed in their true worth. Students are now developed with a life-long social consciousness in which they become independent and critical thinkers. Under any circumstance, the ability to think both independently and critically is vital to functioning in a democratic society. As the article mentions, this process of counter-socialization is essential to the development of active citizens dedicated to democratic practice. And this process is only enhanced by a human rights education.
Here in America, the depth of our human rights education is restricted to learning about the Constitution or the Civil Rights Era. My own school system can attest to this. Aside from the Holocaust, few teachings included any mention of international events or cultures. The few lessons that did, left no mention of any injustices the communities may have faced. After these readings, we now know that a curriculum with a human rights based approach can only enhance the learning experience of students. They not only become more aware of their own rights, but more respectful and defensive of the rights of the international community.

International Human Rights, Society, and the Schools

Living in the United States where each individual has human rights makes it hard to imagine other places in the world where people do not have basic human rights.  One out of four adults is said to be unable to read and write and that statistic is supposed to increase in coming years.  I have never been to a place where many people are illiterate, so it is hard for me to imagine them.  Although, tutoring students at the International Community School has shown me how it is possible for one in four adults to be illiterate.  For many of the students there, English is not there first language.  If those children were never given the opportunity to attend ICS, then they might never learn English.

The U.S. has always been concerned with human rights around the world.  The U.S. has signed multiple charters, declarations, and covenants to help ensure that people around the world have human rights.  Although other countries might view it as arrogance, it is important for the U.S. to make sure people around the world have human rights as long as they have the resources to help.

International Human Rights

The last point in the Bulletin (# 15. Why is Informed World Opinion Regarding Human Rights Important?) is shorter than many of the other statements, but I think that it has an extremely important message that shouldn't be overlooked. The reason that the human rights code exists in an official, written form is because of prior violations of human rights. Human rights are not granted, they are innate; no person or government has the right to violate them, even without a written code. Yet the code was necessary and violations of human rights still occur regularly. People need to be informed of human rights, even when they seem so basic that most would take them for granted. This point referenced education as the key to ensuring these rights; if every child is informed of his or her basic rights, regardless of citizenship, there will be a baseline of knowledge. However, this process is not a quick and easy solution to the problem; there is still mass illiteracy and lack of access to education that would prevent a child from learning anything, even what he or she deserves, merely because he or she is a human being. I think that the goal is admirable, but, after reading this article, I'm not quite sure how feasible (or, if feasible, how quickly) it will to implement.

Global Human Rights

I could not agree more with the foundations of this article.  It was especially interesting to read about this case study on a New Jersey high school since I also attended high school in New Jersey, and our curriculum far from covered global human rights issues.  If we learned about human rights issues, it was brief and mostly included national issues, not global.  The only topic we did cover in depth was the Holocaust.  We barely learned about global issues in general and only briefly touched upon anything related to other countries outside of the United States unless topics related to U.S. history (like WWI and II).  My high school curriculum could have been greatly expanded to include not only global human rights issues but also information on global culture and history in general.  It was not until I came to Emory that I really became exposed to global issues - and trying to look at these issues through and non-U.S. perspective.

International Human Rights, Society, and the Schools

According to Margaret Stimmann Branson and Judith Torney-Purta, it is vital that students learn about human rights and rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. While some believe that students are not learning about rights in the American context in sufficient depth, I feel that human rights should be taught to students depending on maturity level. For academic purposes, the history surrounding the human rights of our country should be taught at a certain age or grade level, but if students are not prepared to handle these ideals and to put them into proper perspective, they can misinterpret them. For example, they may understand free speech as the ability to say whatever they want whenever they want which could lead to repercussions. Also, depending on the environment in which they live, the right to bear arms could prove fatal to others in their community if misunderstood. Students should understand the concepts behind human rights and the United States Constitution, but they should be regulated and introduced to the students more in depth as soon as they are fully ready to interpret them.

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.