Human Rights Education and Development - Essay Example

Human Rights Fatima Abdalla GMU Human Rights When I started this I thought I had enough knowledge about human rights but I discovered that I had a lot to learn about this specific subject. The human rights course at George Mason University is very important particularly for undergraduate students since it enlightens them about basic issues surrounding this subject. Most students are of the view that education about human rights is very important since it helps the undergraduates in particular to gain more knowledge about pertinent issues that are related to the declaration human rights. As such, this paper seeks to reflect on how I have benefited from learning something about human rights at GMU. I conducted a research among the students in a bid to get their views about their perceptions with regards to the state of education pertaining to the aspect of human rights at GMU. The respondents reported that their course/department/college/office promotes human rights by offering courses on this particular topic and they promote research about human rights. All respondents reported that their course/department/ college/ office are doing something that promotes human rights. The respondents also reported that they did not know the state of human rights education for undergraduates at GMU and this mainly depended on the department. All respondents were able to state what their department was doing but were however unaware to identify what other departments were doing with regards to the aspect of human rights education. Some respondents reported that they do not know while others noted the need for more outreach and connectivity among the students but also thought that this could be limited as a matter of money/budget constraints.  Some respondents think that human rights education needs to be promoted at the campus.  For example, GMU could have a human rights day as an event just like we have an international week. One of the main concerns in promoting human rights education from the respondents was to include it in the curriculum so that every student can have a chance to do a course related to human rights.  The respondents also mentioned concern about lack of administration support, lack of interest from students and differences among what they thought should be taught in a human rights curriculum.     For instance, poverty stimulation is probably a good way of understanding the way of people’s life. Activities should be done to engage lower income families in order to understand their behavior, culture and conditions. In that way, people can understand better the live of the wealthy families as well as those with average wealthy. Perhaps, better understanding may lead to innovations and reforms to help alleviate poverty in the society worldwide. The aspect of poverty in societies is closely related to the issue of human rights. Societal problems are connected to human rights since everybody is entitled to have the respect and the need to meet the necessities to survive. It means that human rights are connected to poverty. Before discussing the connection between the two concepts, it would help if human rights are defined first. Human rights are the foundation of what a human being must have in life. Those are applicable to all people around the world without favour. The rights of human beings are either legal or natural rights in the face of both the laws of the country of origin and the laws of United Nations. In short, those basic civil liberties must be general and without discrimination. They should be the focus of the laws and policies around the world. Since it is the focus, it has procreated several debates in both regional and international conventions and meetings of policy makers (Donnelly, 2003). Their debates involve the scope of the human rights based on philosophical definition of what rights should be. It has been observed in the history that the movement has existed to push through the human rights so that people can enjoy their liberties. It started since the end of World War 2 where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was formulated by the United Nations in order to be the center of policies and focus of lawmakers in both the national and international level (Orend, 2002). Community-based participatory action research is very useful when it comes to community members because everything they get goes back to the people. It is important to say something with straight answers to people you may know because you feel comfortable opening up to someone whom you have known than someone you barely know. It is important to know people in the community who think that they have been looked down upon and have no voice and this can be done through conducting a research. Research gives them more confidence about meaning and understanding of poorer communities since this can give them the opportunity to perform other jobs because they have skills to work with others and communicate well. Out of all the types of people who should be involved in the research, it has been noted that the people affected by the issue are the most reliable because they have first-hand knowledge about what should be done and they have actual experience. It is amazing to know that time management plays a significant role when it comes to research. Time management is a very important factor when carrying out research. Even though time management is important, it is also imperative to follow up on your research. The interesting thing about community-based research is that it does not have one purpose. It involves gathering data or gathering community support. Action researches are structured to be used for social problems like people who are homeless and need jobs as well as to help them to come up with ideas and act on them. People who have academic knowledge have more things to offer when it comes to helping the P.A.R, since they have already done their own research and they can build on them through talking to community members. Academics already have social skills to get them further than where they need to be. Academic research seems more important because it states that the researchers devise and construct a study and use the community as data collectors which makes the community members part of the study. Whereas health volunteers have to be more emotionally involved, they need to relate well with their subjects of study in order to get the information they may need.  I feel that qualitative research is more effective in terms of gathering opinions and views of the people especially about the subject of human rights than quantitative research since it involves words instead of numbers. Qualitative research helps create a better understanding about the topic among everyone involved. Communication is key, your body language, what you say, the way you present yourself and what people will actually pay attention too is important.  In conclusion, human rights education and human rights development should be a responsibility of every person. There are millions of people who do not have basic living things like health insurance, housing, food clothing. We as Americans have focus on other countries instead of our own country. We should have equal rights and opportunity regardless, of age, gender, religion, race, and income. There are 40 million people in this country without health insurance. People are dying from simple diseases because they do not have health insurance coverage and they cannot afford to see a doctor. As such, I think I will utilize the knowledge I have acquired from GMU to promote human rights among all people regardless of creed, religion or culture. Read More