A few weeks ago, I also read the article mentioned in Anna’s blog about a small school in New York City that has Human Rights as its emphasis. Although I did not comment on the article at the time, I find Anna’s insights on the structure of the schools very interesting. It is possible that there may be some sort of liberal bias in the instruction, and Anna has some good ideas about how a slight bias may not be such a horrible thing. In addition, I would hope that if the school really is concerned about human rights, they would be focusing on the historical, political, economic, and social factors that create injustice and not playing a partisan blame-game. This seems like the best way to actually achieve their objective of helping students learn how to think instead of telling them what to think. In my opinion, every school should be including discussions about current human rights issues in their curriculum time anyway, even if they are not as involved as School of Human Rights in integrating these topics with all academic subjects. All students need the opportunity to think about systems of power, justice, and equality, as these forces affect the world that everyone lives in.
To take the discussion further, I noticed that the article included the mission of the school, which is to “produce socially engaged young adults committed to equity, dignity and social consciousness.” This differs a great deal from the goals posted in Meadow Valley Middle School*, the urban middle school where I tutor. I cannot remember the exact wording, but their goals are to increase student proficiency in reading and literacy skills, as well as having their students adhere to a citywide code of conduct. These represent two very different ideas about how students should learn about various topics and, to a certain extent, what the function of a middle or high school is. The School of Human Rights uses one theme to tie many topics together, and in this way provide students with “traditional” classroom knowledge (math, reading, etc.) as well as a set of tools with which to consider issues of social inequality. The goals of Meadow Valley Middle School are also aimed at giving students the tools they need to live in the world, but, like most schools, fostering recognition of injustice is not a primary goal. While I am not going to jump to any conclusions about which school may be “better” in some way, I definitely think that places like the School of Human Rights have the potential to do amazing things for their students through using a unique approach to education. These types of schools would not work everywhere, but as Anna suggested, the students who do participate have more opportunities to explore how subject matter relates to their experiences and lives, which is always a positive thing.
