Teaching for Human Rights, Grades 5-10: Chapter 2

SELF-ESTEEM AND SOCIAL RESPECT
In upper primary and secondary school, no less than in pre-school and lower primary classes, teaching for human rights should aim to foster feelings of self-worth, and social tolerance. These feelings may be fragile and contingent but they are nonetheless real. The teacher's 'teaching personality' is critical, since if it is not a caring and open one, it will contradict the spirit of all that follows, and render it mostly meaningless. By the same token, a supportive approach that praises rather than blames, will make every activity, even ones not specific to human rights teaching, meaningful. There is no place for dogmatism or violence.

The first step in improving respect for human rights has to be establishing secure, open, and supportive relationships in the classroom. In the words of one British teacher, this means:

Exactly the same resolutions came from one of the teachers involved in the Commission's 1985 Schools Program. She said:

ROLE-PLAYS
Some of the activities that follow are role-plays. Teachers not used to this technique need not fear. A few guidelines will allow you to use it successfully, although regard will nee d to be given to the feelings of individuals and the social structure of the class. A role-play about ethnic conflict, for example, will need to account for the ethnic composition of the class itself.

A role-play is like a little drama played out before the class. It is largely improvised. Having set the scene with the basic ideas, you may want to allow time for those chosen to take part to think about what they will say (individually or in groups), or you can proceed at once to enact it. This can be done as a story (with a narrator, and the key characters taking up the thread where appropriate) or as a situation (where the key characters interact, making up dialogue on the spot--perhaps with the help of the teacher and the rest of the class).

Whatever approach is taken, it works best to keep any single scene short, and allow for discussion afterwards. You will want to discourage students from 'becoming' their role. Participants should be able to step back from what they are doing, to comment perhaps, or to ask questions, and members of the class should be able to comment and question too; even join in the role-play if it helps. Often roles will need to be changed so that students get a feel for how different actors respond in a given situation.

BRAINSTORMING
This technique is also used. It means asking the whole class to think about something, and writing down everything they suggest, no matter how improbable. There are three basic rules: explaining the topic, accepting any suggestion at all that comes to mind, and disallowing criticism while the brainstorm is going on. Do try to get the class to think of more ideas, even when everyone says they have finished.

ARRANGING THE CLASS
How the class is arranged and organised will provide many practical opportunities for sharing responsibility, demonstrating trust, and soliciting opinions about the best way to conduct classroom affairs. Working out together the way the classroom community should work will always provide readily available opportunities for realising participatory democracy. The degree of teacher direction must always be measured against the need to provide students with practical experience in promoting their own education. Learning to be responsible means being given and accepting responsibility; learning trust requires being trusted; and making wise decisions means taking part in meaningful decision-making as a group.

That isn't to say that teachers should not intervene. It is the teacher, for example, who will often be the one who will need to talk with the students and try to facilitate their personal friendships while helping the more isolated ones find support and a sense of place. This is a familiar problem and, like many others, is never completely solved. There are no ready-made, non-authoritarian formulas for democratic behaviour. We need to recognise and work on the fact that many classroom problems are trying and difficult, their solution often requiring all the sensitivity and ingenuity teachers and students can muster together. It is the mustering together that will matter most in the end, though.

Some difficulties can be caused unintentionally. The exaggeration of ethnic, social or gender differences is one of these. Younger children are often asked to line up, but unless you avoid getting them to do so in groupings that reinforce obvious differences (in mixed-sex classes, the boy/girl one for example), the practice can have negative side-eff6cts. You can deliberately choose other attributes to line children up by, so as to break down any obvious patterns of discrimination ('one line for children with pets at home, and one line for those without', for example). Or simply allow them to move in groups. With an upper primary group, try the following activity:

Children sit in a circle on chairs, or in set places. One person stands in the middle of the circle (the teacher to start with). The teacher says something like: 'People wearing belts'. These people then have to change seats with someone else who is wearing a belt at the time. The person in the middle also has to find a seat. Whoever is left without a place to sit down gets to be the next one in the middle, and has to choose the next attribute. Children will quickly see that they can be similar and different in many ways.

An interesting ending is to choose a more intangible attribute, such as: 'People who are happy/kind'. The activity usually breaks down at this point because it is harder to identify such attributes at a glance. Discuss how such attributes are usually recognised.

DEALING WITH CONFLICT
It is always necessary to develop a consistent strategy with the class for dealing with conflict. Social conflicts arise all the time. There is, however, at least one successful routine that eventually allows people to deal with many of them without outside help. It is outlined below. Used consciously with a class over a period of time it can become second nature, and a prime skill for life. You will want to experiment with it for yourself before accepting such claims as valid. It has been used with all age groups.

The main thing as a teacher is to try and remain open to conflicts, rather than closing them off with one of the many means available for doing so. Aim to emphasise the positive approach: 'Here we have a problem. Let's think of some ways to solve it'. This way students learn that thinking about a problem can often suggest a solution in itself.

1. Identify the problem and acknowledge it (i.e. stop any physical or verbal aggression; ask the students involved to stay and discuss their behaviour together).

2. Get a description of what happened (i.e. ask the students involved, and any bystanders, about the events that took place. Give everyone a turn to speak without interruption. Touch, where appropriate, can also ease feelings of anger or guilt.).

3. Explore a range of alternative solutions (i.e. ask those directly involved, plus bystanders, how this problem can be solved. If the students draw a blank, offer some solutions yourself-preferably more than one but not too many. Explore how more than one fair solution may often exist. Encourage the students to think of the physical and emotional consequences of these solutions and recall past experiences of a similar nature.).

4. Choose a course of action (i.e. seek a mutual decision using one of the fair
solutions).

5. Carry out that action (i.e. get acceptance of the decision and a commitment to monitor the consequences. If a student is unhappy after a trial time go back to step 3--exploring alternative solutions-and work through to another fair solution.).

6. Follow it up (i.e. with puppet play and stories with younger classes, role-plays and discussions with older ones). Recall other such incidents and compare them.

(Adapted from Rosemary Milne, Moral development in early childhood, Ph.D. thesis University of Melbourne, 1984, pp. 300-47. Her detailed description of this sequence-in-action is invaluable.)

This is no more than common sense but used regularly and conscientiously it can become habitual. Students can also learn to use it without any help, and where they do, it can work wonders.

COMBATING RACIST OR SEXIST NAME-CALLING
Some conflicts cannot be dealt with in this way however. What, for example, should be done about racist name-calling or derogatory and discriminatory comments of any other kind? Take the case of race. One group of advisers recommends the following procedure:

Again, you may want to try this procedure and find out for yourself how it works in practice. It is a strategy that can be used at all school levels (and outside school as well). It can be applied to any kind of discriminatory behaviour, such as sexism, or intolerance of people with physical or intellectual disabilities.

It should be remembered that racism and sexism are usually present in children by the age of four. Human rights teaching is remedial from then on. A teacher can be part of the problem or part of the solution, and should know the difference between the two.

Racial, national, and ethnic diversity in the classroom should be celebrated at every opportunity. Including multicultural perspectives in the curriculum while exploring the qualities that define our common humanity and unite us all (joy, fear, and how we have habits, for example) can provide plenty of impromptu material. Anti-sexism teaching is also imperative, and is explored as an issue-area below.

Care should also be taken to encourage the class to look after any students with disabilities in such a way as to foster their individual autonomy and responsibility.

It remains only to emphasise the importance of classroom climate, and the need for a participative and co-operative one (even when this means more noise!). If you are stuck at any point, do ask the students. Clarifying with their help what it is you are trying to do will determine the means of doing it. Ends do not justify means; they provide them.

TRUST-BUILDING ACTIVITIES
The following activities can be used with any age group. They will place most students in situations of unfamiliar dependence. Surviving the risks involved makes for trust, and a group better prepared to enter into what follows.

The teaching situation itself can be used to help here since it represents a range of not-always-easy relationships; and facilitating those relationships fosters trust. Putting students at east involves:

Try to reserve fifteen minutes of the day with your home class for discussing news items from the press, radio, TV, or local talk. This will provide many opportunities to look at human rights issues in a less fraught or formal way. It can be an education in itself.

(a) Blind trust
Divide the class into pairs. Have one student blindfold the other (closing eyes is enough, but blindfolds are better) and have the sighted member of the pair lead the 'blind' one about for a few minutes in silence. Take care to stop students being silly, since the idea is to nurture trust, not to destroy it.

The walk should be an easy one, though, with enough space and flat ground, can include skipping or running outside. The 'leader' of the pair should try to provide as wide a variety of experiences as possible, for example, getting their 'blind' partners to feel things with their feet or fingers; or leaving them alone for a minute.

After a few minutes have the participants reverse the roles and repeat the process so that the 'leader' is now the led, and the 'blind' partner is now the sighted one.

Once the activity is over allow the students to talk about what happened. Discuss how they felt-not just as 'blind' partners, but their feelings of responsibility as 'leaders' too.

This can lead not only to a greater awareness of what life is like for people with sight (or hearing) disabilities, but to a discussion of the importance of trust in the whole community. This can lead in turn to a discussion of world society and how it works, and how it can fail to work too. (This activity can be applied to any school subject. Suggestions are given in D. Wolsk, op. cit. The suggestions are very good, and show how any activity can be adapted to any part of the curriculum.)

(b) Feeding
Another trust exercise is for students to break into pairs and for one to try to feed a quarter cup of water and a biscuit or bits of rice, bread, etc., to the other (who is lying down as if paralysed). This can take some time, and take care that the feeders do not hurry and choke their charges. After a while, swap roles.

Students who are self-conscious and find this activity a bit difficult at first have often changed completely by the time it comes to swap over. Allow for some mess, since students can become so involved they hardly notice it.

Discussion can not only highlight the plight of people who are paralysed, and the feelings of those who care for them, but deeper understanding of what helplessness of any kind is like.

One teacher described her experiences with an upper primary class in the following way:

WORKING OUT SOME CLASSROOM RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Since this next activity has a direct effect on classroom climate, it can be a very significant one. Just how significant? Consider this teacher's testimony:

Working out some rights and duties together is a clear demonstration of a teacher's willingness to involve students in how the classroom is run, and her or his own trust in all its members. It also makes students think about what rules are desirable and what are possible in class, how they might be observed, and the teacher's own role in having to hold the ring.

In practice, this can be done a number of ways: as a brainstorm (paring down the results in subsequent discussion); in small groups that then present their findings to a plenary session of the whole class; or as individual assignments that the teacher collates for class consideration later.

Below is a list of basic classroom rights drafted by a sixth grade group in Victoria. It was displayed prominently for classroom reference, and was extensively tested in practice:

Another list, compiled by the creative arts classes of the Cassady Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A. reads (in revised form):

Discussing the above in small groups will allow individuals to share their personal experiences more effectively.

Present a list of your own rights and duties as teacher. Discuss it with the students, and display it next to theirs.

These activities will endorse the principle of equal consideration that is basic to professional educational ethics. Giving students the chance to consider this principle for themselves allows them to share in the socialising process of the classroom in an explicit way. This can have a most constructive effect.

It can also, of course, present problems. What happens when a student decides (as occurred in one trial school) not to pick up other people's garbage from the schoolyard any more; or decides, as also occurred, not to attend aerobics? The authoritarian response to what quickly gets labelled as 'insubordination' is not appropriate in this context. And yet, having to work out solutions with students, rather than for them, is time-consuming. It requires careful judgments about what is negotiable, about how much objecting is tolerable, about what responses are reasonable, and about who is dodging basic responsibilities. There is nothing unusual about this. It simply means that order achieved by consensus, rather than control, is more open-ended. It will always seem messy to those used to more authoritarian ways.

One good starter is to solicit what students say they 'want'. This list may be very long and include items that are extravagant or unrealistic. But don't worry about that for the time being. From this list ask them to choose what they think they really 'need'. If they are honest, they should end up with something shorter and much more trenchant. Finally, ask them to choose from their 'needs'
selection what they think they have a 'right' to expect, as members of a group that includes others and a teacher. Ask why they have chosen as they have. Choosing what is 'right' defines what is 'wrong', and what (in the class context) good behaviour as opposed to bad behaviour might be.

Where this activity has been tried it has proved important to be realistic about 'wants', 'needs', and 'rights'. Having recorded all the 'wants', 'needs' and 'rights' students suggest, you may have to say something like:

Once a list of basic rights and duties is agreed, have it displayed for classroom reference.

Two things can pose problems: students or the teacher may break the rules; and/or the classroom rules may not be compatible with the rules of other teachers or the whole school.

In the first case, more discussion is called for. This can require careful consideration of what is negotiable, and why things are going wrong. Do remember that order achieved by argument and agreement is always harder to get, but it is more of an education.

In the second case, students may just have to accept being treated differently. Alternatively, you and they can argue, where appropriate, for the process to be repeated school-wide.

Some of the tension that students have experienced in schools where teachers and students have not been able to reach a genuine working agreement on how they should be treated by each other, comes through in the following letter. It is a reminder that negotiating rights and responsibilities will place burdens on both students and staff that they may find it hard to shoulder. It is a sober warning about raising, then disappointing, students' expectations.

Teachers who have really worked hard at devising an operational set of classroom rights and responsibilities have invariably been surprised at how long the negotiation process has taken. One junior high school teacher wrote that it took over six weeks finally to arrive at a class charter. The original two hours she had set aside for the task was nothing like enough.

Another teacher also described a similarly lengthy period of negotiation. He added that the experience of prolonged negotiation had made his students very conscious of the difficulty that those who drew up the International bill of rights must have had.

WRITING YOUR OWN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Having arrived at some classroom rules, it is a natural step to consider the same sort of thing on a universal scale.

(a) Planning for a world community
Ask the class to imagine it has the job of planning the rules for the whole world community. As planners, they do not know who they will be when they join that community themselves; whether, that is, they will be male or female, rich or poor, young or old, disabled in some way, or a member of any particular race, ethnic group, culture or religion.

Again, this can be done in practice as a whole class; or in small groups, or as individuals who report back later. And the same sequence from 'wants' to 'needs' to 'rights and responsibilities' will help define the minimum human standards that are being sought.

(b) The Universal declaration of human rights
The results of the previous activity can be compared with the text of the Universal Declaration, as proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948. (The text is given below, in both the original and in a plain language version that runs parallel, so students can see what was written in their name by those who tried, a generation ago, to make a comprehensive and concrete list of the same sort.) What differences are there? Who left out what?

The Universal declaration of human rights (1948)

Plain Language Version [1]

Original Text

Article 1
When children are born free, they are free and each should be treated in the same way.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2
Everyone can claim the following rights, even if they are:

a different sex
a different skin colour
speak a different language
think different things
believe in another religion
own more or less
were born in another social group
come from another country. It also makes no difference whether the country you live in is independent or not.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political jurisdiction or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3
You have the right to live, and to live in freedom and safety.

Everyone has the right to life liberty and the security of person.

Article 4
Nobody has the right to torture you, that is, to hurt you.

No one shall be subjected to torture of to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6
You should be protected in the same way everywhere, and like everyone else.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7
The law is the same for everyone; it should be applied in the same way to all.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8
You should be able to ask for legal help when the rights your country grants you are not respected.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9
Nobody has the right to put you in prison, to keep you there, or to send you away from your country unjustly, or without a good reason.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10
If you must go on trial this should be done in public. The people who try you should not let themselves be influenced by others.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11
You should be considered innocent until it can be proved that you are guilty. If you are accused of a crime, you should always have the right to defend yourself. Nobody has the right to condemn you and punish you for something you have not done.

(1)	Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2)	No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed that the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed,

Article 12
You have the right to ask to be protected if someone tries to harm your good name, enter your house, open your letters, or bother you or your family without a good reason.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13
You have the right to come and go as you wish within you country. You have the right to leave your country to go to another one; and you should be able to return to your country if you want.

(1)	Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2)	Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14
If someone hurts you, you have the right to go to another country and ask it to protect you. You lose this right if you have killed someone and if you, yourself, do not respect what is written here.

(1)	Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2)	This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purpose and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15
You have the right to belong to a country and nobody can prevent you, without a good reason, from belonging to another country if you wish.

(1)	Everyone has the right to nationality.
(2)	No one shall be arbitrarily deprives of his nationality nor denies the right to change his nationality.

Article 16
As soon as a person is old enough, he or she has the right to marry and have a family. In doing this, neither the colour of your skin, the country you come from, nor your religion should matter. Men and women have the same rights when they are married and also when they are separated. Nobody should force a person to marry. The government of your country should protect your family an its members.

(1)	Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2)	Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3)	The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17
You have the right to own things and nobody has the right to take these from you without good reason.

(1)	Everyone has the right to own property.
(2)	No one shall be arbitrarily deprives of his property.

Article 18
You have the right to choose you religion freely, to change it, and to practise it as you wish, either on your own or with other people.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practise, worship and observance.

Article 19
You have the right to think what you want, to say what you like, and nobody should forbid you from doing so. Yuu should be able to share your ideas also with people from any other country.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20
You have the right to organise peaceful meetings or to take part in meetings in a peaceful way. It is wrong to force someone to belong to a group.

(1)	Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2)	No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21
You have the right to take part in your country's political affairs either by belonging to the government yourself or by choosing politicians who have the same ideas as you. Governments should be voted for regularly, and voting should be secret. You should get a vote and all votes should be equal. You also have the same right to join the public service as anyone else.

(1)	Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2)	Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
(3)	The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedure.

Article 22
The society in which you live should help you to develop and to make the most of all the advantages (culture, work, social welfare) which are offered to you and to all the men and women in your country.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realisation, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organisation and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23
You have the right to work, to be free to choose your work, to get a salary which allows you to live and support your family, and to be helped not to lose your job. If a man and a woman do the same work, they should get the same pay. All people who work have the right to join together to defend their interests.

(1)	Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2)	Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3)	Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4)	Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24
Each work day should not be too long, since everyone has the right to rest and should be able to take regular paid holidays.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25
You have the right to have whatever you need so that you and your family do not fall ill, go hungry, or go without clothes and a house. You and your family also have a right to be helped if out of work, ill, or old, or if your husband or wife is dead, or you do not earn a living for any other reason you can not help.
The mother who is going to have a baby, and her baby when it is born, should get special help. All children have the same rights, whether or not the mother is married.

(1)	Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2)	Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26
You have the right to go to school and everyone should go to school. Primary schooling should be free. You should be able to learn a profession or continue you studies as far as you wish. At school, you should be able to develop all your talents and you should be taught to get on with others, whatever their race, religion or the country they come from. Your parents have the right to choose how and what you will be taught at school.

(1)	Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2)	Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3)	Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27
You have the right to share in your community's arts and sciences, and any good they do. Your works as an artist, a writer, or a scientist should be protected, and you should be able to benefit from them.

(1)	Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2)	Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28
So that your rights will be respected, society must work so as to protect them both at home and worldwide.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration can be fully realised.

Article 29
You have duties towards the people you live among. It is they who allow you to develop your personality.
The law should not take anything away from human rights. It should allow everyone to respect others and to be respected.

(1)	Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2)	In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3)	These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30
In all parts of the world, no society, no human being, should take it upon herself or himself to destroy the rights which you have just been reading about.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

[1] Adapted from an English translation of a French text prepared for the World Association of the School as an Instrument of Peace by Professor Massarenti, University of Geneva.

(c) Children's rights
Students might like to consider whether there are rights and responsibilities that apply more specifically to them, not just as people but as young people--as young adults or children. What might it be wrong to do (or not to do) to someone just because he or she happens, at that point in time, to be 'a child'. The United Nations Declaration of the rights of the child (1959) defines some basic standards of this sort, most of which students will probably be able to work out for themselves. Along with rights to a name, a nationality, social security, special care if handicapped, love and understanding (preferably from parents), education, recreation, and all of these regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, opinion, or national or social origin, there are some rights students may not get on their lists. For example, Principle 8: 'The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief; Principle 9: 'The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. He (sic) shall not be the subject of traffic, in any form . . ; and Principle 10: 'The child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination . . .'. So students can see what has been written in their name as essential for a happy childhood, the text of this document is given below. As with the Universal Declaration, a summary version in plain language is provided parallel.

In some countries there are even television advertisements about children's rights. Students might like to make up some advertisements for themselves. Small groups could dramatise these for the class as a whole.

Regional divisions of UNICEF may have posters and other materials that could be of use, and their central address is: Development Education Unit, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Palais des Nations, CH-1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland; or 866 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10017, United States of America.

(d) Connections
In any of the discussions above, if you have arranged the class (or the small groups into which you may have divided them) into circles, provide each group with a ball of woollen yarn. Students should then speak one at a time, and when they do, they should pass the ball along, letting it unwind in the process. Each person keeps a hold of the string at the point at which it passes through his or her hands, every time this happens.

Eventually the group is linked by a web of yarn, which will clearly show the pattern of communications that have gone on within it. More assertive members will be holding more of the thread points than others.