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| Contents |
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3... | Chapter 4 | Appendix 1 |
| Appendix 2 part 1 | Appendix 2 part 2 | Appendix 2 part 3 |

Chapter Three

Some basic human rights issue-areas

Human rights tries to define minimum standards for the decent conduct of human behaviour. It is a comprehensive attempt to propose globally accepted criteria by which to judge whether a community is civilised or not. Its overall objective is to achieve a peaceful world order, and the maximum enjoyment of life for all. It tries to do this by raising basic questions, for example, about how a community treats its most vulnerable (or least powerful) members. What follows are ideas and suggestions for investigating a number of important issue-areas. This manual identifies twelve such areas:

A handful of activities are outlined under each heading. In many cases you will be familiar with other materials that can be plugged into the main-frame this manual provides.

If you concentrate on only one or two issue-areas--peace and disarmament, for example, or world development, or prisoners of conscience, or minority peoples, or anti-racism, or anti-sexism--then it is important to cast what is done in the context of the whole human rights rationale. Students will then be able to see that what they do is only one part of a general approach that covers many other things. Too often one issue-area appears to be isolated from others of a similar sort and unrelated to the broad principles involved. It becomes the tail that wags the human rights, dog. As a consequence people can fail to recognise their common purpose. Used as suggested, however, the general and the particular draw strength from each other. The general will provide breadth while the particular will provide depth.

Since all the issue-areas only represent particular ways in which the core values (justice, freedom, equality and well-being) are found at work in the world, they are centrally related. Though tabouring away in diverse lots, teachers who specialise in different aspects of human rights teaching are really working side-by- side. They need not see themselves in competition with each other- they are, or should be, co-operating with those doing human rights work elsewhere.

This is clearly visible if you spell out the sequence involved:

To foster a humane world, we need to foster the appropriate feelings. This task begins at birth. If people do not have a sense of self-worth and a sense of identity with others they are not likely to value justice, freedom, equality and wellbeing. If they do not (following through the sequence above) subscribe to these core values, then they are not likely to act in the diverse ways that human principles prescribe in practice.

Teaching for the fundamental feelings of self-esteem and empathy/sympathy cannot begin too early. Feelings are skills and specific feelings have to be taught for in a very active fashion if they are to become an effective part of a student's emotional, moral and behavioural vocabulary. Any time spent specifically at work on self-esteem and empathy exercises is time well spent, and the more the better.

Later on, as their awareness grows, students can address more directly human rights values and human rights principles. Older students (and even adults) who suffer from a lack of self-esteem and social sympathy have to return to basics--to kindergarten as it were--to have these feelings fostered. A sense of self-worth and a sense of social sympathy are essential to all that flows from them. Where students do have these feelings, then you can reverse the sequence and begin (with due regard for analytic capacity) by examining human rights principles per se. You might ask, for example, why these principles rather than others? In answering such a question you will inevitably start moving back along the sequence above, exploring the values that determine such principles, and finally the feelings that inform the core values concerned.

1. PROTECTING LIFE-THE INDIVIDUAL IN SOCIETY
To establish a clear sense of humanity as a composite of individuals, the teacher can explore with students the concept of what being 'human' means. This work should confirm the fact that no person is more of a human being than another and no person is less. We are human beings first. We are male or female, black or white, or whatever else, only second.

Individuals are social beings; we have a personality, but everything else we learn to be happens as a consequence of our living with others. Hence work about the individual is work about society too, for all individuals live within society.

(a) Being a human being
Place a convenient object (an inverted waste-paper bin for example) before the class. Suggest that it is a visitor from another part of the universe. This visitor is curious to learn about the beings who call themselves, in so many languages, 'people'. Ask for suggestions that might help the visitor identify any of us-- 'human beings'--should it meet more later in its travels. 

One teacher who has tried this activity describes the way he went about it as follows: 

We began with a whole-class discussion of what a human being is. I introduced an Calien', or robot figure made of boxes and foam and asked the children to explain to him what a human was so that it wouldn't go around talking to lamp posts, etc. After initial discussion about having arms, legs etc., I insisted that a Myer's dummy was human if their definition was right. After discussion we still found that an orang-utan at the zoo fitted the 'human' category, as it was being defined. All these points started a vigorous and enthusiastic discussion about human characteristics. This part of the lesson was excellent.

(b) The Council of the Universe 
This is another version of the same idea. Explain to the class that it is (for the purpose of this activity) now the 'Council of the Universe'. The current Council plan is to clear our sector of space for space-farming. However, a Council rule forbids this if there is a species of thinking beings in the area of the universe to be cleared. Council officers have reported some evidence that on a small planet called 'Earth', in a distant sun-system in one of the galaxies involved, there might be one such species. A transport beam has been sent. It has picked up three specimens of this species (they call themselves 'students') from a thing called a 'school', and it is the Council's job to find out how advanced they are. Choose three children (with due regard for personal sensitivities)--perhaps even include yourself--and put them in front of the class (Council). The Council has then to find out if this species can justify its existence, its right to be alive. Should humanity survive, or should it be cleared away? (If particular students dominate the questions or answers, appoint a Council Chairperson, or adopt that role yourself. The Chair chooses the questions and who should answer.) 

(c) Message in a bottle
Yet another variant is to ask students to plan what they should put about humanity in a capsule to be sent into space. Suggest, perhaps, that students live in a time (10 years in the future?), when signals have been received from a place 'out there'. The United Nations is going to send information in a special ship. It is the students' job to choose what to send: music? (which sort?) models of people? (how dressed?). Brainstorm solutions as a class, or set the activity as a small group project or an individual one (students can ask parents and others what they think). 

The questions at issue here: 'What am 1?', 'Who are we?', are profound. The activities above should provide an opportunity for students to begin to establish a sense of themselves as human beings. This is crucial if they are ever to see themselves as human agents, with a responsibility to humanity in all its many and varied forms. Defining what is human in general helps us to see what might be inhumane in particular. 

This done, it is time to move on to 'rights', since defining what is right in general likewise allows us to see what might be wrong in particular, and thus where our duties--our 'responsibilities'--lie. 

(d) Beginnings and endings
At the teacher's discretion, and depending upon her or his own confidence in dealing with such issues, the class can look at the right to be alive as argued for at each end of an individual's biological history. 

Where does 'life' begin (somewhere on the wheel of incarnation and reincarnation? at conception? when the fetal heart-beats start? the point at which the fetus can survive? or at birth?) The answer assists in determining whether social sanctions can be placed upon birth control, and if so, what sort. This in turn will affect attempts to control population size, and the pressure of growing numbers of people on our ecological environment (number is not the only issue, of course, since high consumers create more pressure than low ones). 

Should the right to be living ever be taken away, either by the self (suicide) or by others (murder, war, capital punishment, or mercy killing)? 

These are difficult questions. This does not mean that, with due regard for the age grade, they should not be discussed. Where there is no prescribed solution (in religious terms, for example) finding answers means arguments about treating human beings in humane ways. Given the opportunity students are often better at this than is commonly supposed. 

Not everyone feels confident or comfortable about dealing with such complex questions. Some teachers find them too hard to handle. Those who have used the life activities are typically those who have built up mutual trust and regard between parents, teachers and students. If you are unsure of where to begin this might be the best thing to do first. What follows will then depend on the group. 

(e) 'Maria has disappeared!'
People are social as well as individual beings. They lead their lives in society with others, and society protects them. Often, however, it does not. As embodied by the State or rather, those governing in its name, society can turn against the individual in very unprotective ways. Provide the class with the following details: 

Maria has been deprived of a number of her basic rights. Using the Universal Declaration, ask the class to work out specifically which ones these are (Articles 3, 5, possibly 8 depending upon local laws, 9, 1 I (I), and 12). 

Ask each student to draft a letter to the Minister of Justice concerned, or an open letter to Maria herself. 

More senior classes can find out what can be done under local law in cases like this, or through local branches of international human rights organisations (such as Amnesty International), or the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In the latter case, communications are written (or telexed) to the Secretary, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Centre for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, CH- 121 1, Geneva IO, Switzerland (Telex 28 96 96; telephone 34 60 1 1). They list the full name of the abducted person, the date of the disappearance, the place, and a description of the circumstances (such as who is thought to be responsible and what has been done locally to seek a remedy). 

Herbert Kohl's advice may be once again worth taking:

The best way to approach human rights on a larger scale is through a person and a story. Think of somebody you care about whose rights have been violated, some case that makes you want to act and makes you want to cry. If you do not know any such case, look for one. Unfortunately, you are sure to find many. When you have finished this research, start from the most personal, moving case you know.  The understanding and defence of human rights is certainly a moral issue, but moral issues are intimate and personal issues at their core. You cannot be divorced from what you teach or how you teach. Every time you say something about history, or make a judgment about someone's performance, or teach or refuse to teach a controversial subject, you make a statement about who you are and about your place in the world.  When you have chosen your starting point, find other people and places where the same problem has existed or still exists and use this material to develop a broader perspective on the problem. Move from the personal through the anecdotal to the more universal definition of the problem. This will probably involve research (Amnesty International is a generous source of case studies, national studies and similar information). Research is a wonderful way to renew excitement about teaching. All the unexpected discoveries that a seemingly focused search uncovers provide continual enrichment of one's teaching repertoire.  (Herbert Kohl, 'Human rights and classroom life' (September 1985) Social Education.)

This might also provide an opportunity to introduce students to other Amnesty-like organisations, such as the Minority Rights Group. 

Contact your local Amnesty branch, perhaps, and organise a letter-writing hour, along with its members. Students, other teachers, and parents can then have the opportunity to be involved together in taking up the cause of a prisoner of conscience, even if only temporarily. 

2. PEACE AND DISARMAMENT 
The Universal declaration of human rights was written in response to the awful events of World War 11. Everything depends upon Article 3: 'Everyone has the right to life . . .' Universal moral literacy of the kind this manual tries to promote should make it much harder for war to happen and for the sort of genocidal slaughter that took place during the last world war to occur again. 

Genocide (the deliberate killing of whole peoples) is not new. However, the technology of our nuclear age has made this possible on a much greater scale than ever before. Over us all hangs Nemesis--the daily threat of thermonuclear suicide, since we now have on Earth destructive power the equivalent of three tons of conventional explosive per man, woman and child. The 'right to life' has taken on a meaning it has never had before. Immense armories of terrifying weapons stand ready at the touch of a button to eliminate everything. 

Since underdevelopment can only fuel the sort of resentments that lead to war, and perhaps nuclear war, development issues and human rights are inextricably inter-linked. The same is true for peace issues. Without peace it has been said 'development is impossible; without development human rights are illusory; without human rights peace is violence' [1] . The linkage is not as symmetrical as this formula makes it sound, since if we acknowledge the fundamental right to be alive-and hence the right to peace and development, which are the obvious prerequisites to staying alive--then it is the 'human rights' doctrine that overarches all. Peace and development, in their many aspects, are subsumed by the basic right of survival. However, the human rights doctrine can only be sensibly discussed if these issues are discussed as well, which means that in practice a comprehensive approach to teaching for human rights of the kind this manual provides is teaching for peace and development (and the sort of environmental awareness that is basic to both). 

[1] Rene-jean Dupuy quoted in S. Marks, 'The interrelationships between human rights, peace, disarmament and development education', in Human rights education, report of a conference sponsored by the United Nations Association, National Union of Teachers, and others, 10 December 1981, p. 2.)

This is not to discourage teachers giving special attention to 'peace' or 'development' (or the environmental issue-areas related to them) if they want to. Indeed, given the basic right to human survival, this is recommended. However, education for peace (development is looked at in the next section) starts with teachers and students learning to realise those feelings of empathy and social tolerance basic to human rights, and respect for persons and their cultural differences. It involves helping students to develop negotiating skills, to resolve conflicts in peaceful ways, and to take action with others to solve social problems--in their own classrooms and schools. The last is particularly important since students often leave school with a sense of helplessness and lack of control over their lives. One objective, then, is to develop each student's sense of agency (which can lead very quickly back to questions of self-esteem). 

Education for peace also requires learning activities designed to further students' understanding of the issues and the processes involved. It will, for example, explore the arguments for and against nuclear deterrence, evaluate the use of violence in self-defence, and trace the relationship between military spending and human deprivation. 

(a) Negotiation 
Begin discussing the sorts of questions students want to know something about, such as: 

• Why do teachers treat students differently? 
• Why isn't smoking allowed in school? 
• What do teachers really expect from us? 
• You might find it possible to negotiate some of the work students do, and how they do it, through a process of sharing your responsibilities. 

(b) School-level action for peace 
Schools often need to be made less stressful and more peaceful. A number of teachers involved in trialling the Human Rights Commission's curriculum materials during 1985 were active participants, for example, in the effort to find alternatives to corporal punishment in their schools. 

One of those who took part in a lengthy process to change discipline policy and practice in his school wrote: 

The formulation of a student management programme commenced mid-way through second term and involved twenty or so workshops--some, but not all, in school time. The objective was to produce an alternative discipline structure which would acknowledge the phasing out of corporal punishment and offer all concerned a better working and learning environment. Student survey and counseling, and teacher in-servicing is an on-going process. By now (the end of 1985) a framework is in place; teachers have been reminded of the benefits of positive classroom approaches; and students have contributed to a rights and responsibilities code.

(c) Student research
Try involving students in collecting (asking two or three people to start with), organising, and reporting back to the school community (in a special news-sheet in the weekly suburban or town newspaper perhaps, or on a large news wall) the community's own answers to such questions as: 

• How could this school be made more peaceful? 
• What will the future be like? 
• What are our enemies?
• Should toy-shops be allowed to sell war toys to children? 

Older classes may tackle questions like: 

• Should Australia stay in alliance with the U.S.?
• Should this school be declared a nuclear-free zone? 

Presumably, complex issues of this sort would also be set in some sort of context, rather than treated in an ad hoc way. 

It is important to see this procedure as an information service to the school (and possibly the wider) community about the views held by its own members. Some questions may involve further information gathering, and even action. For example, if there were parents and students who did not believe that toy-shops should sell war toys, they may be asked to say what they thought should be done. They may then do something. 

(d) Crisis 
The following activity is a complex one, and may require a good deal of background work first. It can have quite exciting outcomes however. Write a scenario for an international crisis, set in the not-too-distant future. If the students have not been involved in the writing already, show or tell them the details, and then divide them into teams, representing the countries implicated and the main political figures. Set aside three periods of perhaps half-an-hour each, either in sequence or on separate days. One half-an-hour of the activity represents a full day in 'crisis'. Allow the students to do some research on 'their' country's pattern of foreign responses. Begin 'day one' by reading out a 'morning' news bulletin that brings the crisis to a critical point. Students then move about the room and engage in diplomatic bargaining to try and deal with what is going on and avert war. They can learn a lot very quickly about how hard it is to get agreement in a climate of suspicion, having poor information and with disaster imminent. 

The teacher keeps a close eye on the clock, feeding in further news bulletins as she or he sees fit. Try shorting the last half-an-hour to increase the pressure on participants as they work to resolve matters. Compare what happens (where resources permit) with any one of the major international crises that have occurred over the last two or three decades.

(e) Peace
The following activity is deceptively simple. Teachers at several levels have reported interesting results however. Pick a fine day if possible. Pose the question: 'In a world of suspicion and mistrust with the perpetual threat of wars, both big and small, before us, why do you thnk peace is important?

Invite the students outside to somehere pleasant. All have to shut their eyes for three minutes or so and lie on their backs without talking.

(f) Summit Like the 'Crisis' activity, this is more one for senior students who have had the chance to work on the background material involved. Role-play a summit discussion between the leaders of two or three great powers about how to achieve better arms control, and a reduction in the level of nuclear armaments. Stage a classroom debate on the topic, with groups working together as the countries involved, trying to make strategic arms limitations more effective. Compare (where resources permit) the discussions that led to the Partial test ban treaty (1963) or the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (1970). Do emphasise that despite our human nature, people have worked together in ways that allow us to live together without violence. Explore how this is done (e.g. agreed standards; an impartial body to turn to when aggrieved). (g) Local Nobel peace prize Organise your own local Nobel peace prize to coniced with the international event. Find out the criteria used, and consider how they might apply to your award. Plan a cermony (invite the local press) and honour the person in the school or school community who is considered to have done the most to promote peace.

3. DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
For students in parts of the world that are materially poor, the issue of development (and its environmental dimensions) is the same in principle, but very different in practice, from that issue as faced by students in more wealthy ones.

Even though you are more likely to be teaching relatively privileged students (in global terms at least) you will want to foster their responsiveness to claims for development, self-reliance, and self-determination, and to provide practical examples of how to facilitate such claims, not only internationally, but near at hand as well.

You may want to begin by reminding students that 'development' is usually defined as improving the quality of people's lives. That should lead to questions about what might actually be done to improve the quality of the lives of the people in the school, such as: Could we do something to make life less stressful for newcomers to the school? Could we make it possible for those who have not been so academically successful to enjoy greater success? Could we make the cleaner's job less difficult? 

You might also think about education for self-reliance and the extent to which students have opportunities for: 

•  managing their own learning 
• teaching others
• managing day-to-day affairs 
• being involved in building maintenance and improvement (e.g. repairing school furniture) 

Opportunities for community work might also be provided, especially if students can be put in touch with local development organisations such as tenants' unions, unemployed people's co-operatives, hospital auxiliaries, consumer rights groups, and migrant resource centres. 

Other activities follow (the necessary resources are quite widely available now e.g. see back copies of New Internationalist, and its superb annual calendar). 

(a) Food 
Ask students to keep a record of everything they eat and drink in a day. Analyse what they learn in terms of what their bodies need to survive and to grow (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins and water). 

Choose one meal and trace its ingredients--where they came from, and how they came to hand. 

Choose something from the daily diet--preferably something a bit unfamiliar-- that grows readily nearby, and have the class, in pairs, grow an example of it in a can or pot or school garden. Work out why some students have more success with their plants than others; invite someone with a good knowledge of gardens or crops to talk to the class about plant care; where resources permit start a class garden that all students can work in, and share the produce; hold brainstorming sessions to discuss possible improvements, for example: Is the method of cultivation the most suitable? Are there other ways of controlling pests? Could you be growing useful plants that would do well that are not used locally? How could the system of sharing the work be made more efficient and co-operative? Is there waste? What songs and dances would celebrate what is done? 

Parallels could be drawn between the class work and the situation in other parts of the world, or at other times. A city school might try and arrange with a country school to exchange visits. 

(b) Water and health 
Fresh water is very scarce in the world, and is getting scarcer as people use more. Have students, as a home project, fill a medium-sized container with water, and use only that for a day to drink from, to wash in (both themselves, their eating utensils, and their clothes), to give to their animals and plants, or to use for play. Do this yourself. 

Discuss how you all fared and what you did to make your share go further. Discuss what you would do if this were really--as it is for many of Earth's people--how you had to live every day. 

Water carries wastes, and organisms that cause diseases. Sanitary water management (both supply and disposal) is essential to communal well-being. Have the students--singly or in small groups--research the water supply and disposal system of their school, and suggest how it might be improved. This can be done for the whole community too, or even the whole world.

(c) Housing
Houses directly reflect such things as local climate and geography; family structure and status; cultural and religious preferences; and the availability of building materials. Brainstorm with the class a list of all the things that a house should do. Have students design (preferably in small groups) a dwelling that does these things, but one that is not like the homes built locally (though one that could be made there nonetheless). Have each group describe and explain the features of what it has designed. Or have groups work on the way in which local house designs might be modified and improved to conserve resources like water and power, and to minimise pollution.

(d) Population
In many parts of the world, the effects of population growth are very clear. In other areas it is still less obvious. The impact of this phenomenon is universal however. Many statistics show how crowded our world is going to get in the next thirty years if present trends continue, and what this will mean in terms of pressure on the environment, and competition for resources. It is important for students to ask:

• Why do people have children?
• What responsibilities do parents have to their children?
• How many will be appropriate for themselves, as parents, when they grow up?

Draw a circle on the ground--not very large. Have the whole class cram into it, and conduct a lesson there. Or give a class using only a quarter of the space in which this is normally done.

(e) 'Rich man, poor man' lunch
One teacher tried the following as part of a senior course on world development issues:
 

(f) Work
As the world economy changes, so does the nature of the world's work. With industrialisation has come urbanisation. Fewer people now live in the country and grow food, and many more work in secondary and service industries in cities, where they are employed by others and not themselves. This kind of work is different from labour on the land, and creates different patterns of consumption as well as production.

It is not so long ago, of course, that conditions in rural Australia were not unlike conditions today in many countries of the 'Third World'. The early chapters of Albert Facey's A fortunate life provide some striking similarities, one of which was the advantage of having a large family (children were needed to do the tedious work that had to be done to make ends meet). Australia has changed since then--but so has the world. All countries are developing countries, in the sense that they must continue to integrate their agricultural, industrial, educational, financial and trade policies if they are to maximise the productive capacity of their people. They must do this now as members of a world
economy, however, and this makes the problem local and universal at the same time.

Investigating work is something many students will be doing as part of their daily lives. Bringing a wide range of working and unwaged people into the classroom from the community to talk to students is a good way to broaden their perceptions; better still is to be able to take students into different work environments so that they can see what is involved. Ask the students whom they want to meet or where they want to go.

Many projects for individual or group study also suggest themselves: patterns of employment locally, nationally and internationally; how 'work' is changing at one or all of these levels; what effect it might be having on education; and how 'workers' organise to protect their rights, for example.

(g) Energy
Doing anything takes energy. The more you do, the more you need. Brainstorm with the class the sources of energy used in the school (for example, sunlight to see by; the food in the students). Trace where it comes from and how it gets to those who use it. Which ones are 'renewable' resources? What are the environmental effects?

This can also be done for the home, the suburb, the state, the country, the region, or the whole world.

Set group projects to design--even build--devices which can provide energy for the community. What is available locally that can be used for this purpose: wind, water, fossil fuels, wastes?

4. GOVERNMENT AND THE LAW
Human rights are moral claims. We can make moral claims regardless of whether or not they are laid down by law. We can say, for example, that all human beings are morally entitled to be free from arbitrary arrest, or unemployment, or racial discrimination, regardless of whether or not a law has been passed that endorses these freedoms.

Laws embodying human rights, however, give moral claims more force. They may fall to do so even then, of course, since laws are not always obeyed, and governments do not always do what the law says they will. In countries where rights have been made into laws, we still need to know if these laws are being put into practice. But making moral claims into legal rights is a first step, and this is where politicians and judges, and those who make agreements that a number of governments promise to obey, are so important.

It can be a very significant first step, since laws not only give formal sanction to moral claims, but can also have an important educational effect. They define what a society officially thinks it is proper to do, and they provide a specific expression of the standards it thinks should be endorsed. They are there for all to see, and they stand--in principle at least--above the leaders as well as the led.

This said, we should remember that the process can, and does, go astray. It is readily corrupted. The mighty tend to create the morality convenient to their cause and, with might, they are in a position to make laws to match. This does not make them right, however; merely powerful. This is why we need always to ask about laws: for whom, to do what, for how long?

(a) Councils and courts
Laws are made by politicians and judges at many levels of the state and interstate system. For students to understand in a clear and concrete way what is 'the law', who makes it, and why; they need to see for themselves law-making in action.

Wherever possible arrange for the class to visit some regional or central chamber of the country's political system--in session--so that students can watch its members at work, making law by legislation. Discuss the three questions posed above.

Likewise, arrange a visit to a law court to see not only laws being administered, but also decisions being made that set legal precedents. (You might be more tempted to arrange such a visit after reading what happened in one school where this was tried. The day the students were in court a number of homeless men were being charged with vagrancy. Many of the students were shocked by the mechanical and insensitive way in which the 'criminals' were treated; others wanted to know why so little account was taken of the fact that they had nowhere to live. The visit was a real eye-opener for most of the visitors.) Another effective teacher-designed activity involved students compiling a booklet called 'Your rights' for people in their local area. It included student- researched and written sections on 'Consumer's rights', 'Your rights if arrested', 'The rights of "P" plate drivers' and 'The rights of the unemployed'.

If visits are not possible, organise the class into a model of a political council, and have them debate a contemporary political issue. Also arrange them into a formal court and have them adjudicate a local or national case at law. Watch the media for suitable examples, or make them up. Encourage the students to find suitable examples themselves.

To introduce an international dimension, have the class research the decision- making processes of the United Nations, and the issues current there. Also review some cases brought before international commissions and courts, that may set precedents of their own.

The following is one example, adapted from recent proceedings of the European Commission and Court of Human Rights:

After considering the evidence given by both sides, the Commission was able to get a settlement. This consisted of a payment of money by the government involved to Mrs X, and the dispatch of a circular letter by the central authorities to local educational ones stating that the use of corporal punishment might in certain circumstances amount to a treatment contrary to the Convention.
(Adapted from Decisions of the European Commission and Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers, Council of Europe, Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1981, Martinus Nijhoff, the Hague, 1983, pp. 402-4.)

You may also wish to invite a local politician and/or legal person to talk to the class about the three questions posed at the beginning of this activity, and three more: Why are laws obeyed? How is 'justice' done? How is 'fairness' achieved in government and the law? Personal accounts by well-chosen speakers under well- prepared conditions can be more vivid and memorable than months of more abstract and general work.

(b) Sorts of courts
The formal court above that the students may have seen, or constructed for themselves, is not the only way this kind of human activity can       go on. Try arranging the class into a much more informal court with the 'disputants' in the middle, their 'friends' and 'family' close at hand, and the rest of the class in a circle around them as a 'village'. Appoint a 'magistrate', but put this person outside the circle, as someone to be turned to only when the locals want an outsider's opinion. Have the disputants put their cases, in turn, allowing everyone to argue all the time, making jokes, elaborating points, taking part. The discussion should continue until an agreed verdict is reached.

The issue 'at issue' is one students can initiate and negotiate. Discuss afterwards how the 'law' worked. In both the formal and the informal cases, note how (depending on the issue) it may not be possible to find someone obvious to blame, particularly when each party has reasonable points to make.

(e) Equality before the law
Article 7 of the Universal Declaration begins: 'All are equal before the law . . .'.
This is a statement of human principle. It is not, however, always observed, nor does it necessarily reflect human practice. Animal farm, the famous story by George Orwell of the farm where all the animals were equal, but some were more equal than others, is a graphic parody of this fact. What can be done to foster the rule of law, when law-making is done by those with power, and as such, protects the powerful more readily than the powerless?

Describe to the students the following episode:

Set up a role-play between the 'student', her or his 'friend', and a sympathetic 'parent'. Or where appropriate, between the 'principal', the 'student' and the 'teacher'.

This simulates one outcome of structural hypocrisy, i.e. where what is done is at odds with course content. After the role-play is finished, brainstorm ways in which the 'student', as the relatively powerless one, might have handled the situation, faced as she or he was with those in a more powerful position, but as someone who still wanted to establish the importance of the underlying principle: the right to- privacy.'

Inequality before the law can also be discussed at the school level by recalling any examples students can provide of different penalties being applied for committing the same offence.

At a state or national level it is possible to investigate such questions as whether, for example, it is true that a disproportionate number of Aboriginal people are imprisoned in some areas, and if so, why? Is it true, too, that a disproportionate number of poor people are imprisoned in Australia, and if so, why?

At an international level, try the following simulation:

Role-play the meeting of two officials, one from each of the countries involved, with the two people themselves. Follow the role-play with a discussion of what the official from Country 'A' and the tourists, as the 'powerless' ones in this situation, could otherwise have done to convince the official from Country 'B' of the need to respect articles 8, 9 and 11 of the Universal Declaration.

5. FREEDOMS OF SPEECH AND BELIEF
Freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of thought, are central to the human rights doctrine. They are defined by Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration. They assume it is better to let people find things out for themselves and have their own say, rather than bottle them up by more or less authoritarian means.

The freedoms of speech and belief sometimes come into conflict with other rights. The use of such freedom to harm human beings for something they cannot help, for example, such as their skin colour or ethnic origin, has led to much debate about which right should prevail. We may never be relieved of our responsibility to think or say the truth as we understand it, and yet we have no right either to incite hatred toward other human beings. This bears careful consideration.

The freedom of speech and belief has obvious implications for classroom life. It can require teachers to make personal changes that may not be easy. This is how one self-critical teacher describes the difficulties she went through as she learnt to give her students greater freedom of expression:
 

In a school in Quebec, Canada, students argued that freedom of expression included the freedom to express oneself through one's clothing. They wrote the following recommendations; about dress and clothing for their school community to consider:

We propose the following course:

In this area, as in others, a real education in freedom and responsibility has a better chance of being achieved in negotiation and the search for consensus.
(Stepane Dulude, (December 1984) 2, 4 Parlons droits, Newsletter about the Promotion of Rights in School, 5.)

How might these proposals contribute to determining the standard of dress in your school?

(a) What do you believe?
Everyone has beliefs and opinions. We mostly take them for granted. We rarely reflect on how we happen to have them.

Begin by labelling the four corners of the room 'yes', 'no', 'sometimes', 'not sure'. Tell the students that you are going to read out some general statements to them and that after each one they are to move quickly to the corner labelled with the answer they prefer. They should not stop to think.

Emphasise that you are not concerned for the moment with rights or wrongs. You are only interested in finding out about opinions and beliefs. 

Read the following list at a pace that prohibits reflection. They are only suggestions--add more if you want to make the activity longer: 

• All fruit is delicious. 
• It would be better if teachers were more strict. 
• Girls are smarter than boys. 
• We're all the same under the skin. 
• Old people are smarter than young people. 
• Students with disabilities should be able to go to any school they like. 
• Rich people are more important than poor people. 

Note how the composition of the corner groups changes after each statement. Point out that though there have been overlaps, no two people have agreed on everything. At this stage, proceed to the next activity. 

(b) What do you think? 
Repeat the above activity, only this time allow time for reflection. Encourage students to think about which corner they want to go to, and to discuss the statements among themselves before they decide. Encourage students not to go to a corner just because friends have gone there. Emphasise that it is still acceptable to use the 'not sure' corner. Discuss 'conformity', and the importance of thinking for oneself. Join in this time yourself. 

(c) Frames of reference 
Beliefs and opinions vary depending, for example, on the context, and whether 
we like what we see or not. This is reflected in our choice of words. We may talk about people we know, for example, as either 'worried about what others think of them', or 'humble' and 'not self-righteous'; either 'very ambitious' or 'very keen to improve themselves'; either 'submissive' or 'prepared to co-operate'; either 'dishonest' or 'indirect' or 'sensitive toward other people's feelings'; either 'less prepared to change things' or 'more tolerant'; either 'less aware of individual rights' or 'more selfish'. 

Get students to think of other dichotomies of this sort (e.g. more sentimental vs more affectionate; more naive vs more cheerful; more slavish vs less afraid of hard work). (Note how this list was developed to discuss national culture by R. Dore, 'The Japanese personality', in G. Wint (ed.), Asia: a handbook, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969, p. 495.) 

Have them list in the most positive way they can five qualities about themselves they really admire. Put these into a negative frame of reference, so that the same things become hurtful instead of praiseworthy. Then do the reverse, first listing in as negative a way as possible qualities they do not particularly like about themselves, and then using mirror words that make the list less offensive. 

(d) Words that wound 
What limits should be placed on what we can say about our thoughts and beliefs? Should we always be able to say whatever we like? 

Extending the previous activity, have the class brainstorm a list of hurtful comments; ones that they know can cause distress. Then choose a few of the worst ones. 

Since changing frames of reference may not be enough, it may be necessary to confront statements as they stand. 

Break the class into groups of five or six if possible. Someone in each group should read the first statement. The group must simply accept that this is a comment that has hurt somebody. They are not to question whether they think the statement is hurtful or not. Have them discuss why the hurt person might have been made to feel so bad; whether people should be allowed to say such things regardless of their effects; and what to do about it when it happens. Repeat for each statement. 

Here is a brief account of how one child was wounded by words, then healed by a sensitive and sensible intervention on the part of her teacher: 

Similar events crop up in any school, although not all of them are brought to such a happy conclusion. All the same, they are a reminder that improving respect for human rights is a constant challenge in the daily life of schools and classrooms. Unle§s it is possible to change our own schools and classrooms, to make them better places for human beings, there will always be something at odds about trying to improve respect for human rights 'over there'. 

(e) The teacher as tyrant What does it feel like to be told what to think or believe, and not to have any chance to decide such things for yourself, or to have a say? Tell the class that last night you--the teacher--became a tyrant. As a consequence, for the whole lesson there will be no questions, and the students have to do exactly as they are told without complaint. If they have something to say, they cannot speak or write it, but have to indicate their request in gesture. As a tyrant, it is up to you to teach the 'New truth', regardless of what they might otherwise think or believe. Among the important features of the 'New truth' are the following: 1. The earth is flat-in fact, it is slightly saucer shaped, and when you go 'around the world' you are actually moving along a curved course within that saucer. Satellite photos and pictures from the moon are fakes.  2. All children should be seen and not heard-they are basically horrible little people and have to be taught their place in society as inferior beings. 3. School is always wonderful, and every teacher, as a tyrant, is wonderful too. Because of their new power they have become the most beautiful, handsome, clever, brave, exciting people in the whole world and all children are overjoyed to have the chance to sit in class and be told everything that is True.  The teacher can elaborate other statements--the more preposterous the better--and should then proceed with a normal lesson, under the most strict conditions possible. Call a halt and discuss what has been happening and how the students feel.

Note that of all the activities in this collection, this one has produced the most diverse effects.

One of the teachers who has tried it wrote the following:

On the other hand, another teacher in a different school suggested that this activity, and others like it, should be removed from the manual at once. You will judge for yourself what is appropriate to your own situation. Note, however, one other teacher's comments on this score:

This account suggests that good class rapport is essential for the activity to succeed, since confusion is part of the point of it, and this has to be handled with great care. You may find it difficult to conceive of doing such an activity without practice, and without having built up your own confidence first. As two of the teachers above discovered, however, it can be well worth trying.

One variation is to get another teacher to play the 'tyrant'. That would still mean, of course, your making time to debrief students about what had been done to them, and in terms of understanding oppression, why.
 

6. FREEDOMS TO MEET AND TAKE PART IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS
How does a community maintain itself as such? In part, by its members meeting together and organising their affairs. The freedom to do these things makes communal involvement possible and community itself actual. The basic principles are defined by Articles 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration. Their systematic denial will stop a society from mining much of its richest resource-- the skills and talents of its own people.

Habits of communal participation can be fostered throughout a student's schooling. Opportunities for community service inside and outside the school can become the basis for a life-long contribution to social and political affairs.

One teacher writing on this issue has argued that:

Some of the suggestions he has made about how this might be done include:

• establishing student councils
• involving students on policy committees, education committees and other school committees
• negotiation between teachers and students of school and classroom rules
• regular reports to students from Administration, union branch etc.
• involvement of students in seminars and in-services aimed at developing curriculum etc.
• community investigations and surveys
• assistance of students in organising submissions for funding
• students organising excursions, visits to potential employers
• students organising their own work experience
• inter-school visits arranged by students to discuss programs and ideas
• Organisation of study periods for seminar students (Victorian Teacher, 3 August 1984, p. 29.)

Many schools already have student councils that allow participation in their affairs, though the adult hierarchy usually limits what can be done in practice. You might want to consider how autonomous students think the student council is in your (their?) school. Would you agree with the teacher who said that 'the students' involvement in SRC activities has taught them more about rights and obligations than any set of contrived classroom exercises?'

A sense of how it feels to work together for something worthwhile may also be had from the following class activities.

(a) A Human Rights Society
In suggesting that the class form a Human Rights Society (HRS) the teacher can initiate a number of relevant tasks that allow students to:

• define the purpose of the HRS in more detail
• hold a competition for a Society symbol
• make individual membership cards that carry this logo
• organise office-bearers
• put up a special notice-board for HRS activities
• find out about other human rights societies-nationally and overseas-with whom the class can liaise; send for their publications
• display these where the class can use them
• begin holding meetings-the first could discuss the right of freedom of association itself: 'Why organise?', 'Why seek a say in how one is governed?', invite a guest speaker--perhaps to lunch
• invite other guest speakers--local politicians, issue-specialists, area- specialists--to give short talks and hold discussions
• hold a Human Rights Society Inaugural Dance or Festival
• set up sub-committees to meet and to research particular tasks, for example:

One group could compile a list of people who have helped make human rights happen and could try and get pictures of them to put on a Society notice-board or around the walls (with a short statement in each case why they are there); another group could approach other classes with offers to speak to them about particular human rights issue-areas, explaining why the Society was formed, what it does,'and offering associate membership; where resources permit, the Society could also publish a regular newsletter.

(b) A Human Rights Conference
A small Human Rights Conference was organised in Adelaide on 12 August 1985 by two Year 7 teachers. They invited parents from the two schools involved as well as students to participate in the following program:

In their review of the conference they wrote:

You might try organising a similar conference in your own locality and see how it works for you. Better still, suggest that students organise their own.

(c) Bugs
The converse of private citizens participating in public affairs is the intervention by public authorities in private affairs. How far should governments be able to reach into the private lives of ordinary people?

Before the school day begins, tape small cardboard dots under desks and chairs and around other parts of the room. When the class enters tell them that the room has been bugged'. Allow them to conduct a brief search., and collect the 'bugs' found at the front of the room. Inform the class that they can't be sure all the 'bugs' have been found. They must assume that every act and word, done or spoken, is being watched and listened to at that moment by the principal. All conversation is also being recorded, so that parents, too, can see and hear everything. (One teacher who did this activity numbered the dots. The class became quite paranoid when it could not find the whole series, and began questioning her as to whether she had really planted a complete set, that is, whether or not she had deliberately left some numbers out. They were somewhat disconcerted to find at the end that she was telling the truth, and that they had not trusted her.)

Suggest that there is a file held by School Authorities on every child. Everything each student says and does will be put there. Constant trouble-makers will be sent to Special Schools for appropriate discipline.

Conduct the usual class under these conditions.

At a later moment, allow students to search again to find more of the hidden surveillance devices.

Discuss at the end how it feels to be 'watched' like this. How free are citizens to find out what the authorities have on file about them? What are the students' rights with respect to access to school files and student report cards? What happens when there is no communal trust?

Telephone tapping is sometimes permitted under strict conditions and there are arguments that can be made in the interests of the individual and society in defence of it; during the investigation, for example, of well organised criminals. Some students could be interested in investigating such procedures; when they are legal, for example, and what the conditions and circumstances are that are used to justify such surveillance? The Attorney-General's Department might supply the information needed.

7. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND WELL-BEING
The Universal Declaration contains a number of articles that affirm the rights of human beings to a decent standard of living. Whether it is realistic to make these claims in any particular case or not is a matter of resources, and where they exist whether the government will use them this way. Where they do not, the right to economic development can be paramount. This has both national and international implications.

The world's resources (its physical and industrial assets and its disposable wealth) are distributed unevenly. Why is this so? Any adequate answer would have to describe and explain the geography and the history of world society and of its political economy as a whole (as well as that of the parts). This is a complex task, more appropriate to senior students, and even then better done by concrete means, using case studies and particular examples.

We are in the middle of an Industrial Revolution. That revolution reaches everywhere. It is arguably the most significant series of events in the written record of human affairs. Because it is happening now it can be hard to see. We take it for granted, or it may seem too abstract to have much effect. The effects are profound, however, and no-one knows what they will lead to.

The mass production of goods by machines began about two hundred years ago. This made possible new patterns of social, economic and political power. These were quickly extended across the world in the search for markets, for sites to send surplus people, for sources of supply for raw materials. The political struggles this started have not stopped.

There is a basic difference between those who have the capacity to start or foster such a process, and those who must sell their work for a wage. The latter are less powerful, which always puts them at risk. Their standard of living is dependent upon others, and this can lead to repression. To illustrate what it means to have only your labour to sell in circumstances where unemployment is high, invite some people who were young during the Depression to recount their experience of working and finding work during those hard times. Invite others who suffer this plight today to tell what it feels like. The rights to economic well- being describe what any society should provide for those who live in it, up to and including world society as a whole.

Conceptual language is particularly important here. It is an interesting exercise to study the concept of 'charity' for example, as it moves from being a simple response to begging, to the less demeaning idea of something that is given to the 'deserving poor' (who are supposed to be duly grateful for what they get), to that of social security, which can be claimed as of right (without the recipient feeling apologetic, or like someone seeking favours).

At a global level, social security means the world's poor and deprived having a right to expect our assistance; and our feeling an obligation to share our wealth with those in need.

The idea of minimum standards is how right is defined, and it has inspired many to work for the good of others and for opportunities for all human beings to live decent lives. The struggle in Australia for a 'basic wage' makes a good historical case-study in point. There are many others however.

(a) Rich and poor
Role-play the following situation: 'Three people are sitting next to each other in an airplane. One works for the government of a poorer country, and is going to a conference on world food supplies. Another, who works for the government of a relatively rich country, is going to a meeting of international financiers to get a loan to help cover his or her country's growing economic debts. Another is a teacher, who is interested in the whole problem of world development. He or she has just been taking a short course on 'Aid, Trade, Arms Production and World Justice', given by an international non-governmental Organisation. They begin to argue about what countries should do to 'promote human well-being.'

(b) Working life
Describe a place--a factory perhaps, or a plantation or farm--where the workers have decided to make a number of requests to the owners or managers. They want more of a say in how the place is run. They also want better wages, better provision for when they are ill or get injured, more attention to the issue of safety, the chance to set up an education programme to improve their skills, and longer rest periods.

Form the class into two groups: workers and officials. Have them negotiate, each side either sending delegates who report back, or talking face-to-face.

Repeat the encounter but reverse the roles so that the class-half that were workers before become the officials now, and vice versa.

The Kibbutz on Tall Grass Mountain is an inspiring story of how people changed their own lives and broke the economic and social shackles that bound them. It is a film worth finding, as is Sahela, a story of rural poverty and development action set in Bangladesh.

(c) Speakers
Invite someone involved in development issues to speak to the class, perhaps under the auspices of its Human Rights Society. Follow this up by assigning class groups to study aspects of what was discussed--geographic areas, specific sections of the community, special issues that affect all (such as modernisation, bureaucratisation, urbanisation and changes in cultural values).

(d) Serving the world
Encourage the class to contact local branches of United Nations bodies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), or the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for posters and materials you might use. There are non- governmental organisations too which could help and have materials. They often enjoy receiving letters from students and schools. Try also the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). (UNICEF: 866 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A. FAO: Via delle Terme di Caracalia, 00100, Rome, Italy. UNDP: I United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.)

Teaching for student awareness of world development issues has been widely recognised as a legitimate issue-area for many years, and there are centres for world development education which provide books of their own. One example is Learning for change in world society (World Studies Project, London, 1979. Postal address: One World Trust, 14 Palace Chambers, Bridge Street, London SWIA 2JT). Another collection of useful ideas is the manual by S. Fisher and D. Hicks, World studies 8-13. a teacher's handbook.

Divide the class into six groups or so. Each group writes one proposal for an aid project (a new well perhaps, or someone to 90 and train as a medical helper, or someone to come and advise on improving production methods). Projects are presented to the whole class. Divide the class into new groups, each of which must decide-as if it were an aid committee-to which project it is going to give its (very limited) funds. In making such appraisals, the distinction between relief aid (which is given to communities to help them recover in the short run from a disaster of some kind) and development aid (which is more long term and looks to reducing or eliminating poverty's basic causes) is paramount. A number of important questions are also pertinent, e.g.:

• Will the aid help the majority or a minority of those affected?
• Will it tackle symptoms or causes?
• Will it use local ideas and materials or outside experts and resources?
• Will it be judged successful by locals or outsiders?

See also Ian Lister, op. cit. p. 24. Lister highly recommends a source book for teaching about the 'rich world/poor world' divide and 'one world' development efforts by Nance Lui Fyson, The development puzzle, Centre for World Development Education, 1979. Also excellent is World concerns and the United Nations: model teaching units for primary, secondary and teacher education, United Nations, New York, 1983.

(e) The other foot
Put to the class the following picture of a possible world future:
 

Divide the class into two halves: the old-poor and the new-poor. Then divide the class into small groups, with some members of both sectors in each. I-lave the old-poor explain to the new-poor how they shall live. The new-poor listen, and can suggest alternatives.

Reverse the roles, so that the new-poor become the old-poor, and vice versa. The students who have now become the old-poor explain to the new-poor how they could have prevented the problems that beset them all, and how they intend conducting relations with the rest of the world. The new-poor listen, and can suggest alternatives.
 

Call the horizontal line 'the probable future' and invite students to write or draw what they think the probable future is likely to be. Next call the sloping line the 'future as we would like it'. Invite them to draw or write about that. Next identify the gap between the two and invite them to draw or write about what they need to do by themselves and with others to make the future more like the way they want it to be. Then talk about their ideas, and the possible actions that could be taken. Where this is a realistic option, initiate some such action.
 

The whole issue-area is a very general one, and practically any activity in the whole school curriculum is relevant. The way to begin perhaps is by discussing the process of education itself. Education (as opposed to schooling) is a life-long affair and truly comprehensive, since every generation's culture must be learned again in every detail if it is not to disappear. The technology, the system of government and law, the values and religious beliefs; all must be passed on or lost.

(a) Once upon a time . . .
Invite a grandparental person (as a guest of the class Human Rights Society perhaps) to come and talk to the students about what they were taught at school, and whether it served them well in later life.

Ask how they would foster the full development of the human personality; what they have learned about strengthening respect for human rights and freedoms; how they would further understanding and mutual respect between different human groups and nations; and what they believe makes for justice and peace.

(b) Family
Have the students map their family, as it stands at the moment. Where possible compare these maps to draw out any differences in family structure there might be. Discuss how this reflects differences in family practices. What were the family maps of people like 200 years ago--both the settlers and the Aboriginals? (The ABC has a series of films called Families: alike and different which is about a number of families--one each in Mexico, Japan, the Philippines, and other countries--performing familiar everyday tasks. The narration is done by a child belonging to each family. It is very engaging viewing for upper primary classes.)

(c) Painting the street
Where resources permit, paint a mural--a 'human rights' street lined with 'human rights' shops--in bright colours for all to see. (An activity devised by the artist Mirka Mora.)


9. DISCRIMINATION: AN OVERVIEW
No person is more of a human being than another and no person is less. Essentially we are all equal, and equally entitled to our human rights.

Equal, yes, but not identical. A fact which leads people to draw lines across the human map and to draw attention to differences they believe to be important; lines that distinguish between an 'us' and a 'them'; lines that not only create separate groupings, but suggest that 'we' (or 'they') are better, and that 'they' (or (we') are worse. This is discrimination. It stops people from seeing that they are human beings first, and anything else only after that.

The most common line highlights gender. Since it coincides with a biological dichotomy built into our species itself, it can be very hard for people to see past such a difference to our deeper identity. Being different in some ways does not make us different in all ways. Having different bodies, in other words, that do different things does not mean that our lots in life should be different too.

On top of the gender line lie many others. The most pernicious is that of colour or race. Again, the fact of a particular difference is repeatedly over-generalised in such a way as to hide our common humanity.

As a teacher, these issue-areas (and others to do with disability, ethnic origin, minority group status, and perhaps also age) cannot be avoided. Human equality, and the life-chances and life-choices it promotes, do not just happen. Equality has to be taught for--which means (in curriculum terms) exploring stereotyped attitudes and prejudices (including you own), helping students to understand that they can be competent and caring regardless of race and sex, and providing appropriate and accurate information.

There are no formulae; no magic lesson plans. It is a process of questioning that never ends. There is a basic need to inform yourself about these issues; their socioeconomic and political history; and how they work. You will also need to monitor your expectations in some way--perhaps using a diary--since when a teacher expects less, students learn less, in a self-fulfilling way.

Discrimination has both individual and social dimensions: it is both personal and institutional.

The institutional dimension can be at.work even when no-one is particularly aware of it. For example, people who are poor can provide fewer educational opportunities for their children. When many of their children fail at school, they may be labelled by the education system as less suitable students, and be given even less opportunities, not more. Consider also the case where people count the number of leaders or politicians and discover that many more of them are male than female. This is then taken as evidence that women do not, as a rule, make good leaders or politicians, and therefore should not be educated in a way that encourages them to think so. School subjects are organised, and teachers teach, so as to restrict this opportunity. Most girls will then learn to fail.

These are vicious circles (descending spirals over time). They are enforced by double standards such as: 'He likes to chat, while she is a gossip'. Sometimes
plain ignorance is at fault. Mostly, however, attitudes like these are enforced by systems of great political and bureaucratic power, which can take a good deal to explain, and a good deal to change.

Taking part in a campaign to promote one of these human rights issue-areas is the most effective way of learning what is required, but this may not (depending upon your circumstances) be possible. Where it is possible, it is highly recommended.

As a general strategy you may be prepared to investigate your own practices, and students their own practices, first of all. That may then lead on to investigations of possible forms of discrimination within the school. As an example: in five schools that took part in a project on combating prejudice, teams of approximately five students went about finding answers to the question, 'Does it make a difference to have a non-English speaking background if you are a student in this school?' They wrote personal histories, interviewed other students, and sought the opinions of their parents and other members of their families. Then all the teams pooled their information. Originally most students felt that ethnic background made no difference to their education. Later they were less sure. As a result of their study, these student researchers were able to make over fifty recommendations about what could be done to improve the educational opportunities of 'ethnic' students.

There are many questions students might investigate in a similar fashion, such as:
Does it make a difference to be a girl (or a boy),
OR
a newcomer,
confident and independently minded,
non-academically inclined,
a member of a one-parent family,
regarded as 'bright' or 'capable'.
working part-time while being a student,
from the country, in this school?

The personal dimension (and its social sources) can also be explored through the following activities.

(a) The two box trick
Take two small boxes the same size and fill one with stones and the other with sweets. Wrap the first box (stones) in an attractive way. Wrap the second (sweets) as unattractively as possible. Put them before the class as gifts, but allow the students to choose only one. The same can be done with record covers. Depending on the class level, this activity will need to be adapted accordingly.

A class that does not see through the trick will usually vote for the obvious option, with the obvious result--a lesson in false expectations.

Use this activity to discuss other times students might have chosen a 'book by its cover' and anticipated things on little information, that turned out to be
untrue. How does this apply to the ways we pre-judge people? How readily do we change our minds when we learn more? (The person who prefers prejudice at any price is called a bigot.)

Good examples can be role-played.

(b) All 'As' are 'Bs'
Pre-judgment is prejudice. We think we know more about things than we do. We over-generalise, sometimes to positive effect, sometimes to negative effect, but always inaccurately.

Ask students to choose a quality about your own character that they like- then ask them to name the colour of your eyes. Write these down: 'Our teacher is friendly. Our teacher has black eyes','for example. Over-generalise these statements so that they read: 'All black-eyed teachers are friendly'. Is this true?

Write some more: 'Student X comes from Antarctica. Student X is untrustworthy. All Antarcticans are untrustworthy'. This can be adapted to your own grade level and used to point out the false logic being used in many social instances every day.

(e) Fat people are very thin
Over-generalisation is not just a matter of false logic. The false logic is fuelled by stereotypes, which are fixed images (originally metal plates used in printing) that the user puts onto reality in a pre-set way.

Give the class the following list of people and their attributes (or any others you think are appropriate):

Have them match the pairs. Point out, where the matching confirms the usual stereotype, that this is what has happened. Stereotypes stop us seeing the world as it really is. It you believe, for example, that fat people are usually jolly too, you have an image of a group of people that is too general to be true since, like the rest of humanity, only some fat people are really jolly. It is a lazy way to think, and it makes for a closed mind. It is 'labelling behaviour'. We make labels in our minds, or we learn them, and we stick them onto whatever we see. The labels end up telling us what to think and feel, and how to behave. Much as they
may save us bother, give us easy answers or quick ways of dismissing people, or make us feel better, perhaps, by helping us to fit in with the group, they are still labels. They are not the real thing.

There is one caution about the 'fat people are very thin' activity. At least one teacher who tried it felt she was introducing students to stereotypes they were previously unfamiliar with, and fostering negative attitudes as a result. One variation that may overcome this difficult would be simply to provide a list of
descriptions of people without providing the attributes, or to provide the attributes without identifying the people they are often associated with. This would let students arrive at their own perceptions of the characteristics they attribute to various categories of people (or the people they associate with various attributes). This way the strategy might avoid giving students new stereotypes and, at the same time, allow you to determine stereotypes and prejudices they already have.

Role-play an incident where, for example, a sad, fat person meets a thin, jolly one.

In confronting stereotypes, there is always the danger of encouraging them. Any grain of truth there may be in a stereotype, however, is just that-a grain.

(d) Know your potato
Ask the class about occasions they may have heard such expressions as 'They're all alike, aren't they', or 'That lot are all the same'.

Give each student a small stone, or some other regular object like a potato, and ask them to make friend with it--really get to know it. Ask a few to
introduce their new friend to the class, to tell a story about how old it is- whether it is sad or happy, and how it got the shape it is. They can write essays on the subject, or songs, or poems of praise.

Put all the items back in a box or bag and mix them up together. Tip them out and have the students find their 'friend' from among the common lot.
Point out the obvious parallel: any group of people seem to be alike, at first, but once you get to know them, they are all different, they all have life-histories, and they are all potentially friends. This means, however, suspending any stereotypes (like 'rocks are cold and hard and indifferent') long enough to get to know them. It means not pre-judging them.

(e) Spot the difference
Present the following statements:

Discuss which is the stereotype or fixed image (no.3), which is the prejudice or pre-judgement (no. 1), and which is the statement of opinion (no.2). The difference between no.1 and no.3 is the difference between a set conception of something, and the value connotation subsequently placed upon it. A set conception may already include in it a value judgment of some kind and this does blur the distinction. It is still worth making however. Discuss how all of them (as mental frames of reference) will make it harder to appreciate teachers not only as kind and caring people, but as cross ones too! They all predetermine 'the facts'.
 

9. DISCRIMINATION-COLOUR OR RACE Racism is the belief that there are mixed-sex human groups with particular (usually physical) characteristics that make them superior or inferior to others. Racist behaviour can be overt, such as treating some people worse (or better) because of the colour of their skin; it can be covert, and is seen in the way a society systematically advantages or disadvantages those groups with key characteristics over time; or it can be both. Racist behaviour produces racial discrimination, which ranges from simple neglect, or the avoidance of those believed to be different and inferior, through harassment and various degrees of forced integration, to exploitation, exclusion and wholesale murder. Racial discrimination is a stereotype or a prejudice turned into social action. It can be direct (in any of the forms above) or indirect (in the form of scapegoating- which means placing the blame on someone else when it should fall on others or yourself. There is one positive form of discrimination. Where a group has been disadvantaged in one of these ways for some time, promoting the basic human rights of its members may not be enough to remedy the wrongs. Special efforts may have to be made to break the cycle of negative discrimination and despair. Without special efforts, equality of opportunity is not likely to have any real meaning. This is the point of so-called 'affirmative action'. The success of such efforts, of course, eventually removes the need for them. A good reference at this point is the International convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

(a) Scaling acceptance: colour
Propose a number of 'us/them' statements, such as:

'Them/us' thinking stops people enjoying human differences and learning how we're all the same regardless.

Now list the range of skin tones that humans have, e.g. pinko-grey, white, brown, black, ivory, in-between.

Finally, ask each student to identify the number of the statement above that corresponds to how he or she might feel about people with skin colours other than his or her own (anonymously, if preferred). Alternatively, use the four corners of the room, asking for a 'yes', 'no', 'sometimes' or 'not sure' assessment in each case (see Freedom of Speech: 'What do you believe?', p. 41). Collate the results to get a picture of class values. (Adapted [as were a couple of the general activities on discrimination] from D. Shiman, The prejudice book).

Skin colour is one of the most arbitrary (least reasonable) ways of discriminating between people that humankind has every devised. Where students lack colour acceptance of any kind, ask them to plan a multi-racial society where they are destined to live, without knowing in advance what their own skin colour will be. Point out that they already live in a society of this kind-the world one, if not the local one.

The same activity can be run with a list of national or cultural names (other than those represented in the class).

(b) The non-racist classroom
There are many ways of making a classroom a place of acceptance and of multi- racial celebration. Where cultural factors influence a student's responses allow for them (how much eye contact he or she finds comfortable, for example; how receptive he or she is to group learning strategies; his or her style of dramatic play or story-telling). Where there is racially-based friction in the class, deal with it; do not dismiss it. Do learn yourself, and teach your students, how to recognise the way the media, even the school-books, may reinforce racism. Study the stories of famous people who have fought against discrimination. Study the contributions made by people from all parts of the world to the common stock of human knowledge and experience. Introduce as much cultural diversity as possible into the curriculum (without trivialising, that is, without reducing other cultures to 'funny foods and folkdances'). Ask parents or other relatives or friends to help in this regard. Invite people of other races or colours who are active in community work to speak to the class about what they do. In a mixed-culture class, know students' names and their correct pronunciation.

The value of bringing students in touch with people who have experienced racial prejudice first-hand, was recognised very clearly by one teacher who took part in the Commission's 1985 Schools Program after he took the time and made the effort to organise some personal encounters of this kind. He commented:

(e) Outsiders
Arrange the class by eights or tens into tight circles. Have the students interlock .arms, then have one student play the role of the outsider trying (without
violence) to get in. Give all the students the opportunity to feel locked out.

10. DISCRIMINATION-GENDER
Article 2 of the Universal Declaration proclaims the validity of the rest of the document 'without distinction of any kind'. It goes on to make specific mention of a number of labels that are used to draw arbitrary lines between peoples. One of these is gender, and there is good reason to be specific, since sex discrimination ('sexism') remains the most pervasive of all the sources of social injustice.

Sexism, like racism, is built into the basic structure of society, and it involves every aspect of culture and power. It is also reflected in people's attitudes, which further foster the phenomenon. The assumption that human gender can be used to define respective life choices and chances can be so automatic that it can seem to those (both male and female) who have never looked at it, as something beyond question. 

Schools may play an important part in promoting,- or combating sexism. In mixed-sex schools, a disproportionate amount of resources will often go to male students, and redressing the imbalance can be tantamount to pushing uphill against pointed sticks. It is not impossible to make significant progress, however, as the following episode shows: 

(a) Time 
If you teach a mixed-sex class, of roughly equal numbers, have one of the students time how long you spend in one lesson interacting with female as opposed to male students. Add up the results (students might repeat this experiment with other teachers). 

Design compensatory practices, such as requiring one female question for every male one (where this reflects the sex-ratio in the whole class). Note the quality of your answers. Are they open for boys; closed for girls? Do they lead 'out' or 'in' for everyone? Do you tend to say 'yes' or 'no' to answers from girls, and something more evocative to the boys? 

(b) A class reunion 
Arrange with the students for the class to hold a reunion, as if thirty years have passed. They must chat about what they have done since they left school. Attend yourself (suitably antique). 

Are there differences (in mixed-sex classes) between what the boys have done and the girls? In single-sex classes, have the boys had careers only? Have they mostly talked about political and technological changes? Have the girls mostly talked about families and domestic concerns? 

Invite some grandparental people to talk about the male/female roles they were expected to play in their day. 

(e) What's a 'boy'? What's a 'girl'?
Ask the class to think of as long a list of human character traits as possible (e.g. humility, arrogance sense of fun, gentleness, need for affection, sense of adventure). 

Take each one in turn, asking the class to decide whether it is more of a 'boy' trait, more of a 'girl' trait, or whether is applies to both equally (i.e. it is a 'whole cultural' one). 

If stereotypes emerge, discuss with the class which ones seem the more positive or the more negative, and how such stereotypes affect what they think girls and boys are able to do in real life. (An abbreviated version of D. Shiman, ibid., pp. 74-5.) Are they fair? 

(d) What's a 'man'? What's a 'woman'?
Ask the class to think of as long a list of adult tasks as possible (e.g. caring for children, cooking food, gardening, farming, fetching firewood, running 
businesses, being police, being teachers, making music, being doctors, being priests). 

Take each one in turn, asking the class to decide whether it is more of a man's task, or more of a woman's, or whether it applies to both. 

If patterns emerge, discuss whether they fairly reflect what either sex is capable of doing. 

(e) Expectations 
Read the class the following: 

Ask the students if this makes sense. How could the second judge say 'my son'? After all, the father of the man mentioned is already dead. 

There is a sensible answer of course: the second judge happens to be the man's mother. 

Does this solution come as a surprise? Did any of the- students expect judges to be only men? If so, why? 

(f) Who's who?
In the books the students encounter at school (or any media they monitor at home) have them check: 

• whether there are the same number of references to mates and females 
• whether the girls are shown as brave decision-takers, who are physically capable and adventurous, creative, more concerned with what they can do than how they look, and interested in a wide range of careers 
• whether the boys are shown.as humane, caring people, who can be helpful, who express their emotions, who are keen to learn homemaking and child- rearing skills, who are free of the fear that others might not think them 'manly', and free of the feeling that girls are inferior 
• whether the men and women respect each other as equals 
• whether the men take an active role in the home 
• whether the women take an active role outside the home, and if so, as other than teachers, nurses or secretaries, or unpaid or poorly paid labourers 

(g) The non-sexist classroom 
Most of the suggestions made for the non-racist classroom can be adapted to promote a non-sexist one as well. Seek help from wherever possible in breaking down stereotypes; never allow exclusion based on sex; and respect traditional views, but present yours clearly and with conviction. Always ask: What is fair? Does anyone deserve to be treated like that? Acquaint students with the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Be optimistic. 

Media studies (advertisements in particular) provide good material, and a close scrutiny of the school curriculum and of current texts is also advised. Does 'history' give serious attention to the role of women as well as men? Does 'economics' discuss women in the labour market (both at home and outside the home)? Does 'law' took at women and property? Does 'government' look at female under-representation? Does 'science' give due weight to what women have achieved? Are girls encouraged to excel at mathematics? How sexist is the teaching of 'literature', 'language', and the 'arts'? 

12. DISCRIMINATION-MINORITY GROUP STATUS 
The concept of a 'minority group' is mixed up with the concepts of 'ethnicity' and 'race', and when it is, earlier activities are relevant here as well. The term is a loose one, and has been used to describe indigenous peoples, displaced peoples, migrant workers, refugees, and even oppressed majorities (as in South Africa). Common to all these groups is poverty and a dire lack of power. A minority group ceases to be a 'minority group' once it becomes strong enough. (N. van der Gagg & L. Gerlach, Profile on prejudice, p.5.) 

The members of minority groups are entitled to their human rights as individual human beings, but they usually claim certain rights as members of a group as well. Depending on the particular group, these might include claims for self-determination (cultural and political), land, compensation (for dispossession), control of natural resources, or access to religious sites. 

(a) Identifying some 'minority groups' 
Brainstorm with the class a list of contemporary 'minority groups'. (National and international non-governmental organisations working in this area can provide many concrete examples, and much information--particularly about the more disadvantaged ones.) 

Senior students can do case studies to find out about the size, locale, history, culture, contemporary living conditions and key claims of specific 'groups'. 

(b) Speakers 
Invite members of particular 'minority groups' to come to talk, perhaps under the auspices of the class Human Rights Society. Care needs to be taken to avoid  stereotyping and tokenism. Students can examine these issues as they discuss any questions of justice, freedom and equity involved. 
 

13. DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY  Practical work in the community outside the school with people who are physically or intellectually disadvantaged in some way is much the best approach if students want to understand the issues involved. Here is a description of what happened when one group of students visited a sheltered workshop:  With one of my Year 10 groups in March-April, we took 'Intellectually Handicapped' as a topic. I followed the basic outline which the students suggested after showing the video, Don't think I don't think, and after doing a role-play, they suggested we visit a sheltered workshop. A visit was arranged, and we were there for nearly three hours. Out of my eight years of teaching it was one of my most rewarding experiences. It was good for the students too. Rewarding for me because I observed the students really art themselves to reach out in an understanding way to others. Often these were the students who have also been in trouble over the last few years in school. Since that visit, myself and other staff have seen a change in the way they react to others in class and around the school. That's the reward for me and also for them, I feel. It's more than just surface behaviour-change; I really believe they learned something at school.  Another group of students who visited a special school gave the following responses when asked to write down what they had learned from the experience:

• I learned that these children are just like me. 
• I learned not to be afraid to play with these children. 
• I learned not to call them names. 
• I enjoyed riding their bikes. 
• I learned that these children are like us, but part of them is diff