Moral Reasoning and Human Rights Education

Moral, Character, and Human Rights Education

 Hidden Curriculum:

Schools and teachers inherently teach values

.

 Values Clarification:

Can we identify what’s really important and reach consensus on Universal Values?

 Moral and Character Education:

To help learners make informed, responsible choices and create a just community

 Human Rights Education:

Focus on remedying the human condition within the global community

Illinois School Code

Every public school teacher shall teach the pupils:   Honesty Kindness    Justice Discipline Respect for others  Moral courage for the purpose of lessening crime and raising the standard of good citizenship. (105 ILCS 5/27-12 Sec. 27-12 Source: P.A. 90-620, eff. 7-10-98.)

What Are Morals?

Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding standards of right and wrong

What Is the Educator’s Role?

 Instill character?

Or  Facilitate moral development?

Or  Both?

Universal Values

 Can you come to a consensus on what character traits are most valuable and which should be instilled in children by educators?

      

Values and Attitudes

Based on the UDHR

“Strengthening

respect

for human rights and fundamental freedoms” (UDHR, Article 30.2) Nurturing

self-esteem

, respect for others, and

hope

Understanding the nature of human dignity and respecting the

dignity

of self and others

Empathizing

with those whose rights are violated and feeling a sense of solidarity with them Recognizing that the enjoyment of human rights by all citizens is a precondition to a

just and humane

society Perceiving the human rights dimension of civil, social, political, economic and cultural issues and conflicts between groups, within groups, and across groups Valuing

non-violence

is better than conflict and believing that

cooperation

Kohlberg’s Cognitive Developmental Theory of Moral Reasoning

Kohlberg’s Stages: Level I I.

Pre-Conventional Reasoning

Rules governing moral life are external to the self. Child uses rules imposed by authority figure. Morality is self-serving & guided by a desire to avoid punishment. Stage 1 Orientation: Punishment-Obedience

“I don’t want to be punished”

Moral judgment of an act (good or bad) measured by its consequences. The act isn't bad if you don't get caught.

Stage 2 Orientation: Instrumental-Relativist Naive hedonism orientation for personal gain, “You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

“I want a reward.”

Kohlberg’s Stages: Level II II. Conventional Reasoning

Social norms and rules are obeyed in order to maintain and win other's approval. Social praise and the avoidance of punishment have become tangible rewards for moral behavior.

Stage 3 Orientation: Interpersonal Concordance Moral behavior is that which pleases, helps, or is approved by others, whose perspectives are taken into account when making a moral judgment.

“

Good boy/ Good girl orientation.”

“I want people to like me.”

Stage 4 Orientation: Authority & Social Order Maintaining Moral behavior is motivated by a want to maintain social order.

“I would be breaking the law.”

Kohlberg’s Stages: Level III III. Post-Conventional Autonomous or Principled Reasoning

Morality is defined in terms of a broader sense of justice that may or may not be reflected in societal law.

Stage 5 Orientation: Social Contract Legalistic Moral thought makes a distinction between what is legal and what is just. The individual sees that laws are important for maintaining social norms, but may be unjust or unfair.

“I’m obliged not to do it.”

Stage 6 Orientation: Universal Ethical Principle The individual defines their own concepts of right and wrong based on self chosen ethical principles that reflect the individual’s conscience. Moral guidelines are not concrete rules but abstract moral concepts.

“It’s not right, no matter what others say.”

Moral Behavior and Cognitive Development

 Moral reasoning is impacted by an individual’s stage of cognitive development  A study of college students in the 1970s found that only 25% were operating in the formal operations stage of cognitive development  Research suggests that adults tend to be in the concrete operations stage of cognitive development, except in some very specific areas in which they have gained a high level of expertise.

Stage Pre-Operational Stage Piaget: Cognitive Development Age Range Description

2 to 7 yrs

Concrete-Operational Stage Formal Operational Stage

7 to 11-14 yrs 11-14 yrs and beyond Children begin to use mental symbols to represent objects (words, images), however they are not engaged in cognitive operations such as higher order perspective taking.

Children become less egocentric in their thinking and reasoning and begin to develop reversible thinking, but still lack the ability to reason abstractly.

Children begin to reason abstractly and rationally.

This stage is not reached by all individuals or permeated to all areas of reasoning.

Moral Reasoning

In what stage of moral reasoning is an adult who:  Will not cheat on tests because it’s against the college code of conduct  Has money deducted from her paycheck for a charity, in order to impress the boss  Has children selling drugs for him on the street corner  Won’t eat anything with a face because of her membership in PETA  Covers for someone’s failure to show up for a meeting, so that person won’t tell on him  When state would not intervene, stayed for years in a job at a school where children were mistreated, in order to change the school culture

Kohlberg’s Critics

Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for the extensive research on males, as well as for underestimating social and cultural influences on moral development, including the care perspective of females

Gilligan’s Findings

  The moral reasoning of females has been impacted by how they have been socialized to demonstrate care and behave in socially responsible ways The female caring and responsibility orientation is particularly evident from adolescence through adulthood   

Level 1 Survival Orientation:

Caring for self

Level 2 Goodness Orientation:

Caring for others

Level 3 Caring Orientation:

Caring for self & others

Think About How You Have Been Socialized to Determine Right from Wrong and What Rules Govern Your Decision-Making and Behavior Today

 Do you regularly reflect and examine the decision-making processes that contribute to your own behaviors?

 Have you accepted or rejected the moral code of your family, religion, culture, or community?

 Have you attempted to formulate your own standards by which to measure right and wrong?

General Moral Principles

Classicists: The Greeks, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Golden Mean  Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”  We must use our intellect for self-reflection and, through thoughtfulness, we can determine how to act reasonably and according to the Golden Mean, avoiding extremes  “Everything in moderation”

Judeo-Christian Ethic

Golden Rule --Doctrine of Reciprocity  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  “Love they neighbor as thyself.”

Secular Doctrine of Reciprocity

Empathetic Reciprocity   “Walk a mile in my shoes.” We must try to imagine what it’s like for others

Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill:  “The greatest good for the greatest number.”  The right action is the one that promotes good for the greatest number of people

Causalism

 An individual’s acts affect society; consider how actions impact the general welfare

Categorical Imperative

Kant’s rule by which to judge maxims of conduct:  An act is only moral if it can be applied to all rational beings without contradiction or exception  An action that is appropriate in one situation must be appropriate in all similar situations

How Can We Determine What Is Equitable for Underrepresented Groups and Special Populations?

Something to Think About:

What is Equity for Diverse Populations?

 Can you make exceptions to rules, in order to create a level playing field for those who are at a disadvantage?

 Richard La Voie contends: “Fair does not mean that everyone gets the same thing; it means that everyone gets what they need.”

What Are Human Rights?

Human Rights Are:

The rights that someone has simply because s/he is a human being.

 Inalienable/Universal  Interconnected  Indivisible  Both Rights and Responsibilities

Five Primary Categories of Human Rights:

 Civil Rights  Political Rights  Economic Rights  Social Rights  Cultural Rights

W

hat Is Human Rights Education?

 “Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

Eleanor Roosevelt - The Great Question, 1958

Why Human Rights Education?

Inappropriate Behavior

for Age and Stage of Development

Physical Behaviors

 Spitting, hitting, choking, jeers, pinching, scratching, hand gestures, writing on other’s work, throwing objects, drumming, pulling hair, out-of-place, striking with objects, etc.

Verbal Displays

 Swearing or using vulgar language, talking too loudly, racial or sexist slurs, taunting, booing, talking back, arguing, regularly complaining or interrupting

Uncooperative Behaviors

 Refusing to comply or follow rules, acting defiantly, refusing to take turns or share, cheating and lying

Human Rights Education:

      Produces changes in values and attitudes Produces changes in behavior Produces empowerment for social justice Develops attitudes of solidarity across issues and nations Develops knowledge and analytical skills Produces participatory education

How do we move from learning about human rights to action on a personal and community level?

Goals of a Human Rights Learning Community

   Know your human rights Value your human rights Be inspired to take action toward protecting the human rights of yourself and others

Human Rights Learning Community Inspire Know Celebrate Value Reflect Act Heal Connect

Where does human rights education fit into the school community and curriculum?

HRE includes learning about

 Knowing and using human rights law  to protect human rights  to call violators to account for their actions  Human rights violations  Emotional and physical hostilities --Teasing, bullying, torture, genocide, or violence against women and others, and the prejudicial climates in which they flourish  The persons and agencies that are responsible for promoting, protecting and respecting human rights

The Leader’s Role

    Regularly self-reflect to take your own Human Rights Temperature and examine possible prejudices and biases Create a school culture respectful of the Human Rights of all humankind, which emphasizes cooperation and non-violent conflict resolution Support the implementation of daily activities to help students feel a sense of community in the classroom Ensure the integration of Human Rights Education into curriculum

Leader Facilitated Tolerance

 Model appropriate behaviors  If respect for human dignity and justice are not demonstrated in the learning environment, many difficulties are likely to arise.

 Be responsive to concerns related to diversity:  Be open-minded to a variety of perspectives regarding  Race, culture, gender, religion, national traditions, etc.

 Celebrate differences but also point out similarities:  Focus on the inherent dignity of all people and their right to be treated with respect  We all have feelings, thoughts, needs, concerns, preferences, etc.

Creating School Culture

      Provide an Environment That Welcomes Diversity: Create a caring climate where respect, acceptance, justice and equity for heterogeneous populations is evident Display posters and photographs of diverse people in halls and classrooms Make books and materials from and about many kinds of people regularly available Develop educational activity-oriented cooperative campaigns around human rights and ecology issues Establish a non-violent conflict resolution program with peer mediation Focus on human rights matters on designated bulletin boards, in school assemblies, newsletters, at PTA meetings, etc.

Principles for Human Rights Education

 Connect people’s lived experiences directly to abstract concepts and legal documents.

 Keep lecturing to a minimum  Use participatory methods for learning  Songs, rhymes, and finger plays to promote community spirit; projects, role playing, discussions, debates, mock trials, games and simulations  Be concerned with both content and the learning process.

 Change happens after new learning occurs and with opportunities for application over time  Include an action dimension that provides opportunities to act on newly developed attitudes and understandings  Actions should address problems in school, at home, in the community, and elsewhere in the world

Principles for Human Rights Education

 Provide an open-minded examination of human rights concerns.

 Give opportunities for people to arrive at positions that may differ from those of others.

 Include an international/Global dimension to the human rights theme being examined.

 How it manifests itself both at home and abroad  Avoid too much focus on human rights abuses.  Emphasize human rights as a positive value system and a standard to which everyone is entitled.

 Affirm the belief that the individual can make a difference.

 Provide examples of individuals who have done so.

Those Who Have Made a Difference

Non-Violent Civil Disobedience   Ghandi Martin Luther King Black Pride  Malcolm X Others???

What were their strategies for effecting change?

Education for human rights helps people feel the importance of human rights, internalize human rights values and integrate them into the way they live.

Human Rights is not a subject that can be studied at a distance. Students should not just learn

about

the Universal Declaration,

about

racial injustice or

about

homelessness without also being challenged to think about what it all means for them personally. As human rights educators, we must ask our students and ourselves, “How does this all relate to the way we live our lives?” The answers to this question will tell us much about how effectively we have taught our students.

- David Shiman, “Introduction,”

Teaching Human Rights

Education for human rights also gives people a sense of responsibility for respecting and defending human rights and empowers them, through learned skills, to take appropriate action.

Skills

         Recognizing that human rights may be promoted and defended on an individual, collective and institutional level Developing a critical understanding of life situations Analyzing situations in moral terms Realizing that unjust situations can be improved Recognizing a personal and societal stake in the defense of human rights Analyzing factors that cause human rights violations Knowing about and being able to use global, regional, national and local human rights instruments and mechanisms for the protection of human rights Strategizing appropriate responses to injustice Acting to promote and defend human rights

Examples of Human Rights Learning Projects

Human Rights Badges A Human Rights Quilt Letters to Congress A Democracy Wall Petitions Against Pollution Speakers Memorials Donation Stations Dramatic Presentations Celebrations of Student Diversity

Activities to Promote Cooperation and Kindness

    Encourage children to collaboratively create Human Rights murals for common spaces Have a Secret Pals Day so that students can perform acts of kindness and create unique gifts for randomly selected peers Establish a buddy system for new students so they will have peer supports readily available Others???

10 Things You Can Do

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- Get to know your human rights - Get involved as a Human Rights Educator

3

- Use the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to describe, defend or define your social justice issues

4

- Launch a local human rights celebration on the anniversary of the UDHR on Dec.10th

5

- Put human rights language to work for social justice

6

- Be heard! Put human rights matters on the agenda at meetings, etc.

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- Find creative ways to communicate human rights issues in your community such as media strategies, teach-ins, tribunals, etc.

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- Join efforts to have the U.S. ratify the human rights treaties

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- Ensure accessibility for all

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- Contact Human Rights organizations for further information