Educators Praise Human Rights Educational Materials
A new brochure published by the Church of Scientology features human rights education booklets and videos that have been adopted by educators around the world to teach their pupils the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Although 2013 marks the 65th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the need for its full implementation is as vital today as it was the day it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
The visionaries who drafted this document affirmed that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” and recognized “if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”
Yet three generations later, human rights violations continue to dominate the news, due in part to failure to live up to the mandate set out in the Declaration’s preamble: “that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms….”
To help accomplish this purpose, the Church of Scientology and Scientologists support the secular grassroots educational program of Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI). The full array of YHRI educational materials is described in the brochure Scientology: How We Help—United for Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Global Reality.
Educators from around the world value the YHRI materials, which bring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to life for their students:
“I received the human rights material and have incorporated it into a fifth-grade lesson plan on human rights,” wrote a teacher from the United States. “I was most impressed with all the materials and would like to thank you very much. This material enhanced what we were teaching and brought to life the importance of human rights.”
A teacher from Canada stated, “The students were very interested. Since viewing and learning their 30 human rights, they have been questioning me about events around the world relating to human rights. The students have shown respect and empathy and the DVD provided a great learning experience.”
A teacher in West Bengal, India, commented: “The DVD of Youth for Human Rights is proving to be exceptionally useful to me. It is an extremely attractive and effective educational tool. I have used it on several occasions in my school. I have used it among approximately 180 of my classes as part of their training in Life Skills education. I am using it to educate my student volunteers from classes 8, 9, 10 and 12 for my Service Learning Project, in which girls have undertaken to educate about 150 slum children of the local community.”
An educator in Azerbaijan wrote of the change these materials made in the attitudes of pupils: “As a direct result of the course, supplemental videos and training materials, my students lead a community campaign on human rights education and have been able to help another nonprofit organization provide support for human rights of disabled persons. As a United States Peace Corps volunteer, I was not able to find a better program in the three years I taught in Azerbaijan. The program was used to teach more than 150 high school and college-age youth and to motivate them to be more active in human rights.”
An American educator was particularly impressed with the way these materials appealed to at-risk youth: “I teach social studies at an alternative school for at-risk youth. My opening unit is on human rights. This year, I folded your curriculum into the unit and it made a huge difference. I used to show them public service announcements produced about 15 years ago. The students barely connected to the images. The new videos you produced were not only viewed once, but many times by the students’ requests! The program was not just useful, but invigorated the classroom, stimulating discussion and higher-level thinking.”
Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document. To learn more, visit Scientology.org/HumanRights.
Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream,” and the Scientology religion is based on the principles of human rights. The Code of a Scientologist calls on all members of the religion to dedicate themselves “to support true humanitarian endeavors in the fields of human rights.”