Has UNESCO’s Fundamental Human Right of Education Evolved?

[UNESCO’s] “Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms education is a fundamental human right for everyone and this right was further detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education.”

But what exactly does that mean?” Well for one thing, governments “in whom we trust” became responsible for ensuring that institutionalised education was not only available for all primary aged children but that it was also made compulsory. Amongst other things, UNESCO saw compulsory education as being a weapon to eradicate poverty.

It also meant that governments allocated teachers the power to “enforce” systems of learning. Initially, a part of this enforcement included corporal punishment for students who refused to comply with directions issued by the teacher and who didn’t produce the required academic results through testing or otherwise.

This system of “enforced learning” came as a package deal – compliance of behaviour and compliance of required learning material via “the curriculum”. The teacher was the commandant and arbiter of student behaviour and knowledge. Could this be the reason students were so afraid to ask questions if they didn’t understand something.? Times have changed in that teachers can no longer use physical force or threat of physical force as an incentive to learning. Haranguing and badgering are now the only weapons of choice in coercing children into learning content for the sake of returning great test scores for their school. That and the veiled menace of failure and of not being smart enough to pass the testing that will determine their suitability to thrive in our culture.

Historically, the focus has always been on curriculum content. The focus has never been on helping kids to become learners. We are now at another crossroads. In an age where information and knowledge seem to be available at the tap of a phone or the click of a mouse, is it any wonder that kids are rebelling? Children’s poor behaviour is seen as a major problem in many schools – but maybe it should be seen for what it really is – a symptom of a confused and largely irrelevant pedagogy.

So my question is this. If children have the right to an education, should they also have the right in determining what their education looks like? And by that I don’t mean what electives they’re going to take in high school. What I mean is, should kids have any rights in determining the way in which they’re going to interact with their learning. Should children have the right to think for themselves and be creative in the process? Education might still be a fundamental right but has it evolved to match the challenges of the 21st century?

I don’t think so.

How can we encourage our kids to become independent, lifelong learners whilst forcing them through a system of teaching that’s at odds with the aims it hopes to produce? I truly believe that even in our broken system, teachers can still make a difference by empowering students to become independent learners. And one way to do that is to involve them in the learning process itself through the process of guided inquiry learning.