Search results for: “human rights”
-
Planning for Human Rights Day Participation: Dec 10th
We generally “observe” holidays in U.S. public schools, but we don’t often “participate” in them. Sure we have class parties and sometimes have different school-wide celebrations, but do those activities really constitute “participation” or “commemoration?” In the case of Veteran’s Day this week, some schools did invite veterans to come and speak at special events.…
-
Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Surveillance
As surveillance becomes more ubiquitous and “normalized” in our society, I’m wondering if the parable of the boiling frog may apply and how these dynamics should fit into conversations at school with students, teachers and parents about digital citizenship. I’m not arguing we should abandon all the trappings of 21st century modernity and head up to…
-
Powerful Stopmotion video on Children’s Rights
Simple, stick figure drawings accompanied by audio narration can be very powerful when they are used to tell a compelling story. The following video, “Children’s Rights,” was shared by one of my students this semester in “Technology 4 Teachers.” She described it by writing: This educational video basically was a PSA (Public Service Announcement) that…
-
Philip Randolph, civil rights, unions, and political change
Thanks to Greg Oppel and his presentation on December 6th at the Oklahoma Council for History Education symposium, “A. Philip Randolph: Service Not Servitude,” my wife and I watched the NetFlix movie “10,000 Black Men Named George” this evening. Philip Randolph was a courageous luminary from the U.S. civil rights movement who was not included…
-
Humanizing discussions about immigration and borders
I have been thinking about issues relating to immigration, the politics of borders and walls, the importance of international relationships and friendships, and the responsibility we all have to tangibly promote the causes of understanding and cooperation in our own contexts and spheres of influence. Several events have influenced my thinking lately and precipitated new…
-
Engaging with the Duke Polarization Lab
This morning I submitted the “Get Involved Form” shared by the Polarization Lab at Duke University. This two minute video (shared in November 2019) from the Duke University Department of Political Science provides a concise overview of the Lab’s focus and mission. The “Mission” page of their website also provides more details. Submitting this interest…
-
Reflections on Hernan Cortes, the Aztecs, and Mars Colonization
Today in this blog post (and original video as well as audio podcast) I want to discuss a podcast episode titled, “The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)” on “The Rest is History,” by historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. I’m excited to share about this podcast and topics it references for…
-
Transcending Political Polarization
I’ve been paying for the “Plus” version of ChatGPT for several weeks, but haven’t really used it much. This evening, I experimented with some questions about how we might transcend our presently high levels of political polarization in the United States. ChatGPT 4’s answers are remarkably good. Here’s a transcript of our dialog. I’ve added…
-
Political Philosophy and Media Literacy Cornerstones
Propaganda and disinformation can have real, destructive effects in society and government. That is one of many lessons we can draw from the past week in Washington D.C., when we saw large numbers of protesters storm the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in a riot which resulted in deaths, injuries, as well…
-
Hashtag Power of #HongKongProtests, Twitter Bots, PsyOps and Media Literacy
Yesterday morning I listened to a fantastic World Affairs (@world_affairs) podcast interview with UC Irvine professor, historian, and author Jeff Wasserstrom (@jwassers) by MaryKay Magistad (@MaryKayMagistad). Dr. Wasserstrom is the author of “Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink” from February 2020, which was also the title of the interview from February 5, 2020. Dr. Wasserstrom…