Human Rights and Human Wrongs

The human rights unit that took me weeks to create has been in action for about two weeks now.
So far, so interesting!

Last week, my most advanced class (all of my classes are 'honors level,' but this class is filled with the most precocious little geniuses in the school) debated immigrants rights and the right to seek asylum or safety from persecution in another country. It was a pretty heated, yet respectful discussion. It is interesting to have such opinionated 16-year olds in my class. When I was 16 the only thing I was opintionated about was whether The Princess Bride was more engaging than Mallrats (today I use Princess in my classroom...sorry Kevin Smith, you didn't make the cut).
I feel pretty safe in saying that majority of my students are pretty sympathetic and understanding regarding cultural influences, haves and have nots, and fairness. Furthermore, it is interesting to hear what a concise knowledge of world history my students have...they not only make arguments, but also back them up with some undeniable facts that leave the students who stand firm in their parent's opinions dragging their heels in the dirt.

I just finished another novel called Cereus Blooms at Night by Shana Mootoo, which I highly recommend. It is one of the novels I have assigned for this unit on human rights.
Amidst the twisted plot filled with a defiance of, what Arundhati Roy describes as "the love laws that lay down who we should love and how much," the reader is exposed to different sets of circumstances that demand judgement. This judgement that the reader subconsciously makes is later deconstructed along with society's ideas of "should" and "should not." Throughout the novel, tortured souls practice forgiveness of pasts speckled like snail shells with stains of abandonment, deceit, and physical and mental abuse. Still these characters manage to appreciate the gentility of love while finding hope amidst their hurricane of life. They live in memories of goodness and in smallness of very few and far between acts of kindness. Maybe most inspiring of all was the way in which the characters were judged, written off, and erased from existence, within the pages of the novel, yet still learn to acknowledge equality in nature and celebrate the smallest of nature's miracles which, in turn, are the life-blood of a society that burdens and beats them down. This book is about survival among societies most dangerous of creatures -- human beings.

I like it a lot!!!

Grad school update: Should be getting paper confirmation this week by mail.
Then, and only then, will I believe it is all true.