This article is written for Bloggers Unite day to spread awareness on human rights.

Every day we hear about the suffering of people in places like Myanmar and Darfur. Almost all the time the issue of human rights come up. If human rights are so elementary, so basic, then why haven’t we straightened it out after all these years?

To understand that, we must look at the most elementary place in all of our lives.

School.

For twelve years of our lives, (and often times more than that) we sit in classrooms and listen to instructors. Debates fuel over our rights in school, the rights of the instructors, and the rights of what gets shown in classroom- basically, everything. Each side argues relentlessly on every issue, from cafeteria foods up to school calendars.

In a sense, school is like a nation. There are politics, (the student councils and class presidents, principals, teachers) there is drama, arguments, and many other similarities to a country. This environment shapes people, shapes leaders, shapes the future. What people come to learn here, they often carry the behavior and lessons they’ve learned for the rest of their lives.

What I’m getting to here is what may be the root of human right problems. What if the problems that brew in school begin the conflicts that plague our world? The cliques, the name calling, everything that may fuel problems of today could begin in school. A corrupt childhood makes a corrupt leader, right

Whether or not elementary school and childhood in general is or is not the cause of everything that happens, every living being on the planet deserves rights. It’s just the interpretation of the rights that we should have that is the problem. China’s idea of human rights is different than the U.S., and so on. So take a look into the resources popping up on human rights, and begin to find your interpretation of fair human rights.

Because everyone deserves the most elementary, basic, rights

-Rika