Is Education a Human right?

  In my humanities class we have been learning about Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which

which are goals set by the United nations for us to try and fulfill before 2030. During this class we went
on a field experience which is when we go out to see how what we are learning in the classroom connects
  to the real world. We cooked a wonderful lunch which provided a need some people at the Lincoln Park
community needed to be fulfilled. We then thought about when it is that human right becomes a human
right and how we can make sure they are fulfilled. During this project we had to pick a human need that
deserved to be a human right so I chose Education, as I believe education should be a human right
and here's why:

We all have universal human rights, they are the rights given to us the moment we take our first breath on this Earth. They are so important to us that some of our greatest thinkers went on and wrote a declaration of all these rights. In fact Education was one of the rights listed in the declaration. Exactly on article 26 it states firmly “Everyone has the right to an education… Education  shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights”(United Nations UDHR).So is education really worth being a right? In short yes, yes it is. But in order to really understand why it should be a right we need to define what a quality education really is.

In order to define quality education we must answer one of the questions famous American philosopher and educational reformer, John Dewey, once asked his 1938 audience, “What conditions have to be satisfied so that education may be a reality and not a name or slogan?”(What is education?,2011). Quality Education may simply be the passing on of cultural norms, social expectations, knowledge, and skills in order to help you become a successful and contributing member of society. It must also be able to help you lead a decent life with a supportive job and access to the necessary needs like healthcare, food,etc. In other words a “A quality education aims to ensure the development of a fully- rounded human being”(UNESCO). Now that we have a good definition of what a quality education should ensure we can now go on look on why it should be a complete right for us and the consequences of it not being fulfilled.

The consequences of not having a quality education can be devastating. Often it can result in living in poverty and a lack of opportunities. In many poverty stricken countries there seems to be many people that are often not able to afford an education or can’t afford to attend school as they need to help their families work the fields in order to put food on the table. This often leads to a lowered chances of ever getting out of the poverty cycle which chains people down and keeps them from being a full contributor to their country and society.Examples of such countries of which many don’t have easy or much access to education is the Democratic Republic of Congo which has one of the highest poverty rates in the whole world. Currently about “3.5 million or 26.7% of primary age children are out-of-school”(Global Partnership for Education) most of those kids are living in rural areas, meaning they are not getting the education necessary to ensure their breaking of the poverty cycle many of them have to face everyday. There are many other countries who also face these problems of high poverty rates, countries like Colombia, and Comoros, of which about 45% fall below the world poverty line (Borgen Project), and many other countries. Then if education is such an important right where does it fall into an important measurement such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs?, well it might just fall under safety needs. While it may not fall under the most important such as physiological needs but it is still essential as you cannot reach self actualization and need it in order to ensure your safety in society. While of course there are negative consequences of education not being a full right in every country or not fully accessible there are many benefits to having education at an access and a right for all.

Often having access to a quality education can lead to very successful lives and thriving countries. Such example is Finland. With an “Upper secondary graduation rate of 99%!”(ncee). The answer to their success lies with simple words “free access to education”(Culture Trip). The easy accessibility to quality education has enabled Finland to thrive as a country and have a decently low poverty rate of 5.8% (Borgen Project). Due to the way that its education system is set up with no private schools and all equal schooling for all of it’s children meaning every single child and young adults get the same learning experiences as their rich counterparts and such. Meaning no child is left behind and has an equal quality education like all others. Then maybe if we took similar ideas from Finland and implemented we would probably be very successful.

The final concern being how do we start making sure access to education is a right all humans are able to have. In some ways we have already started working towards this goal and we have gotten significant results thanks to organizations like the United Nations, Borgen Projects, Global Partnership for Education, Their World, and many more. In some places the progress has been significant like the Republic of Congo where the completion rate of primary has gone up from “from 29% in 2002 to 70% in 2014” (Global Partnership for Education). Thanks to all these organizations working towards the goal. In some cases organization helping might not be making as much of a difference so an idea could be to make sure we are implementing and enforcing laws which make quality education a need countries should provide because as Benjamin Franklin once said “An investment in education pays the best”. Making access to quality education a need all nations and countries must provide if they want to move forward. Making sure that all those “750 million youth and adults that still cannot read and write” (UNESCO) aren’t left behind and those other “262 children who are out of school” aren’t left behind either. 

In conclusion we must make access to quality education a right as education is the key to pulling millions out of poverty and into active participants and members of our democracies and societies. Together we can do it.

                                           (Me getting a quality education)

                                            Source: My 8th grade teacher, Mrs.OBC

  Source:

 Emilee Wessel, Comoros Poverty Rate, The Borgen Project, August 14, 2019, https://borgenproject.org/comoros-poverty-rate/           

          Jessica Reyes, ,Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Finland:Issues and Solutions, The Borgen Project, July 25, 2018, https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-poverty-in-finland/

Education in Democratic Republic of Congo | Global Partnership for Education,01 October 2019,https://www.globalpartnership.org/country/democratic-republic-congo

            Graduation rates world wide,NCEE,  http://ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/GraduationStat.pdf

           UNESCO, What you need to know about the right to education, UNESCO, February 19, https://en.unesco.org/news/what-you-need-know-about-right-education
           United nations Universal declaration of human rights, December 9, 2016, https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
          Why Finland's Higher Education System is the best in the world, Culture Trip, June 2018, https://theculturetrip.com/europe/finland/articles/why-finlands-higher-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world/