In the 2017-2018 school year, students will discover a new option among the old list of electives. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Norris, a history teacher at Ridge, about the new human rights class set to start up next year. Mr. Norris is currently devising the curriculum, as well as organizing different projects and activities. By delving deeper into the purpose of studying human rights, the course will encourage students to take on a different perspective in terms of studying history, and most importantly, viewing themselves as global citizens in the heart of Ridge.

Charlize Chen (Reporter for The Devil’s Advocate): Could you describe the humans rights course and what topics will be covered?

Mr. Norris: During the length of this course, which is one semester, the course will span from all time periods of history, from the violation of human rights during the Holocaust to the present-day situation pertaining to the treatment of women in the Middle East. Most importantly, this class will strive to teach students about what can be done to mitigate the violation of human rights globally.

CC: Why should students learn about human rights?

N: Students should be informed about human rights because it is essential to know that anyone, regardless of their race or gender, deserves to have rights as a human being. Similar to how students learned about the Constitution during history and the concept of “Life, Liberty, and Property,” it is crucial that they are aware of the civic rights that all humans deserve.

CC: What are your goals for students taking this course?

N: My goal for this course is to not only teach students about the basics of human rights, but to have them learn about how those rights are being challenged across the globe. I would also like to focus on introducing the concept of expressing one’s rights, and how human rights can be protected.

CC: What expectations do you have for students who are interested in the elective?

N: Students who are interested in taking the course should have an open mind about different cultures around the world, and strive to be informed about current day issues. In addition to thinking globally, students should also be enthusiastic about learning to help others who may not have the same opportunity in life.

CC: What is your role in creating the human rights program?

N: Since I have a background in human rights education, I am very excited to start teaching students about human rights! In fact, I will be presenting the topic of human rights in October at Rutgers University. During the process of creating the human rights program, I designed the curriculum and helped set up different activities that the students might be interested in. I started this course from scratch, so I planned out the syllabus unit by unit.

CC: How would you convince students at Ridge to take this class?

N: I will introduce the human rights course to my students in Global History, as well as include it in the Program of Studies. I think that we will not have much enrollment at first, but once students start taking this course, they will start to tell their friends about their experiences. Once students recommend the class to their peers and those students continue to do the same, more will be interested in learning about human rights.

CC: What was your biggest challenge in creating this program?

N: As a teacher, the hardest part of creating the course for me was plotting out all of the different projects, and finding ways to educate to students a topic as broad as human rights in just one semester. On the other hand, coming up with the ideas of how to make the course fun for students was much easier than planning the logistics.

CC: What makes the human rights course special?

N: What makes the human rights course different from other electives is that it takes on a different perspective. In this class, students will learn to think about themselves as global citizens, rather than just citizens of America. Nowadays, people are becoming more connected with each other, and it is up to the students of this generation to acknowledge current day concerns on a global scale. All in all, the human rights course is the first step to taking on the responsibility of learning basic standard of rights that we all share.