In Class Thingy

Hey guys, so I guess no one really seemed too motivated about returning to discussion on the wiki. It also appears that little discussion has occurred on the blog as well. Below is the proposed draft resolution 2.1 which we will be voting on today:

The Asian Summit on the Rights of Women and Children,

Recognizing the growing issue of both human trafficking and prostitution that exist in high frequencies throughout greater Asia;
Noting with great concern the colossal violation on human rights that has for too long been ignored by members of the international community;
Hoping to bring an end to the gross injustice that is human trafficking and prostitution;
Calls for the stricter enforcement of international borders, so as to reduce the number of trafficked humans;
Declares prostitution as illegal and a punishable offense;
Proposes internationally adopted ‘zero tolerance policies’ that will address the
issue of human trafficking and prostitution with judicial zeal;
Stresses the need for better and more consistent education for women, in hope that more educated women will be at less of a risk for human trafficking and exploitation;
Suggests the implementation of a system aiding the safe deportation of previously trafficked person, current illegal aliens, to their country of origin;
Suggests further, as part of the previous clause, that rehabilitation and reeducation facilities for victims of human trafficking and similar exploitation be instituted in countries of destination.

If there is something you want to add or remove, either post it (boost your online grade) or just bring it to class. I have enjoyed doing this mock summit meeting so far, although I think it would have been better if the summit was our only academic focus and we could likewise divert all our time and efforts to it rather than give it a small fraction of our efforts like we have been doing. I think this week has been crazy for all of us, and the product of our labors for this summit is not equal to that which we are capable of given rest and reliquished of stress. Nonetheless, it has been a good show and I look forward to our next one.

wiki?

we arent posting on the wiki are we? i cant find anyone's post?

Children & Poverty

An interesting Op-Ed piece appeared in the New York Times this morning, responding to a new study that shows the long-term developmental effects of poverty on children. I'd be interested to know, does this new science affect how we think about the American ideal of social mobility? What new problems does this raise for the improvement of education in developing nations, where poverty rates are much higher?

Dut Deng's Visit

I would just like to thank all of those who got Dut Deng to our campus. I really enjoyed his speech and what he had to say last night in school house. I think the entire school reacted very well to the whole situation and seems like everyone is willing to help him. Now that everyone has a taste of what is going on in Sudan i think it would be a good idea to do another fundraiser for Sudan, instead this time we support Dut Deng and his clinic. I would be willing to help with this one of someone would like to help me organize it. Maybe a jeans day or something this spring?? If anyone has any ideas let me know. I feel that the campus would be much more supportive now that they have met an actual lost boy. Again thanks to those who brought Dut Deng.

Children's Rights

Seriously great link. If you need any information about children's rights anywhere in the world basically you can find it here. Stumbled on it...really good resource.

CRIN: Child Rights Information Network

One Child Policy

Though I have not quite yet decided what position to take on the one-child policy, there are a few problems with it that the article did not address that I feel should be brought up and considered.

1. wouldnt the increase of unregistered females in the create an idyllic setting for trafficking and prostitution? just to tie it into our other discussion--

2. it even further degrades the status of women in the country, as they are hidden away as babies for not being the 'correct' or more desireable gender.

3. if the policy is not phased out and a serious shortage of labor occurs in the next few decades, wouldnt that put children as well as the already endangered elderly, at risk? the children may have to begin working at a younger age in order to make up for the deficiency, and care for the elderly would rapidly decline. (if you wanted to take the other position though, i suppose you could argue that people could go to china to find jobs, though that could mean a potentially harmful influx of immigration and an entierly different set of problems that encompass that issue)

just some things to thinkk about.

Cognative Dissonance and the Hypocrisy?

On Thursday I made the argument that it was a waste of an education for women to recieve graduate and postgraduate degrees if they are don't actualize their training in the work force. Now granted: I know I am wrong. I do recognize the contribution of women both in the economic sphere as well as in the domestic. I also recognize that these spheres are equally valuable, and are all too often separated in conversational topics. Childcare is equally valuable to any other profession. I wholly accept this. Furthermore, I understand an education is a safety net that grants women indepedence from a spouse; also recognizing that women are not always mothers and can work both before and after children. My problem lies deeper than this in a set of cultural baggage that I didn't know I had. Growing up, every friends mom and evey woman to drive me in a car pool had at least a B.A. and often a graduate degree in business of law. Having seen this since early childhood, I subconsciously formed the opinion that these women were not actualizing their capabilities as many of them now with grown children do not work. Greenwich has scarred me, I'm sure in more ways than this. The reason this really troubled me is because I intend to receive a higher education and also intend to have children whom I intend spend significant time raising. Thusly, I asked myself "if I feel this way, am I not viewing my future education as a waste?-- at what point would it be a waste? am I a hypocrit?" I spent half of class on Thursday thinking about this, and after class asked G, what's the deal with my head. She used the term 'cognative dissonance' to describe my apparent incogruity in beliefs. Since then, I've a little research on cognative dissonance and think it is an interesting psychological theory that is relative to the study of human rights, especially in our class. Furthermore, I propose that we discuss 'CD' at some point or if not everyone should at least investigate it for themselves.
Regards, Lefras

Class Recently

I think right now it is more important to talk about the dynamic of our class. There are clearly three distinct groups of people with differing thoughts. Two groups with conflicting ideas and one with more neutral thoughts. I would say that the last three consecutive classes that I have come to, I have left in a furious frenzy because of conflicting ideas. I take responsibility for being a part of the conflicts and I think others should take responsibility as well. If this continues I think everyone will dread coming to Human Rights, and I personally don't want to dread going to a class for the rest of the year. Furthermore, we've been talking about the same idea from different angles which I think only perpetuates the conflict. Our efficiency in reaching some sort of resolution on the topics we talk about has dropped dramatically and now all we do is take shots at each other. I think we should stop having debates because we never reach any kind of practical solution. I'd like to hear what other people think we should do because I don't have a solution to this... I just know there's a problem. Cheers.

Thursday's heated debate

After leaving class, I hod to collect my thoughts and think about how to formulate a response. One thing that I feel is that forcing a belief, no matter western or anything, is not the place for US. If you look into the United States history, our last few wars have been over spreading our beliefs into another culture, therefore affecting their traditions. The current war in Iraq, i don't need to make an argument saying that this war has not been a victory, because it has not been. We are fighting a different culture and trying to change their traditions in order to match ours. The Vietnam war: USA vs. Communism. WWII is a wash because it was us protecting human rights. Persian Gulf was us defending another country after an invasion, and for oil. For these reasons I am not in support of the United States affecting another countries traditions. Correct me if I am wrong, but religious extremists in the Middle East resent the United States', and the rest of the west, involvement in their society. I don't want people around the world to be killed innocently because we changed their culture. Women's education is a great cause, but I feel protection of our people matters as well.

P.S. I'm sure this will generate some heat, bring it baby