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The inconsistent past and uncertain future of human rights education in the United States

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Abstract

This article examines how the U.S. government’s stance on human rights and human rights education has shifted from leading the creation of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the United Nations Human Rights Commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as chair of the Commission, to one in which human rights education has only a minimal presence in the U.S. schooling system. It explores the trajectory of human rights education’s inclusion in curriculum standards, drawing comparisons with other countries. Based on interviews with 32 members of the national volunteer network, Human Rights Educators USA, some of whom have been working in the human rights education field since the 1980s, the article addresses barriers to implementing human rights education in the present day and how they might be overcome.

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  1. University of Connecticut, 369 Fairfield Way, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA

    Sandra Sirota

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  1. Sandra Sirota
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Correspondence to Sandra Sirota.

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Sirota, S. The inconsistent past and uncertain future of human rights education in the United States. Prospects 47, 101–117 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-018-9417-1

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