Episode 15: Connecticut Educators and Students Panel, Part One

Human Rights Education Now!

In Episode 15, Chris Buckley, Jake Skrzypiec, Kevin Maysonnet, and Shirin Unvala share their initial interest in human rights issues. They discuss their thoughts on how to make schools more accepting of human rights issues, and the vision of human rights education (HRE) as a universal requirement for students. Chris, Jake, Kevin, and Shirin discuss misconceptions about HRE and the importance of emphasizing the “through and for human rights dimensions” of HRE. Next, the group discusses the Human Rights Close to Home program at the University of Connecticut, as well as challenges and obstacles educators face when implementing HRE into public education spaces. The group share their thoughts on changing the public conversation to emphasize human rights issues in public discourse in the USA, and the importance of examining local issues from a human rights perspective.

Topics Discussed:

• Curriculum and pedagogy
• University of Connecticut's, Human Rights Close to Home Program
• Challenges and obstacles educators face

Full topic listing available for PDF download HERE.

Listen on our Buzzsprout podcast website HERE.
Chris Buckley teaches history and human rights at Brookfield High School in Brookfield, Connecticut. Chris serves on the Steering Committee for the Connecticut Human Rights Partnership (CHRP). He is an instructor for the Introduction to Human Rights course offered by the University of Connecticut’s Early College Experience program and an HRE USA Regional Representative for Connecticut.

Jake Skrzypiec is a social studies educator in Manchester, Connecticut. He developed Manchester High School’s Human Rights class and is an Early College Experience instructor through the University of Connecticut. He serves as secretary of the Connecticut Human Rights Partnership. He is a frequent educational partner with the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and a member of the National Council for the Social Studies HRE Community leadership team. Jake serves on the HRE USA Steering Committee and a Regional Representative for Connecticut.

Kevin Maysonnet and Shirin Unvala are students at Manchester High School and a members of the University of Connecticut’s

Introduction and Closing Music Credit: “Awakening-Spring” by Ketsa, from the Album Night Vision. Available at the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/night-vision/awakening-spring/

This music is used in accordance with this Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Information about that license is available here https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Human Rights Education Now! is produced and distributed in accordance with Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International. Information about this license is available here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/