The development of modern society poses an important question. It concerns the fact that the right to freedom automatically also supports the development of pluralistic and open, secular societies. This development fosters more and more an individualized lifestyle. Question: how can these pluralistic societies find a minimal consensus in terms of their fundamental values which is binding for all citizens? If such a consensus is lacking, society consists of nothing but individuals without binding agreements and threathens to fall apart.
The foundations of democracy, as well as human rights and children’s rights, are accepted and in force in almost all countries. They ensure that the citizens remain engaged in discussions with one another. Moreover, they have contributed much to the modernization of the political, economic and cultural systems worldwide. Nevertheless, the foundations of democracy, as well as the human rights and children’s rights must never be taken for granted. Every generation must contribute to their development, and must again negotiate and advocate for it, and ensure that the principles connected to the foundations and laws will also be observed in the future.
Human rights, which serve as the basis for children’s rights, have a long tradition. Precursors and parallels can be found in the great world religions and in many philosophical currents. The human rights of modern times were first defined in the age of Enlightenment and inspired the French and American revolutions. Today, they are anchored in the written and unwritten constitutions of modern democracies. Human rights were particularly important from the very beginning in order to protect the weaker members of society from the more powerful ones. This is also why childrens‘ rights are so very important: minors belong to the groups whose legal status is weakest relative to the executive power.
The following teaching models provide instructors and learners with the possibilities to collectively pursue the path of living democracy in daily life at school and to very directly discover children’s rights.
Hints:
The teaching models are derived from the revised German version of Gollob Rolf; Peter Krapf; Wiltrud Weidinger (editors) (2008): Teaching democracy. A collection of models for democratic citizenship and human rights education. Council of Europe Publishing. “Living Democracy” website: www.living-democracy.com/