The right to a quality education is just as much a God-given and American right as the right to vote or be treated equally. This movement to fix our public school system is another link on the civil rights railroad to equality.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
But the importance of education is not just practical: a well-educated and enlightened and active mind, able to wander freely and widely, is one of the joys and rewards of human existence.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
When he announced his reforms to the New York City school system, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg declared that every child has the "right to a quality education."1 Education, he said, is "as much a God-given and American right as the right to vote ...." In fact, the right to education transcends national borders, and is recognized internationally as a universal human right.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) reflects a collective global commitment to provide all children with an education "directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."2 Other international instruments specifically obligate governments to provide an education that "shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society,"3 and require that the aims of education be inextricably linked "to the realization of the child's human dignity."4 These standards are the foundation for defining both the human right to education and the corresponding human rights obligations shared by all governments.
Eleanor Roosevelt, as the U.S. representative and President of the Commission on Human Rights, was one of the primary architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Fulfilling the right to an education is the duty of states and localities in our federal system, and almost every State Constitution in the US, including the New York State Constitution,5 recognizes the right to an education. Yet, as our research and existing data reveal, hundreds of thousands of New York City children are routinely denied their right to an education by the poor quality of schooling they receive.
Our paper argues that one of the primary culprits for this educational failure is a system-wide lack of government accountability. We further argue that the absence of effective structures for civil society actors6 to participate in the school system, allows for this lack of accountability to continue.
Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have launched a new round of school reforms -- the Children First initiative. This initiative attempts to improve the quality of education in New York City schools7 by addressing systemic problems in school governance. Specifically, the reforms aim to:
While the reforms are, in part, geared towards addressing the question of "parental involvement," they fail to approach the question from a human rights perspective and do not ensure effective civil society participation or government accountability. In particular, parents are not given adequate power or guaranteed a welcoming environment with the necessary resources and technical support to make participation meaningful and hold school officials accountable. Furthermore, the reforms fail to ensure broad participation from all sectors of civil society, which includes community groups and other activists.
In this paper, we use the lens of human rights, and the lessons learned from their international human rights movement, to provide a conceptual framework for strengthening parent and community participation in the school system. Rather than provide an in depth analysis of the Children First reforms, this paper offers a broad framework for how human rights standards for participation can be applied to Children First or other reform processes. Based on interviews with parents, community organizers, and advocates,8 we identify and critique the obstacles to participation that exist in the current school system, and make recommendations based on human rights standards for how to better ensure effective civil society participation.
In addressing the role of civil society, we rely on international standards found in widely ratified human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,9 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.10 We also rely on human rights declarations (particularly the World Declaration on Education for All11 issued by UN bodies that reflect an international consensus on basic human rights standards. Finally, we use the Dakar Framework for Action,12 a document developed by over 160 countries, including the United States, at the World Education Forum in April 2000.The Dakar Framework was created by consensus and represents "a collective commitment to action " by participating nation-states.
1 This is the text of first footnote.
2 This is the text of second footnote.