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Last fall, Mitoma piloted a launch of an introductory UConn course in human rights at three Connecticut high schools, in partnership with the University\u2019s\u00a0Early College Experience (ECE)<\/a>. UConn\u2019s ECE program allows high schoolers across the state to take university-level courses taught by specially trained teachers at their school while earning credits that can be transferred toward a degree at UConn or other universities. The course is the only known concurrent enrollment course offered today in the field of human rights in the United States, Mitoma says.<\/p>\n \u201cUConn has the leading human rights program in the country. We have this tremendous resource, and I am really looking to make the most of it for the secondary and primary education communities,\u201d says Mitoma, who has joint appointments in the Neag School and UConn\u2019s Human Rights Institute, while also serving as director of the\u00a0Thomas J. Dodd Research Center<\/a>. \u201cMy ambition is to make Connecticut a national model for human rights education.\u201d<\/p>\n The piloted course \u2013 which was offered during the 2015-16 academic year at Manchester High School, East Hartford High School, and Woodstock Academy \u2013 is oriented around inquiry- and project-based learning. At Manchester High, for example, part of the coursework includes having students develop interactive exhibits around specific human rights issues \u2014 a miniature human rights \u201cmuseum\u201d of sorts that, Mitoma says, pushes students to translate the research skills they acquire into \u201cpractices that then help communicate, or make a point, about a particular human rights issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy ambition is to make Connecticut a national model for human rights education.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Glenn Mitoma, assistant professor of human rights and curriculum and instruction\u00a0<\/small><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jacob Skrzypiec \u201913 (ED), \u201914 MA, a Neag School graduate and social studies teacher who began teaching the ECE course at Manchester High last fall, says the impact of the coursework on his own students is clear.<\/p>\n \u201cConnecticut students in particular, many having lived their entire lives in somewhat isolated\/independent hamlets of the state, divided by social, economic, and political limitations beyond their control, can sometimes have a narrow perspective on the world around them,\u201d Skrzypiec says. \u201cThe reward for high school students taking a course or engaging in human rights education experiences is endless, as they can not only become greater global citizens, but can be nurtured to think, rationalize, and critique as engaged, focused participants of society. For me, the best is seeing my students gain a greater sense of empathy, compassion and understanding for others.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, the course has been so well received at Manchester High that, come the 2017-18 academic year, it will require all juniors to complete coursework in human rights in order to matriculate \u2014 a development about which Skrzypiec says he is particularly proud.<\/p>\n The success of the piloted course, from Mitoma\u2019s perspective, has been twofold. \u201cOne is the demonstrated impact on students,\u201d he says. \u201cThe students immediately begin making connections, looking to past examples and historical instances of either human rights abuse or human rights struggles to contemporary manifestations.\u201d Seeing students begin to make these connections, Mitoma adds, \u201cis always a mark that we\u2019re having the kind of impact we want.\u201d<\/p>\n Another measure of success is evident in the professional networking that has naturally developed among the ECE teachers, Mitoma says. For instance, fellow ECE teachers, including Skrzypiec, are now collaborating to organize a series of human rights conferences for high school students \u2014\u00a0to be hosted at UConn later this year \u2014 that are\u00a0meant to foster discussion around human rights issues and to allow high schoolers to hear from experts in the field.<\/p>\n In light of its growing success over the past year, the course will now expand this fall to two additional partner high schools \u2014 Conard High School in West Hartford as well as Crosby High School in Waterbury. A second Neag School alum, Abigail Esposito \u201914 (ED), \u201915 MA, will be teaching the course at Conard.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very happy that we can offer such an important and specialized course at the high schools,\u201d says Brian Boecherer \u201903 (CLAS), \u201914 MA, executive director of Office of Early College Programs and ECE at UConn, who worked with Mitoma to launch the piloted course in Fall 2015. \u201cThis is a very important course for many students because I think it allows them to become aware of a major that is yet not well known. It also allows highly credentialed instructors at the high schools an academic home where they can feel part of something much larger.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Skrzypiec adds, giving high schoolers the opportunity to take a college-level human rights course \u201ccan push students to rise to the academic rigor expected in a collegiate course, while also allowing students to discuss and grapple with potentially controversial issues not otherwise touched in high school classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n To learn more about the human rights ECE course or ongoing efforts to expand human rights education and programming, contact Glenn Mitoma at\u00a0<\/em>glenn.mitoma@uconn.edu<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Follow him on Twitter<\/em>\u00a0@GlennMitoma<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0 Find more information about the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at\u00a0<\/em>doddcenter.uconn.edu<\/em><\/a>, or at\u00a0<\/em>@DoddCenter<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on Twitter and at\u00a0<\/em>facebook.com\/doddimpact<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Human](\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1621\/2016\/08\/IMG_8284_small-400x300.jpg\")
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