Students Confront the Decline and Future of Education at Human Rights Day Forum

Dec. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, December 10, 2012 –  There is little question that California’s public schools are in deep crisis.   Once one of the nation’s leaders, the state currently ranks 47th in spending per student and is ahead of only Mississippi, Alabama and the District of Columbia student science proficiency.  California now spends more housing felons in its prisons ($9.6 billion in 2011) than on higher education ($5.7 billion same year).  The recent passage of California’s Proposition 30 means only that state spending on education will not be further cut for the current school year.  The question remains how schools can possibly reverse the continued deterioration in their services on already drastically limited budgets.  

To demonstrate youth’s role in reversing these disturbing conditions, a team of Pasadena high school students put on a well-attended forum this past Saturday, December 8 at Pasadena City College.  The event, commemorating United Nations Human Rights Day, culminated the team’s year-long “Education and Responsibility” campaign and premiered Finding Our Voice, the students’ documentary film on what young people can do to help improve the quality of their education.  

Student leaders from several local public schools make up the team, including Khadejah Ray, a Marshall Fundamental Secondary School senior, Betty Ogba, Marshall junior, Cheyenne Smith, Marshall junior, Alise Hildreth, Pasadena High School senior, Amanda Becerra, PHS senior, Alex Woldehaimanot, PHS junior, De-Rick Venegas, Blair High School senior, Kandice Horton-Gomez, Marshall junior, Nia Johnson, Marshall senior, and Holden Penaranda, junior at Aveson Global Leadership Academy.

Tim Bowles, a Pasadena attorney, and volunteer director for the sponsoring organization Youth for Human Rights International, oversaw the forum.  “My fellow mentors Joseph Yarsiah, Shondale Pagano-Galindo, Eliana Yoneda and I have been inspired to work with these outstanding young women and men.  Today, these team members come of age as true leaders in and advocates for their community.”

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard delivered the main address, praising the team’s work.  Noting that December 10 marks the 64th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mayor Bogaard observed, “while many of our citizens tend to presume that human rights violations only occur in other countries, once an individual understands what the human rights are, his or her eyes open to many abuses that can occur all too regularly in our city, community and region.  These include bullying, gang violence, human trafficking and many other human rights violations that can afflict our populace.”

Congresswoman Judy Chu, 32nd District, honored the team with certificates of Congressional recognition that praised each student for his/her “service to raise awareness and responsibility for human rights as a youth leader.”

The short documentary film, Finding Our Voice, covers the students’ year-long project not only to understand the declining trends in public education but to find their own role in reversing what they found the most critical crisis of all, how to get the bulk of classmates to care about school.  Directed by award-winning filmmakers Bayou Bennett and Daniel Lir of Dolce Films, the documentary is highly personal, exploring the students’ journey to create and persevere through their campaign, including the challenges they faced in convincing failing students to take responsibility for their education and their futures.

The film’s production was made possible by private donations, including from Scott Staver and Eric Brackett of BTI Communications, Inc., Matt Judkin of AGR Group, Inc., David Tourje,’ Alpha Structural, Inc. and Yael Lir of Yael Lir Landscaping.

The audience’s response to the film’s premiere was uniformly positive, ranging from “very powerful” to  “highly inspiring.” “The film communicated that I have the power to help make a change,” wrote one Blair High School student.  

Closing the program, Mr. Bowles said that the presentations clearly demonstrated the power of youth and their capacity to lead. “The task of the older generations is to enable youth to attain that competence, courage, and persistence greater than our own that will at last enable human rights to become a fact, not just a promise.”

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to worldwide human rights education using the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It inspires and equips young people as advocates for tolerance and peace. YHRI works with educators, civil servants, religious leaders, youth, and any person or organization of good will. The organization distributes audiovisual and printed human rights educational materials that may be ordered from its website. www.youthforhumanrights.org.  The Church of Scientology and the International Association of Scientologists have been primary supporters of YHRI since its inception in 2001.

For more information on YHRI and its local campaigns and projects, please contact Tim Bowles, Director for International Development, One South Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite 301, Pasadena, California 91105, (626) 583-6600, tbowles@tbowleslaw.com.