A Perspective of Controversy in Human Rights Education: A Curricular Proposition

Overview & Synopsis

This article proposes introducing a strategy of controversy into human rights curriculum. First, it refers to the development of human rights education in Latin America and illustrates how controversy can be incorporated in the different disciplines of the curriculum. Second, the article shows how human rights from a controversial perspective can be included in different curricular educational programs, such as civic education, ethical education, education for peace, health education, environmental education, sex education, gender education, and multicultural education. It further argues that it is possible and desirable to incorporate controversial issues around several fundamental human rights, such as freedom, equality, justice, rights of solidarity, as well as economic, social, and cultural rights.