Human rights protection is a team work | Anna Gevorgyan | TEDxYouth@Sisian
Vardges Petrosyan argues that schools fail to teach fundamental rights and self-advocacy skills, asserting that true lessons must be learned through painful life experience or self-action, exemplified by her intervention when a headteacher was beating a classmate. She recommends proactively acquiring these vital life skills by joining community groups and advocating for others, thereby ensuring self-defense against injustice. Her experience in a charity youth group led to a "period of changes" in her mindset, shifting her focus to community responsibility.
## Speakers & Context
- Vardges Petrosyan — Writer who addressed the importance of rights education outside of formal schooling.
## Theses & Positions
- Core skills necessary for life—such as how to fight for rights and appreciate them—are not taught in traditional schooling.
- Learning life's difficult lessons, including overcoming trauma, often occurs outside of structured education, sometimes through suffering.
- Direct intervention against visible injustice (e.g., a headteacher beating a student) is necessary when formal channels fail.
- Self-advocacy and community involvement are crucial for learning to protect one's own rights and the rights of others.
- Solving others' problems is necessary for personal growth, leading to positive changes in one's own life.
## Examples & Cases
- **School cruelty examples:**
- Teacher hitting children with a ruler during military training, with some failing to remove their hats.
- A teacher repeatedly hitting a child with a wooden ruler until the ruler broke.
- **Personal intervention:** Witnessed a headteacher beating a classmate whose family was poor and who worked extensively; the victim did not stand up for himself, and initial attempts by the speaker to intervene were useless.
- **Resolution of the incident:** The speaker eventually applied to responsible parties, leading to the headteacher paying monetary compensation.
- **Skill acquisition source:** Joining a youth group affiliated with a charity organization ("period of changes") proved more impactful than school.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Skill Development:** Rights and appreciation are learned *experientially* (by getting hurt, by self-advocacy) rather than academically (maths).
- **Systemic Failure:** Abuse occurs where a person’s personality is being formed, requiring external action when the victim is unable to self-advocate.
- **Community Action:** Volunteering and engaging in community service forces the realization that both personal and others' problems must be solved.
- **Positive Ripple Effect:** Performing a positive act for someone else leads to positive change in one's own life.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Past Education:** Learning consisted primarily of maths, deemed postponable compared to life skills.
- **Specific Incidents:** Witnessed bullying incidents in schools.
- **Event Described:** Incident involving the headteacher beating a classmate after school hours.
- **Turning Point:** Joining a youth group from a charity organization, initiating a "period of changes" in thinking and problem-solving methods.
## Named Entities
- **Headteacher:** Individual responsible for the physical beating of a student at the school.
- **Classmate:** Victim of the headteacher's abuse, who worked frequently due to poverty.
- **Youth group of a charity organization:** The vehicle through which the speaker acquired vital life skills.
## Numbers & Data
- Monetary compensation was paid following the reported abuse.
- The period of personal change lasted for "About two years ago."
## Examples & Cases
- **School Abuse:** Teacher beating children with a ruler during military training; instances where the beating continued until the ruler was broken.
- **The Intervention:** Headteacher beating a classmate; resolution leading to monetary compensation.
- **Personal Growth:** Describing the time in the youth group as a "period of changes" affecting mentality, way of thinking, and problem-solving methods.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Academic Learning vs. Life Learning:** Maths can be learned later; rights and self-respect must be learned through experience.
- **Reliance on Authority vs. Self-Reliance:** Initially hoping external people could save the situation, recognizing the necessity to "stand up for ourselves and others like us."
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Know one's rights and defend them under *whatever conditions are available*.
- Participate in volunteering/community service to learn these necessary life skills.
- Actionable advice: "let’s do at least the minimum, something positive for someone and we’ll see how our own life will change."
## Implications & Consequences
- Failure of institutional education to provide rights literacy can lead to vulnerability and systemic abuse.
- Personal agency and community involvement are prerequisites for self-actualization and advocacy.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"Nobody taught us the most important things at school."*
- *"Nobody taught us how to fight for our rights, to appreciate them, and be different."*
- *"They let us learn the hard stuff about life by ourselves, or as we usually say, by getting hurt, after which, usually we have scars in our soul."*
- *"It was an ordinary day, when after classes, I just took my bag."*
- *"His rights were violated, but he didn’t think of protecting himself."*
- *"I must stand up for ourselves and others like us, we must fight against injustice which is everywhere in life."*
- *"I called that period of my life “period of changes."*
- *"I think knowing our rights and defending them are under whatever conditions are available is important."*
- *"let’s do at least the minimum, something positive for someone and we’ll see how our own life will change."*