Lillian Ly

Reflection
5/8/17
The rights of children education are necessary into creating a better future for the world. I

have always considered this a passion of mine to advocate for. Through this class, I not only

better educated myself on this cause, but I further deepened my desire to one day attend law

school for human rights.

At the start of research, I had prior knowledge to this cause. My history of reading and

taking human rights classes, papers and books gave me a slight advantage. Besides that, the

internet was the largest source of information and help throughout this class. Well-known and

trusted news sources such as BBC or the Huffington Post provided an insight books and papers

could not. The current reports of violations against children education brought a reality and

realization that could not be received through other things. The largest problem I struggled to

overcome would be the solution to these violations. The most common and suggested solution

was always funding and aiding, but there is never a consistent and open proof of where

specifically the funding and aid goes. I handled this by continuing with more research and

reading through documents. Although I did not find the division of funding, I did find the outlets

of aid provided through multiple organizations.

The broader concept I learned about this topic and most issues in the world is that it will

never be fully solved nor ended, but there is no harm in providing a little help. I came to this

conclusion through the case of Syrian refugees. Within this crisis, one would believe that

education would be better once leaving the war and escaping to a camp. Although many basic

human rights are achieved in the camps, education is not one. More than half of the Syrian

refugees are children, and they do not attend schooling in camps. If they do, the schools are

overcrowded, provide under-qualified teachers, not enough materials, nor is there a stability of

education. Overall, education in the camps are not adequate. Although I learned of many other
 Lillian Ly
Reflection
5/8/17
things, situations such as the Syrian Refugee Crisis specifically captured a deeper challenge, the

reformation of children education in places that already have education reformed.

My perspective changed in the depth of my passion. I want to continue fighting for

human rights and more so, children who do not receive education. Education is a basic right all

humans should have, and besides that, the investment in the education of children reaps more

than one can imagine. After researching and discovering situations such as the Syrian Refugee

Crisis, I am more determined to become a lawyer.

This determination would not have been created without the information from articles

such as BBC or the Human Rights Watch. Although I already knew of Malala Yousafzai, BBC

uploaded an interview with her in 2013 that presented the anniversary date of when she was shot.

To hear her story again, impacts me even more so and creates this unsettled feeling. Not only did

her story bring me back to where she was, but where I was when I heard of her story. When I

learned of Yousafzai, she became an instant role model, despite our same age. Another article

that helped my research was the briefing from the Human Rights Watch. This article thoroughly

explained the Syrian Refugee Crisis. It focused on more issues than children education, but it

still emphasized on the cause of human rights. It was helpful due to its insight in the camps.

Many tell of the crisis through the eyes of the war, but to receive a perspective through the eyes

of a refugee in a camp was different and refreshing.

Despite my disliking for annotated bibliographies, they are very helpful into writing an

organized and thorough paper. This annotated bibliography taught me how to research the

standings of sources. Questions such as where is this information coming from, which companies

or organization support them, and is this information true would continually be asked. In the
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Reflection
5/8/17
future, I hope to continue using annotated bibliographies to help writing better papers and to

also, research of the credibility of internet sources.

The pros and cons of using the non-traditional paper differ from each writer. I found pros

and cons of the paper style depending on the topic I was writing about. The pros could be the

freedom of format and the ability to write a uniquely personalized paper. Writers are able to use

this format and create their own style. As for the cons, there are writers who need the uniform

structure to write a paper. The non-traditional paper format could give writers a challenge due to

the free form structure. Despite these pros and cons, I enjoy writing in a non-traditional and

traditional paper format depending on the prompt.

This project helped me reach multiple of the UWRT SLOs. Two of those UWRT SLOs

being the ability of rhetorical knowledge and critical reflection. The ability of rhetorical

knowledge is the power to analyze and understand texts through not only the information

presented to a writer, but through their previous knowledge as well. Before my research, I had

knowledge about the violation of human rights, but I used that information to my advantage.

When learning of new facts, stories, and violations my previous knowledge complemented the

new information I was receiving. Besides that, this ability went hand and hand with the power of

critical reflection. To be aware and continue thinking of this issue created my unconscious

critical reflection. I want to continue pursuing this passion and learning about it. Overall, I want

to continue reflecting about the need for children education.

The rights of children education will continue to be reformed to grow with the worlds

issues. After this research, I understand there is not only a need for childrens education, but for

many other human rights as well. I want to continue to advocate for children education though,

and this project has inspired me to do more in the future.