World Constitutions

Access an English version of the German constitution at the following site: http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/the_basic_law.pdf. Review Article 7, which concerns the topic of education. Then review the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution (either in the Appendix to your textbook, or online). How does the way the U.S. Bill of Rights addresses the issue of education differ from the way it is addressed in the German constitution?




UN Declaration of Human Rights

One of the most important activities of the United Nations is to monitor and attempt to protect individual human rights around the world. To that end, in 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and proclaimed it "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" towards which "every individual and every organ of society . . . shall strive." Go to the UN's home page at http://www.un.org/ and read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S. Bill of Rights is sometimes called a "negative rights document" because it protects individuals' civil liberties by prohibiting certain government actions. Do you think it would be fair to say that the UN Declaration of Human Rights is a "positive rights document"? Why or why not?