Education and Human Rights

Speech by Professor Alice Tay, President, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Graduation Address, Brisbane Grammar School, 18 November 1998

I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.

As someone who has spent most of her career in the monastic cells of academic institutions, education is naturally a subject close to my heart. The philosophy of education that has guided me for many years and that I bring to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is quite simple. For me, education is not about moralising, telling people what is good for them. It is not about indoctrination, trying to convince others to think as I do. And it is not about providing simplistic formulae, to suggest that things can be done without pain and struggle, discipline and even sacrifice.

Education, rather, is grounded in the gathering of knowledge, facts and information, rules and processes, about the world around us and how it works. However, it is more broadly a process of growth which takes an individual or group of people on a journey of understanding, intellectual development and considered action.

Education prepares us to make decent and proper choices. It enables us to experiment, to innovate, to create and to change our lives and the lives of those who come within our sphere of responsibility. The end result, and the chief goal, of education is that we become more effective members of our community in whatever we are doing. It broadens our sensibilities and deepens our understanding of the privileges and responsibilities of being human and members of a community.

On another level - a pragmatic level - a good education is valuable because it opens opportunities and creates possibilities. Receiving an education, particularly from a institution such as Brisbane Grammar School, provides enormous possibilities for students such as yourselves to pursue your interests and goals, be they professional, academic, artistic or sporting. A broad and balanced education sets a solid basis for personal achievement and individual success.

Now I want to stress that personal success is, of course, not to be denigrated. It is very important to pursue and achieve the goals that we set ourselves. This is a central part of developing our personalities and our characters. However, we live in an age where the philosophy of liberal individualism is one of our defining characteristics. Combined with our pursuit of economic rationalism, we have created a culture where personal success and economic security are viewed as the highest good. The race to succeed, to accumulate, to hoard and to consume has become frightengly savage. We create winners and losers. As Woody Allen drily noted: It's no longer "dog eat dog". It's worse. It's "dog doesn't return other dog's phone call".

The problem with a philosophy which says that our first and only responsibility is to ourself is quite obvious. We do not live as individuals. We are raised and we live in families, communities, societies. And as such we have a responsibility to contribute to a broader community because that broader community has given so much to us - health, security, support, education, opportunities.

Consider this simple fact. In Australia today two million people live in poverty. That is one person in every nine. This is a three-fold increase since the 1970s. It is undisputed that the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is growing wider each year. But the question remains: do we notice this suffering in the midst of our headlong rush towards achieving personal success?

Just a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Howard called on the business community to begin to develop a culture of philanthropy in this country by contributing to community and social welfare programs. I dare say he had an eye on America and the actions of business leaders there: Tom Monaghan, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, David Geffen, who between them have literally given billions of dollars to assist community, medical and humanitarian programs. I can only affirm the Prime Minister's words, but I would also extend them. The responsibility not only falls on corporations. It also falls to us as individuals.

And I can find no better definition of this notion of "noblesse oblige" - or social obligation - than in the Mission Statement of this school which sees a primary goal as developing in students "a strong sense of service, community, leadership and loyalty to others".

I mention the issue of poverty because, at its core, poverty is probably the central factor which limits a person's enjoyment of their basic human rights and their ability to develop fully as a human being. It affects so many crucial needs: health, education, employment. As we come to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a commitment to understanding the causes of human rights issues and to addressing them through education and action is as important as ever. An historical understanding of the Universal Declaration and the role of education in promoting a concept of universal, indivisible human rights is also valuable in shaping our responses to the issues that face our community and so many other communities around the world.

When I was about your age the Second War World ended. At the time I was living in Japanese-occupied Singapore. It's hard to put into words the devastating impact of those six years. Millions of men, women and children were killed or injured. Millions more were left homeless, refugees. There was massive hunger, deprivation, loss. However, statistics fail to convey the full story; the instantaneous destruction of Hiroshima, the dawning horror of Auschwitz.

The tragedies of this war, small and great, galvanised the world community into action. At the time there was a genuine commitment amongst all the nations of the world to work together to ensure that such gross infringements of human rights would not happen again.

The end result of this deliberation was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After years of drafting, the Universal Declaration was unanimously adopted by the United Nations on 10 December 1948. In 30 articles it sets out those human rights which we all share, regardless of gender, race or religion, such as the right to life and liberty and freedom from slavery and torture.

In just under a month, on December 10, the Universal Declaration turns 50. And like most 50 year olds, it still has a lot of life in it. The world is, of course, a vastly different place from that which I grew up in; however, the relevance of the Universal Declaration remains just as great today as when it was first written. It remains a living document.

And one of the central reasons that it has remained so relevant is because of the high priority that has been placed on discussion and education about human rights. And here, I am talking about education in the broadest sense of the word: learning about things, thinking about what one has learnt and letting what one has learnt guide one's actions.

Faced with the brutal realities of World War 2, we were forced to ask searching questions about fundamental human rights and we grappled to find answers. Some of the answers we responded with are to be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Similarly, today, as we celebrate its 50th anniversary, new questions have arisen and we as a society must search for answers. In recent days we have asked questions about reconciliation with Indigenous Australians and questions about the nature of racism and discrimination. These questions go to the heart of who we are and how we define ourselves. They can be difficult and painful questions. However, we should not shy away from them. Indeed I believe they serve to add strength and vitality to the discussion of human rights and to shape us as a particular type of people - more thinking, sensitive and decent.

I would encourage you to find practical ways to uphold human rights in your own lives, because education only truly becomes alive when it informs the way we live and act. Young people, such as yourselves, have the energy, the ideas, the opportunities and the enthusiasm to make an enormous contribution to the life and development of this country and to the practical welfare of others.

Henry James once said that we care what happens to people only in proportion as we know what people are. I believe that education is the key to unlocking the door of understanding into the lives of others and properly responding to the needs of those in the community around us.

In closing, I congratulate you on your achievements that we celebrate tonight. You have begun well and I am confident that you will continue to better yourselves. I wish you well in all your endeavours.

Last updated 1 December 2001