Onions and Values

When I first started this blog, I wrote about how culture is like an onion.  I expressed some of my concerns about the core of the cultural onion and what life may or may not be like.  It really creates a great picture to help explain the many layers of culture...and of people for that matter.

In grade 7, students spend time learning about Human Rights.  It is a tricky subject to teach in a country where Human Rights are not always observed, but, overall, it has been going pretty well.  Students seem to be enjoying themselves and learning something as well.  Plus, some of their questions have been particularly insightful.

The analogy of the onion has become one of the greatest pictures I have used in my teaching.  It keeps coming up over and over again.  The fact that the inner core is the beliefs and values that someone holds very close their hearts is resonating with these students.  Some of them have very interesting core beliefs, and discussing their values has provided some insight to their perspective on the things that are happening in the world and in their lives.

We discussed how difficult it is to change the core of someones beliefs and values.  That even through cultures in the past have tried to fully assimilate people, getting them to change their beliefs is the hardest part.  I showed them a video to help them understand the basics of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Then, when I feel like I am hardly making a difference, one student comes up to me and says, "Ms., this has all changed my perspective...it has changed my core!"

And then a smile grew on my face, the hair on my arms stood up and I realized, that this is why I am a teacher. Moments like that do not happen everyday, but, in an instant I felt successful.  For all the days that I feel defeated, this moment, this one moment made up for them all.