The Right to Culture in Performance-Driven American Public Schools –Some Implications of United States Ratifcation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Abstract

The right of ethnic, linguistic and indigenous minorities to an education for their children that supports their linguistic identity and cultural continuity is a universally-recognized human right throughout the world community. The United States, while a signatory to the main international agreements which establish this right has yet to adequately domesticate its interpretation and implementation. Educators and policy makers at every level of government and society have both the ethical responsibility and the opportunity to incorporate the fundamental elements of the human right to culture into their educational planning, program development, instruction and assessments. As Justice Black noted more than 50 years ago, “Great nations, like great men [and women] should keep their word.