Kents Hill Students Push International Awareness and Change
Pushed by students and student members of Amesty International, the Kents Hill School board worked to recognize and understand investments connected to the Sudanese government and, indirectly, its genocidal policies.
Running into investing complexities, students and the board negotiated a compromise upon understanding that withdrawal/divestment would be a slow process. The compromise: the school would set aside money, roughly equivalent to the interest earned on the $75,000 to start and maintain a Human Rights Speaker Program.
Jared Genser, a lawyer with DLA Piper, and president of “Freedom Now,” recently spoke as the first presentation of Kents Hill’s Human Rights Speaker Program.
Meg Richardson, junior and co-president of Amnesty International, introduced Genser in the Deering Chapel to the student body. Richardson told the chapel audience, “It is sometimes hard to believe that one man or woman of principle can always make a difference.” (Kennebec Journal)
Read the full Kennebec Journal’s coverage on their site (Kents Hill students spark human rights forums).
2 Responses to “Kents Hill Students Push International Awareness and Change”
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Whatever happened to schools that taught skills? This is political indoctrination and I would not want my child to be involved.
NH,
On the contrary, I argue that Kents Hill students- through their efforts- displayed a number of higher order skills. First and foremost, empathy in recognizing and understanding the plight of others. Additionally, the students processed a great deal of information; clearly communicated their position; engaged in an argument (in the classical sense); and came to compromise resolution.
Of course, these higher order endeavors require the execution of basic skills. While I haven’t seen the documents or heard the communications, I suspect that we can rest assured that the Kents Hill students successfully executed the basic skills that underpin their higher order efforts.