HUMAN DIGNITY THROUGH PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Derek Porter

St. Christopher’s School

Abstract

Human dignity is something that we all have, but do not all enjoy equally. The report that follows

considers how to increase awareness of human rights in Sixth Grade boys. In order to get the boys

actively engaged with the content, and to help them communicate controversial ideas in an

uninterrupted fashion, they created public service announcements. These were assessed, above

all, on the novelty of student approach, and the evocative response of the audience. Surveys were

given to open and close the unit. After coding the boys’ responses, the results revealed that there

were four categories boys use to derive their intrinsic value. Helping the boys develop language

to better understand these concepts, alongside being made aware of them ourselves, will continue

to shape our pedagogical practice, the way we group students, and how we seek to empower them.

Introduction

Global citizenship is a pressing topic in the shrinking world of the 21st century. Within it, my

Global Thinking class undertakes a unit on human rights. I started by identifying my boys’ need

to value one another. This is crucial in the middle school years, as boys are developing

independence and autonomy. In the Sixth Grade, there is an identity transformation happening

from desiring to heed adults to peer voices increasing in influence. Therefore, I think an important

lesson was for them to understand the value of each and every human life. Not just that, but to

identify the epicenter or origin of this worth. The youthful experience at St. Christopher’s School

is guided toward performance based assessments and behavioral governance. It is concrete and

just now, developing nuance. The goal then was to communicate something other than their

worldly system.

I affirm that the action research model is the most effective approach for two primary

reasons. First, action research improves teachers. It increases the intentionality of our

instruction. Teaching is a profession where you get out of it largely what you put it. If you are

choosing to broach a new subject, the success or failure is quite dependent upon teacher preparation

and experience. This is why becoming a master teacher takes years of refining. I think the sction

research model helps us invest a huge amount of time attending to details. We brainstorm a variety

of approaches, we discuss with colleagues and mentors, we monitor the learning. Secondly, it

affirms students. They are given a voice because the goal of action research is not statistical data,

but storytelling. We aim to share the story of our classroom. Human dignity is intrinsic. It is

invisible yet given. It must be respected, and we have an opportunity to shape how boys treat

themselves and others.

Research Question: How can making public service announcements by Sixth Grade boys foster

awareness of human dignity?

Literature Review

Boys in independent schools are under a great deal of stress and pressure. The sources are varied,

but include parents, teachers, and coaches just to list the inner circle. As challenges arise, these

problems, in our case academic, may contribute to negative self-judgment and increased anxiety

(Semple, 2009). Mindfulness-based interventions are aimed toward enhancing attention and

reducing harsh, albeit dehumanizing, self-judgments. This self-talk that rattles in a boy’s head is

rarely what we might call constructive criticism. To the contrary, it is stagnating, halting

comprehension. It cultivates an “I can’t,” or an “I am not good at” attitude. This discord manifests

in internal and external ways. With reflection, we may see that our most “basic conflicts are easily

reframed in terms of dignity” (Moyn, 2013). Therefore, it is our privilege as educators to help

boys better understand human dignity. The objective is to secure their personal health and

heighten their awareness.

The Information Search Process (ISP) uses “gathering, processing, and analyzing of information

for the purpose of constructing new knowledge and understandings” (Messenger, 2015) See

Appendix A. I favor this process because it allows students to increase self-awareness in a

directional way. One strategy to consider is K-W-L because it allows us to track prior knowledge,

prediction making, and synthesis of new information from a student perspective. The K stands for

what a student already knows about a given topic. The W stands for what they want to know, and

the L stands for what they have learned as a result of instruction See Appendix B. At St.

Christopher’s, our students encounter these strategies in their Sixth Grade Comprehension,

Organization, and Reasoning (COR) class.

At St. Christopher’s, our first core belief is that “we love and understand boys.” This is our

“Boyology.” We are committed to the safety of single-sex education, which allows boys to take

the courageous step of public speaking before their peers. As global citizens, boys of all ages need

to be mindful of their own value, and that of others. This need for mindfulness is rooted most

fundamentally in the existence of God, a sovereign creator who designs and upholds creation. This

is in contrast to humanism whose herald, Immanuel Kant, wrote of human dignity as a capacity

for morality. “Kant thus assumed that the moral law can be found (a priori) within one’s own

reason. Recognition of the moral law is necessary to regard oneself under obligation. Thus, the

source of one’s obligation lies within oneself,” (Giesinger, 2012).

Thus raising the question, what precisely is human dignity? The research provides a multi-layered

response. Human dignity has been a central focus for conservatives and Catholic thinkers since

WW2, but recently liberal philosophers and politicians have also started making use of the term

(Moyn, 2013). In this more liberal sense, human dignity has become an incendiary term by

elevating some people over others rather than leveling the conversation in any field under the

weight of a common human nature (Moyn, 2013). This cannot be determined by cultural factors

or institutions. Thus, dignity is inalienable. It cannot be given nor taken away by one’s

engagement in any activity that is contrary to public morality or the collective good (Caulfield,

2005). The crux of this research then is to resist humanist philosophies or to encourage awareness

of the divine.

At St. Christopher’s, we admonish our boys to make the right choices when no one is watching

and impact those in their sphere of influence to do the same. The existence of a personal God who

orders our world is precisely why we press toward these objective principles. According to the

radical U.S. Declaration of Independence,

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are

endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are

instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

This document, as well as the more modern example of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1949, helped me facilitate a clear and healthy

conversation with sixth grade boys on equality. The objective was for boys to be more mindful of

this reality. The challenge was to take these dense concepts and develop chewable phrases. As

social studies educators, we aim to transcribe and interpret historical and global content into digital

native tongues to increase understanding. As they mature into our world leaders it will become

apparent that “dignity is a feature of nearly every constitution written of late, especially South

Africa’s exemplary and prestigious document” (Moyn, 2013).

Each day, we are either built up by these types of intangibles of our educational environment, or

we are discouraged by a false sense of our value. Children feel the disservice of a poor education,

and may think they have less intrinsic value due to their circumstances. This is not true. Though

infractions of governing principles reveal an incongruence with who they are, it does not diminish

their dignity. Dignity is the permanent mark on every person as an image bearer of God. Let us

all work to become more aware of it, to share it whimsically with others, enjoy its implications.

Research Context

St. Christopher’s School was founded in 1911 in Richmond, Virginia. It is an Episcopal college

preparatory school for boys from junior kindergarten through to 12th grade. Our mission is “to

prepare a talented and diverse group of boys for college and for life in an ever-changing

world.” St. Christopher’s currently enrolls about one thousand boys from 57 zip codes in the

greater Richmond area. In the Middle School (6-8), we have about 245 boys. One characteristic

that marks the ethos of our school community is trust at all levels of functioning. Our philosophy

of “educating the whole boy” is pertinent to my research as we strive to create global citizens.

For my action research project, I focused on my Global Thinking class with 15 sixth graders. I

informed their parents of the project during our annual Parent’s Night presentations, at which point

I also collected permission slips. I assured them that no names would be used in my

reporting. Instead, used pseudonyms or phrases such as “according to one boy,” to indicate

specificity. Students were given a similar permission slip and the opportunity to join my research

during 2nd trimester as we neared the Human Rights unit.

The Action

To raise awareness of human rights, public service announcements (PSAs) are ideal for two

reasons. They promote controversial points of view, and they raise awareness to mass quantities

of people. Dr. Carol Cox conducted a 3-part lesson for 6-8th graders on Consumer and Community

Health. Part I of the lesson focused on critical analysis of sample media messages. We used the

Youth for Human Rights videos on the 30 Human Rights declared by the United Nations. Part II

aimed at defining key terms and the boys constructing their original messages. The boys had to

write out their script. In Part III, the boys created storyboards for a health-related televised PSA to

influence others toward making positive choices. “The media-literate student understands that

media messages are specifically created to promote a particular point of view.” (Cox, 2008) I found

her work to be quite insightful, and gained much from it that I used as scaffolding for my Human

Dignity project.

To assess the boys’ PSAs, we turned to the work of Ronda Hassig. She built a two-week

curriculum directed toward solving a global issue identified by the United Nations. With rubric

included, she evaluates categories such as number of resources used, organization of students

notes, organization of storyboards, and PSA content (Appendix C). I adapted this for my class

because it integrates quantitative and qualitative categories. Most importantly, Hassig (2008)

provides a simple definition for creativity: “PSA shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas

are inventive and hold audience's attention.” The ability to lure and captivate the glance of an

observer.

Throughout our study of human rights, culminating with the creation of a Public Service

Announcement, data were collected through participant interviews, free writing journals, and

Google Form questionnaires. It was the learning target of this study to determine the awareness

of human dignity by 6th Grade boys before, during and after they have gone through the learning

process. The traits that were analyzed included organization, captivation of an audience, timing,

and persistence. All data collected were qualitative in nature in the form of participants' verbal or

written reflections, as well as verbal and written teacher notes, feedback, and lesson plans. Data

and information obtained throughout the process were analyzed and coded (Appendix D).

Data Collection

Interviews

I interviewed the boys in two ways. First individually, by having slips of paper with 1 or 2

questions on it. These interviews were structured. They recorded and emailed their responses to

me. This was good because boys were able to record privately and honestly. Next, I hosted three

one-on-one interviews during morning break. These interviews were semi-structured and allowed

me to ask follow-up questions about things already disclosed by students. Secondly, I hosted one

group of all 3 students during lunch. I provided a pizza and had them discuss the same questions

from the one on one interviews. These interview were unstructured and far more

conversational. 6th Grade boys love to talk. Group interviews were our opportunity to discuss,

ponder, critique, question, sharpen, and respectfully modify their developing perceptions of human

rights and dignity. Capturing these thoughts from a student perspective was powerful.

Free Writing Journals

The 14 boys engaged in free writing activities, which asked them to reflect on a single prompt

without external influence. Free writing is a prewriting technique in which students write

continuously for five to fifteen minutes without regard to format, spelling or grammar. It often

produces raw, but authentic material. The boys should better understand what is in their own heads

on a certain topic. The goal was to help writers overcome the tendency to either oversimplify or

self-criticize their own ideas. These blocks are truncating, but free writing is liberating. As an

outside observer, I was able to read their ideas as they were produced and later code their responses

to discover common language and themes.

Google Form Surveys

Google Forms were a great way to get a sample of information from each student onto a

spreadsheet. The purpose of the initial survey was to orient students to the topic and gauge their

prior knowledge with five intentional questions. It was administered again toward the end of the

Human Rights Unit; days later after the students had an opportunity to do a variety activities

including a free writing journals, readings and worksheets from the middle school database, and

wrestle with this principles of the Declaration of Independence. My questions were of two

types. First, multiple choice questions allowed students to rate on a scale of 1-5 or choose whether

they agree or disagree with certain statements. Secondly, short answer responses helped get an

original response from the boys without them having to select from my pre-made choices (see

Appendix E).

Data Analysis and Discussion of Results

“Human dignity doesn't come from anything but also comes from everything.” These were the

words of one Sixth Grade student as we continued the human rights journey. Being able to stand

behind a positive message and upload the videos to Youtube, practices digital citizenship. It

showed the boys, quite practically, how to use media appropriately. The goal had been to increase

awareness of how students’ behaviour works out from dignity, with a special attention to the public

forums in which Public Service Announcements communicate.

I began by repeatedly viewing the raw interview footage we collected. These scenes were

structured. Three-quarters of the boys completed at least one of the optional reflection sessions,

and I chose three to interview with one-on-one in an unstructured format. Coding these alongside

their free writing journal responses enabled me to define and describe the categories already

emerging from the Google Form surveys.

We opened and closed the unit with a survey asking for both multiple choice and short answer

responses. Perhaps the most important of these questions was, “Where does human dignity come

from?” As a researcher and teacher, I hoped to make learning visible through coding their

responses. I used digital highlighters to distinguish their thoughts and began grouping them. Let

us turn our attention to the four categories of responses to the aforementioned question: God,

people, reputation, human rights. These were my final categories, and, as I expected, they

underwent revision and amending as new sources of data emerged and boys matured in their

vocabulary on this topic. In middle school minds, these are perhaps the four base buckets of

thought when it comes to honor and determining identity.

Middle school is a time where a boy is really starting to expand his field of vision beyond himself,

his family, and his local community. Interscholastic sports, vacation destinations, and media

consumption all play a convincing role. It was expected then that half of my boys said that a

person’s value originates within. Student E echoed, “It comes from the heart, and not so much an

outer appearance.” Boys at St. Christopher’s get that. They are so exposed to a host of uncommon

champions, dystopias, and unlikely, even dysfunctional heroes, that they begin to appreciate who

a person is rather than simply how they look. This was beautiful and a great place to begin my

discussion.

Next, reputation, “Human Dignity comes from the respect and honor of your family, friends, etc. I

think this because those people are the ones who really try and show who how much you mean to

them.” As our boys branch out into adulthood, the tension between adults and students starts to

tip on the scales. Perhaps for this boy, the voice of his parent’s is still quite modeling rather than

simply punitive, however, the opinion of peers is mounting. Friends and classmates begin a steady

melting and restructuring of value and each boy settles into his place. In my experience, often by

high school, a boy has found his niche and what he excels in. He is more familiar with his

weaknesses, which is an inevitable mark of maturity.

People and reputation were the only two categories that existed after the first round of

surveying. The following two categories emerged in the second round with many students

blending into each. Student A acknowledged, “human dignity is the respect and honor that you

get for existing on Earth. You get your human dignity from God.” This answer looks beyond the

sight into a spiritual understanding of the world. It roots our value in One who is transcendent and

in whose image all were created. I appreciated this perspective because it reminds us that respect

for our fellow man, respects the architect who designed its diversity. These blossoming thoughts

were often restrained by relativity and pluralism. Confidence was shaken in free writing as boys

struggle with an absolute truth, “I think that human dignity comes from your core and who you are

as a human being. Also I think that your human dignity comes from God. Overall I feel like there

is many opinions so there can be no specific place where it comes from. Although I think that

human dignity comes from God.”

The last category to be defined was human rights. This is the idea that when asked to determine

the origin of human rights, some students said the 30 human rights laws developed by the United

Nations that we have been studying together. Once exposed to the history, my objective was to

steer boys away from this belief. Human rights are conceptual and rarely protected and enforced

locally or globally. They are principles that we ought to adhere to, but they are different from

international law. These were defined in the sorrow and post-terroristic fears of the holocaust as

humanity sought in vain to put an end to genocidal totalitarian regimes. Many of the boys

recognized that governments are incapable of eradicating sin and changing the human heart, yet

all wrote about the need of governments to punish lawbreakers and reward positive civic

engagement. Listen for this in the words of Student C: “I think human dignity comes from our

human rights, and if you can't respect other people's lives, then why should people respect

you? It’s not fair, and America is trying to make life fair.”

Conclusion

Sixth grade boys have a keen sense of justice. In the eyes of my boys, all human rights violations

boiled down to one word, discrimination. Each public service announcement ,regardless of which

human right was assigned, dealt with the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of

people. This is why miranda rights and due process exist. It gives them a clear argument for why

pirating and copyright infringement is wrong, and it jives well with their prior knowledge from

lower school.

I was on a thematic in a hunt for common sixth grade boy language to synthesize philosophical

concepts. These snippets of a boy’s developing belief system have massive daily application

potential in areas such as self-esteem, self-image, bullying, hierarchy, and empowerment.

Implications for Future Practice and Research

As I reflect on my professional journey as an educator, being a member of an action research team

has been quite impactful. The first time I used public service announcements in the sixth grade

classroom was 2014. The key factors which enhanced my approach were as follows. First, I added

a research component where boys were invited onto the library database system, and guided in

their reading. Giving the boys choice in which of the 30 human rights to pursue was a good

thing. Also, pointing them to experts who write and work in the field was healthy immersion into

the subject matter. This guided exploration works to balance creativity and content. Second,

revision is necessary. The videos were developed almost entirely outside of class, but there were

checkpoints along the way that they were accountable to. They showed their clips in small

groups. They gave and received feedback, and they were able to view the finished products from

2014 primarily as examples of what not to do. Finally, peer grading was an addition that allowed

the boys to interact with the rubric. It helps to go beyond merely showing a middle school boy an

assessment tool. It positively shaped their understanding to use the tool as intended. Boys were

able to focus with longer endurance as the Public Service Announcements were presented and

viewed in class. Some boys were eager to present then had two “free days” in my class; other boys

were desperate to hide and seek an extension, presenting in the final minutes of the last day

allotted. The peer grading then brought out a sense of cohesion to the presentation stage of the

project.

Looking to the future, I’d like to try groups for this assignment. There was a noticeable technology

gap between boys given the type of movie editing software they had access to. This might be

narrowed by pairing students based on computer brand or software they intend to use. The

intended effects are to hasten the speed at which the project might be completed, and even out the

caliber of films produced. The remaining challenges t would be to form these teams without

disrespecting the boy or the computer which their parents have granted them access to. Also, how

can I guarantee that boys are sharing the workload? The solution that I hope to lay ahold of, with

support from the IT department, is a movie making program that is shareable. That would be the

next level. The IT specialist was instrumental in each phase of my research. He filmed, cut, and

polished many of the clips that will appear in my final presentation.

Reflection Statement

How could I have taught these years without soliciting their feedback? My classroom has been

made better by the action research experience. I am confident of this due to the realization of my

two goals described in the introduction of this paper. First, my teaching has become more

intentional. It is difficult to put overtime into ineffective teaching, while fun to spend hours

making a difference. I now have better tools for soliciting and interpreting what is inside the minds

of sixth grade boys. To me, these are concrete steps toward becoming a master teacher. Secondly,

and more importantly, student voices were affirmed by someone in authority over them. Taking

an earnest portion of our instructional time to listen to the boys is now a requirement for me. This

is the moral of the story, no matter what you teach, make it a partnership. I am convinced that this

will make the best global citizens who are more aware of the dignity of themselves and others.

Reference List

Caulfield, T., & Chapman, A. (2005). Human Dignity as a Criterion for Science Policy. Policy

Forum, 2(8), 0736-0738. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020244

Cox, C., PhD. (2008). "Good for you TV": Using storyboarding for health-related television

public service announcements to analyze messages and influence positive health choices.

The Journal of School Health, 78(3), 179-83. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/215673836?accountid=156

Declaration of Independence. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html

Giesinger, J. (2012). Kant on Dignity and Education. Educational Theory, 62(6), 609-619.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/edth.12000.x

Hassig, R. (2008). Reading/Language arts: A small world. School Library Media Activities

Monthly, 24(10), 14-16. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/237137334?accountid=156

Messenger, C. G. (2015). Information Literacy + Literacy = Evidence-Based Practice in the

Classroom and the School Library. Knowledge Quest, 43(3), 20-27.

Moyn, S. (2013, October 16). Dignity’s Due Why are philosophers invoking the notion of human

dignity to revitalize theories of political ethics? Retrieved September 20, 2015, from The

Nation website: http://www.thenation.com/article/dignitys-due/

Semple, R. J., Lee, J., Rosa, D., & Miller, L. F. (2009). A Randomized Trial of Mindfulness-

Based Cognitive Therapy for Children: Promoting Mindful Attention to Enhance Social-

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Appendix

Appendix A

Information Search Process

Appendix B

K-W-L Chart

Appendix C

Appendix D

3rd Period

CODE DEFINITION EXAMPLE NUMBER of

DOCUMENTS

(out of 14)

SOURCES

God When asked to

determine the

origin of human

rights, some

students

acknowledged

God as the source

“Human dignity is the

respect and honor that you

get for existing on Earth.

You get your human dignity

from God.”

• Student A

2 Student

Surveys

People When asked to

determine the

origin of human

rights, some

students claim it

comes from within

humanity.

“It comes from the heart,

and not so much an outer

appearance.”

• Student E

7 Student

Surveys

Reputation When asked to

determine the

origin of human

rights, some

students said it is

rooted in what

other people think

of you.

“Your human dignity comes

from human rights and your

family background. Human

rights ensure and protect

your human dignity while

your family background

grants a specific reputation

for your human dignity.”

4 Student

Surveys

• Student F

Human

Rights

When asked to

determine the

origin of human

rights, some

students said the

30 human rights

laws we have been

studying together.

“I think human dignity

comes from our human

rights and if you can't

respect other people's lives

then why should people

respect you? It’s not fair,

and America is trying to

make life fair.”

• Student C

2 Student

Surveys

Appendix E