Declaring My Independence

This is the first unit of my Junior Humanities class A Nation's Argument. In this class, we are learning about the history of our nation and our independence, as well as argument strategies that we can use, as well as the founding fathers. We learned about premises and conclusions as well as inductive and deductive reasoning. These are all key tools in forming a solid argument. We have been reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." This book gives us a different perspective on our nation's history. We also took part in Yale University's online lecture series. We participated in a lecture on American history from Professor Freeman. We compared and contrasted the views of Zinn and Freeman. We had a Field Experience where we went to the Daley Center in Chicago. We participated in their Black History Month tours where they let schools into courtrooms for hearings. We witnessed the opening statements from a case between an ER nurse and a patient. For this action project, we declared our independence. We declared an independent study that we could do in school and we had to defend our argument.

Hiu To, "Suture" (2018)

I am here to declaration my right of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. I believe it is my right to learn and practice the field of medicine I want to go into. I want to learn surgical procedures at a medical school’ residency level of schooling in my junior year. Education is an unalienable right in this country and it should have no restrictions when it comes to age, ability, race, gender, political views, or economic status. Anyone and everyone has the right to learn no matter what.

The purpose of school is to teach young people what they need to know t advance in their careers, from the most basic level or learning to share in preschool, to learning a 14-hour complicated procedure in residency, learning is always happening and always important. School was invented for this reason exactly: to teach young people what they need to know to be successful in whatever they choose to pursue. I believe if a young person is dedicated enough, age and legality should not interfere with their right to pursue their passion for learning.

I have a right to education as a human. According to Right To Education.org :

"Education as a human right means:

• The right to education is legally guaranteed for all without any discrimination.
• States have the obligation to protect, respect, and fulfill the right to education.
• There are ways to hold states accountable for violations or deprivations of the right to education"

This list of statements supports my declaration in the areas that: education is an unalienable right, education knows no limits no matter who you are; and that no one can deny you education. This declaration is an expression of my unalienable rights because I want to pursue my education further than my age allows. Even though I am only a Junior in high school, I believe it is my right as a human being to study at a much higher level of surgery and surgical procedures than is typically considered right for my age.

My guiding question is: Is it my right to pursue an advanced study of surgery at a young age?

I have a right to my study because:

P(1) Every human has a right to education.

P(2) Education cannot be limited by age or ability.

P(3) States have an obligation to fulfill the rights of education

Conclusion: I have the right to practice and learn surgical procedures at my age.

My syllogism: “Education is a human right, learning surgery is education, therefore, learning surgery is a human right.” This represents my declaration in it’s most basic form. Since education is a human right, I have the right to education, so, therefore, I can learn surgery and it is my human right.

The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson 1776, The declaration included similar syllogisms to my declaration. The most recognized syllogism in the Declaration is: All people are born with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, the American Colonists are born with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

My declaration states that I want:

• To be able to study advanced surgical procedures at my age
• To be able to practice surgucal procedures at my age
• To be able to get credit for medical school.
• To be able to study at a medical school/residential level.

These are my desired outcomes that I would like to see happen if my proposal is accepted.

Here is a list of things I will need to make this happen:

• Surgical Supplies and practice dummies
• Medical school materials
• Connections at medical schools
• Surgical training materials
• A teacher
• A place in the school to practice

Here is my final Declaration:

“I CM, believe it is my right as a human to an education of my choosing. It is my right to learn, so I have the right to learn about what I want. I want to learn about surgical procedures and practice them even at my young age. I can do this because it is my unalienable right as a human to have an education. To the most basic extent: “Education is a human right, learning surgery is education, therefore, learning surgery is a human right.” This is why I, CM am declaring my right to study what I propose, as it is my right.

I think this was a somewhat challenging and thought-provoking project. I liked how individual it was for each student, everyone was able to do their project on what they thought was important. I thought about how to make this different from my existing independent study of surgery, so I decided to go broader and make a bigger statement than my existing study. I am proud of how my declaration turned out, and I think the most challenging part was making the declaration a soild argument. I enjoyed this project, and I am interested to see what my other classmates declared.

Works Cited:

"Understanding Education as a Right." Right Toe Education.org. 2018. GreenNet. Web. 14, Feb 2019.