 |
|
Prof. Kevin
Storr
|
In
Grand Rapids, Michigan this spring I was asked to give a keynote address at the
iChange Nations™ - Human Rights Global Congress™ on the topic, “The Human Right to Access
Education and Science in Defining National Value and Development.” My
presentation was rooted in two of the Human Rights defined by the United
Nations; Rights numbers twenty-six and twenty-seven. As states:
Article 25
1.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and
medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack
of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All
children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social
protection.
Article 26
1. Everyone
has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary
and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available and higher education
shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality
and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United
Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents
have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their
children. (www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/)
As the
speaker I told the attendees that all countries have three basic resources:
Natural Resources, People Resource and Vision Resource. The natural resource is to be managed,
the people resource is to be inspired and the vision resource is to galvanize
the people. I further commented
that nations must be tooled and allowed to dig their own dirt (whether land or
people) and it is the management of its three basic resources, which provides
them with value to trade with other nations.
This
oration also included a discussion on intellectual property and redefined it in
the context of nation building. I
redefined intellectual property as the people resource, and emphasized that
intellectual property goes beyond the fruit of the mind and should be viewed as
the mind itself. On this
intellectual property we are to farm and cultivate ideas - these are the fruit
of the mind. It was also declared
that in order to build a nation, the nation must use its intellectual property
to harvest the ideas, which are planted in the minds of its people. These ideas can be realized through
production or consumption. By
consumption an idea is realized because someone previously had the idea and makes
its available. By production, it
is an original idea for which a person supplies the resource whenever the idea
is requested.
Finally,
I summarized my presentation by noting, nations which traffic mainly in
consumer ideas, eventually become dependent nations, because intellectual
property is more than just ideas, it is the people and road to national
development and value.
Article written by Prof. Kevin Storr - iChange Nations™ Statesman
Article edited with permission
No comments:
Post a Comment