Peaceful Solutions - Model U.N.

Introduce the Topic

Choose and display a headline from a news story having to do with international conflict. Ask participants: What does this event have to do with your students? Take responses from individuals and record them on a flip chart, or ask participants to discuss the question in small groups, record their responses, and then report out to the whole group.

Briefly discuss participants' responses, pointing out common themes and issues. Then explain that the video features the Model U.N. program, which is designed to involve students in thinking about conflict on an international level.

Discuss:

the potential benefits for students of the Model U.N. program for students;
how the Model U.N. program can enhance multicultural studies and awareness;
students' roles in identifying and designing service learning projects; balancing student initiative and autonomy with adult facilitation and guidance;
the benefits for both high school and elementary school students of the cross-age mentoring program; and
the language and public speaking aspects of the formal speech-making part of the program.

Questions

1. Are there multicultural issues at your school that might be addressed through the vehicle of the Model U.N.?

2. How can understanding more about international strife help students think about and change the way they personally interact with others? What might a teacher do to help students connect international events with their own lives?

3. How is the face-to-face talk of the students during caucusing different from the rhetoric of the formal speech-making stage? What is the value for students of experiencing both forms of communication?

4. The process of reaching a resolution involves two processes: consensus, in which some delegates agree among themselves on a resolution mutually agreeable to all; and voting, in which the entire body makes a choice with which some agree and some disagree. What is the value for students of experiencing both processes?

Try It Out

Going International

This activity will provide experience in debate and reaching consensus. Ask participants to join in small groups of four or five and give each group one of the following tasks. (The same task may be used by several groups.) Explain that they will fulfill their task by coming to a consensus -- i.e., each person in the group will support the group's final answer. This is similar to many diplomatic situations, in which arriving at a mutually agreeable resolution to a problem is paramount.

Tasks:

For each of these questions, come up with as many reasons (or for #3, differences) as you can. Then choose the three most important ones.

1. Why should a large country like the U.S. care about what happens between relatively small nations like Guyana and Venezuela?

2. Why should representatives of democratic governments that respect basic human rights engage in dialogue with representatives of totalitarian governments that violate basic human rights?

3. How is multiculturalism different from cultural relativism?