Category: Education

Education. As Americans, we pride ourselves on how great education is in our country. We look down upon countries with lower levels of educational achievement, and education is our first solution to all the world’s problems. As a Model United Nations delegate, I can say with certainty that in every delegate’s resolution paper, “education” is always number one on the solution list. Education should prepare us to adapt to our surroundings and to solve problems. So why doesn’t our current high school curriculum fulfill this role? 

 I am fluent in trigonometry and can analyze an author’s rhetorical choices in English, but I am uncertain how to practically apply that knowledge to combat climate change, to change the culture fostering gun violence, or to stop the spiraling crisis of drug abuse. Our curriculum focuses on classical liberal arts yet does not provide us with the tools to apply this education to these critical issues. 

Many may argue the liberal arts education I am receiving now is perfectly fine to get me where I need to go: I can apply the work ethic I have learned from music class to the sports I play or the scholarships for which I am applying. I can apply the writing rubrics I learned in my English class to write this very blog post. But it is not enough. The prior generation has not taught us anything about how to combat the real world problems we are facing today, many of them inherited from that generation. For this reason, my peers and I need to take charge of our education. We have to stretch the “nuts and bolts” education farther. We need imagination. We need better tools. We need analytical skills. 

As we enter into 2020, a new decade, we need to focus our education system on more than just mathematical fluency and writing English essays. I am being encouraged to think critically and for that reason I ask these hard questions about our world. Now someone needs to revamp the curriculum to teach the practical application of this knowledge. We have this idea that the only people who can make change are those officially elected: governors, legislators, mayors. It has been ingrained into our brains through the public education system and the hierarchy of our culture to respect authority. Kids should not talk back. Kids should not question what they are told as fact. But the education we are missing is exactly that. How to speak up for what you believe in no matter your age, no matter if you have a college degree, no matter if you have run a successful political campaign. Young people, like Greta Thunberg among others, are  creating a culture of change by challenging the status quo. Our education system needs to be reimagined and transformed to recognize that young people have the ability to lead and to teach students how we can take what we learn in the classroom and apply it to the issues in our communities that require change.

Today, I would like to tell you all about Model UN. Around 4 years ago, I was watching The Goldbergs at home as a 7th grader, laughing about how much it related to my own family. There was an episode where Erica was saying a monologue about how she went from nerd to popular kid. In this list of nerdy activities, she talked about how she used to participate in Model UN. My brother happened to walk behind me at that moment, and the next thing I know, he’s starting a Model United Nations club at Ventura High School. For those 2 years between my 7th grade year and my freshman year, my brother, Micah, invested in getting a club started and even went to MUN camp in the summer.  He spoke non stop about how amazing MUN camp was, and how I just have to do it. As a 12 year old, I really had no idea what I wanted to do after high school, and I completely blew off Micah’s words. I was dragged along to conferences, and each time, it still made no sense to me what the delegates actually did. The day after I returned from my 8th grade Washington DC trip, a MUN team member of ours had a family emergency,. We were headed to a MUN conference, and since my parents were club advisors (so I was going along anyway), my family decided to volunteer me for the task of representing her country, Tunisia, on the General Assembly. This conference was my first experience with Model UN, and I hated it. I researched my country in the car, I had no idea how committee procedures worked, and I was definitely not interested in discussing Tunisia’s stance on sanctions. Coming from a family where commitment is regarded as very important, I toughed it out those two days but I decided I never wanted to do Model UN again.

Thank goodness my family persuaded me to try another conference. As I entered my freshman year at Ventura High School, I attended (what I now considered Micah and my) MUN club Mondays and Fridays, and I slowly started to understand how it actually worked.  And I really enjoyed it! For the last 2 years, I have competed in around 10 Model United Nations competitions. I’ve represented countless countries on countless committees, all working toward making a better future. When preparing for a conference, we get a choice of committees and a list of the countries that have seats on that committee. Whenever I can, I choose the committees that have to do with health. This past Saturday, I represented France on the World Health Organization, and I won my first Best Delegate award. Maybe it’s because I’m the child of a doctor, or just because I played Operation as a kid at camp, but I’ve always been interested in public health and the effects it has on communities. Growing up in Ventura, California, a beach town, I have never really had to deal first hand with the effects of a harmful living environment. Through Model UN, I’m able to step into the shoes of another country and argue for real solutions that affect real people.

Growing up with an older brother, I’ve watched him go in and out of phases, from the Titanic to smart watches and finally to economics, and I’ve seen him develop a career path for himself. I’ve had my fair share of phases as well; there was a time when I wanted to be an architect, then an interior designer, a pediatrician, and a fashion designer. In middle school, all of my teachers told me I’d “find myself” in high school, and that I would “find my crowd.” To tell you the truth, I still haven’t really “found my crowd,” but it’s the activities I joined that helped me “find myself.” By joining Model UN, I’ve gotten to experience so many new situations I would have never been exposed to before. I’ve learned so much about the world I live in and how my world interacts with the rest of the earth. While being in MUN has shaped my after school life a bit differently, I distinctly remember spending 3 hours on a Friday researching Russia. It has really been an amazing experience to explore this new academic universe, a course that has led me to wanting to major in international relations. I’ve been on a good 20 ish college tours with my brother, and now, as a sophomore, I know exactly where I want to go and pretty much exactly what I want to do! Going forward, I am looking at exploring other fields that can complement my interest in international relations, such as public health, economics, or foreign policy. Being in Model United Nations has given me so many opportunities, and I cannot wait to travel all over the world as a high schooler – through Model UN – to solve real world problems in a couple of days, the same problems that adults spend their entire lives trying to fix.