Eighth-grader Jack has been debating for years but never as big of a scale as Model UN, where he is debating as a representative of Singapore. At EXPLO, he’s learning how an understanding of different perspectives can inform his worldview.
I am the representative of the Republic of Singapore in Model UN. Marcelo, our instructor, does a good job simulating the United Nations. He goes past the representations of just the countries and focuses on the different aspects of the UN like the security council, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF. I learned about Singapore’s free market economy and how they're a donor nation so they actually gave more money to the World Bank and don't owe anything anymore. Even though Singapore is such a small country, it has the economy of a bigger, more well-known country like the U.K. or France.
I actually knew none of this until Marcelo taught us all. I knew that the UN was the collection of countries debating, but I never knew how big of a scale it was with all these different organs of it. It’s important because I now know about these other countries, which are totally different from the U.S., and am able to relate more than I would before — especially having had to represent the beliefs of Singapore. When I’m older, we’re still going to have racial conflicts and all these other conflicts, and usually I’d just know what the U.S. thinks. But being able to know what other countries think will give me a more open mind. That’s why EXPLO is such a cool place. People here are from all over the world, and being able to meet these people that I wouldn't be able to meet otherwise is just wonderful.
Casey Kim