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WINTER
1999 Peter Manzelmann
Middle School Principal
Late in October, the middle school students at Friends School, Mullica Hill, gathered to conduct and experience another United Nations Day. Walking into the Mullica Hill Meeting House one could hear the Roll Call of Nations. “Vietnam.” “Here!” “Dominica.” “Here!” “Comoros Islands.” “Here!” As an eighth grader read through the list of UN members present at this General Assembly, one began to feel that something powerful was about ready to begin. As participants of one of the most important and dramatic student events of the year, students invest themselves deeply into the culture, the politics and issues of a country and make decisions on a world stage that doesn’t affect some far-off shape on a map, but themselves.
It all begins soon after students begin the new school year. Students are assigned a UN member country and complete an in-depth information sheet about its people, geography, economics, and politics. They make maps of their countries and construct two-foot by three-foot flags with detailed insignias. Some are so beautifully designed that they serve as school decorations for years. I still have a stunning flag from Bhutan with a crafted dragon hanging in my classroom.
The sixth and seventh grades conduct a colorful World’s Fair by making booths with displays of food, language, clothing, and music. It is fascinating to watch a student dress as a Buddhist monk from Thailand while sharing facts and information about his country. One student this year dressed as a refugee from Rwanda and had put together a bundle of clothing to carry on her head. She was showing what it was like to walk to a refugee camp to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
At the same time the eighth graders select four topics for discussion. Within a few days they complete information packets on each issue with questions for students to think over. This year they decided to tackle four current world conflicts/problems: military conflict in Myanmar, struggle for independence in East Timor, overhunting of whales, and deforestation.
With the school decorated with flags, students dressed in nice shirts, ties, and dresses, and after weeks of preparation, our UN Day begins. They spend the next three hours discussing and debating, and with great seriousness explore ways to peacefully resolve each conflict. Acting as a UN committee, they agree on a resolution, complete with specific steps to implement the plan. The beauty of the experience is to have a 12-year-old child stand up in front of the entire Middle School and say from the bottom of her heart that it is wrong to pass a resolution because the indigenous people will suffer — that is really something to commend.
The United Nations Day at our school is important because it gives our students a chance to learn about a faraway place and to model an organization that voluntarily joins together to work for world peace and economic and social progress. As a community we feel like we are contributing a small effort toward a vital and peaceful cause.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
