When I was in high school, a particular school tended to win a particular conference. Either Huntington Beach High School or Mira Costa High School always won at the Edison High School MUN Conference. When Mission Viejo High School (my alma mater) hosted, either Tustin High School or Santa Margarita Catholic High School won.
This became a problem when students felt jilted out of awards and starting holding grudges. The schools that don't win blame the hosting school for being unfair and showing favoritism.
One student from my school was a funny guy and a good delegate. He felt that he deserved Best Delegate, or at least an Outstanding, at Edison's conference. He got neither. At closing ceremonies, he was called for a Commendation (the equivalent of an Honorable Mention on the East Coast); approached the stage to receive his award; and tore it in front of everyone. Even worse, during our conference, he did not give any Edison students in his committee an award. This student has long since graduated.
This was not an isolated feeling. Everyone blamed one school or another for stacking awards in favor of its "allies." There was even a conspiracy going at one point. Someone theorized that if Edison and Huntington had a deal to award one another at each other's conference to not only increase their winnings but maintain district funding.
I didn't believe this theory, but I nonetheless criticized schools for favoritism. I felt cheated out of awards multiple times. Everyone does; sadly, this is a common feeling in MUN today. But looking back, I realize now that the problem was not favoritism; it was philosophy.
Delegates from Mira Costa, Huntington, and Edison had reputations for being very aggressive. Mission, Tustin, and Santa Margarita, on the other hand, focused on diplomacy. The aggressive and the diplomatic schools did not simply favor themselves at their own respective conferences. They were merely looking for the same traits that they themselves valued.
In other words, an aggressive delegate from Edison will most likely become a chair that views aggression favorably. So it's no surprise if he awards the aggressive Mira Costa delegate; he, too, values aggression.
Of course there were very aggressive and very diplomatic delegates at each school, but nonetheless reputations existed. I now believe they existed because of philosophical differences between MUN programs.
Several years ago, a local paper wrote about the Mira Costa MUN program. Its advisor used the Socratic method to question his students on their topics. They sat in a circle; one student presented his country's policy; and for ten minutes, everyone questioned this one student. At first, this made them all uncomfortable, but they became more and more confident. So, during conferences, Mira Costa students challenged other delegates in the same way that they had been challenged, questioning their ideas and debating their stances. I suspect the other aggressive schools had similar practices. This is part of what made them so aggressive.
The more diplomatic schools (Mission, Tustin, and Santa Margarita), on the other hand, were taught to be likable. That way, other delegates became willing to work with you and give you primary authorship over resolutions. We were still told to be aggressive, but not so much that we became domineering or abrasive. We competed more on personality than intellect.
I share this post because favoritism was a problem and I suspect it still is. I hope someone from Orange County reads this and realizes that their school was not simply screwed over. I do realize, however, that getting screwed out of an award does happen on purpose, so don't discount that possibility. But my point is that it happens less often than people think and not as likely the case when it happens to them.
I just think that the first step towards resolving this problem is to realize that different MUN programs teach differently. This directly translates to delegate styles and, consequently, the awards. If Orange County MUN wants a fairer awards system, then it needs to standardize its awards criteria between all schools, aggressive and diplomatic alike.
I also think that the MUN community as a whole needs to standardize the awards, but I will save that subject for another post. The takeaway point for now is that different MUN programs view and teach MUN differently. I want us to share these differences because they don't have to be problems. Indeed, understanding one other's differences is a major lesson of MUN. Most importantly, though, we must recognize these differences if we are to build a true MUN community.
This became a problem when students felt jilted out of awards and starting holding grudges. The schools that don't win blame the hosting school for being unfair and showing favoritism.
One student from my school was a funny guy and a good delegate. He felt that he deserved Best Delegate, or at least an Outstanding, at Edison's conference. He got neither. At closing ceremonies, he was called for a Commendation (the equivalent of an Honorable Mention on the East Coast); approached the stage to receive his award; and tore it in front of everyone. Even worse, during our conference, he did not give any Edison students in his committee an award. This student has long since graduated.
This was not an isolated feeling. Everyone blamed one school or another for stacking awards in favor of its "allies." There was even a conspiracy going at one point. Someone theorized that if Edison and Huntington had a deal to award one another at each other's conference to not only increase their winnings but maintain district funding.
I didn't believe this theory, but I nonetheless criticized schools for favoritism. I felt cheated out of awards multiple times. Everyone does; sadly, this is a common feeling in MUN today. But looking back, I realize now that the problem was not favoritism; it was philosophy.
Delegates from Mira Costa, Huntington, and Edison had reputations for being very aggressive. Mission, Tustin, and Santa Margarita, on the other hand, focused on diplomacy. The aggressive and the diplomatic schools did not simply favor themselves at their own respective conferences. They were merely looking for the same traits that they themselves valued.
In other words, an aggressive delegate from Edison will most likely become a chair that views aggression favorably. So it's no surprise if he awards the aggressive Mira Costa delegate; he, too, values aggression.
Of course there were very aggressive and very diplomatic delegates at each school, but nonetheless reputations existed. I now believe they existed because of philosophical differences between MUN programs.
Several years ago, a local paper wrote about the Mira Costa MUN program. Its advisor used the Socratic method to question his students on their topics. They sat in a circle; one student presented his country's policy; and for ten minutes, everyone questioned this one student. At first, this made them all uncomfortable, but they became more and more confident. So, during conferences, Mira Costa students challenged other delegates in the same way that they had been challenged, questioning their ideas and debating their stances. I suspect the other aggressive schools had similar practices. This is part of what made them so aggressive.
The more diplomatic schools (Mission, Tustin, and Santa Margarita), on the other hand, were taught to be likable. That way, other delegates became willing to work with you and give you primary authorship over resolutions. We were still told to be aggressive, but not so much that we became domineering or abrasive. We competed more on personality than intellect.
I share this post because favoritism was a problem and I suspect it still is. I hope someone from Orange County reads this and realizes that their school was not simply screwed over. I do realize, however, that getting screwed out of an award does happen on purpose, so don't discount that possibility. But my point is that it happens less often than people think and not as likely the case when it happens to them.
I just think that the first step towards resolving this problem is to realize that different MUN programs teach differently. This directly translates to delegate styles and, consequently, the awards. If Orange County MUN wants a fairer awards system, then it needs to standardize its awards criteria between all schools, aggressive and diplomatic alike.
I also think that the MUN community as a whole needs to standardize the awards, but I will save that subject for another post. The takeaway point for now is that different MUN programs view and teach MUN differently. I want us to share these differences because they don't have to be problems. Indeed, understanding one other's differences is a major lesson of MUN. Most importantly, though, we must recognize these differences if we are to build a true MUN community.
6 comments:
Mira Costa is a very aggressive school, indeed. They train their delegates and then go to conferences that are hosted on the other side of the nation. It's almost like they're a factory or something...reproducing aggressive monsters. Haha
I'm going to a Mission Viejo conference tomorrow actually, and now I know what to do. Thanks. :]
lol I'm glad I could help, Crystal. I'm too old now to know any of the students running the Mission conference, but let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way (although by the time you read this, the conference will be over...) E-mail me!
LoL! I was reading this, and it's soo funny because it's soo true. I went to a school where MUN was just a club and not a program in the OC. Also it's funny if you ever throw in how Northern California school are also completely different in prep as well - which is where I am still part of putting a conference together.
Sadly what those schools focus on is REAL WORLD solutions. Something the "diplomatic schools" often neglect. "Diplomatic schools", embrace vapid solutions like, mobile units, education, Afro tourism, never ending money supplies, replicating bureaucracies, Blue helmets as a private army, secure borders et al .Research is the advantage,in depth knowledge of solutions gives the edge. The ability to speak and practice speaking over and over and over allows serious delegates to sharpen skills. The only Q & A sessions done by the "3 aggressive" schools are done to blow up repetitive , shallow , lazy, and plagiarist solutions.
Mira Costa and Cerritos both do plagarism ck's to hold students accountable and guarantee that they do solid if not original research. For every conference ! Huntington and Edsion also do similar things. They all practice seriously to get better all the time !!! The others find note passing or the dance to be more important.
Model UN / League of Nations ( if you know what this means if not it says something too) Is to teach children about REAL world issues, and more importantly real world solutions according to REAL policies of actual nations. This is done through simulation. To not research seriously, to not portray properly to fabricate policy in an indifferent or often fanciful mocks all those who suffer from the worlds ailments !!!! It also ,mocks those who actual work so hard to achieve success !
Sweat equity garners awards, not wanna be debaters wishing MUN for awards.
Posting fanciful whines such as the one above only keeps serious schools strong.
I agree with the following because I just got cheated TOO OBVIOUSLY in Yale MUN 2010. I did all the research, upheld my country's interest, did all the lobbing, wrote my own resolution and got unanimously passed. I didnt get an award, instead, some people who are inactive and with no respect to reality and true politics got the awards.
Yale MUN, you impressed me.
"Model UN / League of Nations ( if you know what this means if not it says something too) Is to teach children about REAL world issues, and more importantly real world solutions according to REAL policies of actual nations. This is done through simulation. To not research seriously, to not portray properly to fabricate policy in an indifferent or often fanciful mocks all those who suffer from the worlds ailments !!!! It also ,mocks those who actual work so hard to achieve success !
"
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