What is Montessori Model United Nations
Learning About MMUN - Written by MFS 7th Year Noah Polos
What is MMUN?
MMUN stands for Montessori Model United Nations, and is a conference where Montessori schools all around the globe come together in one place to discuss issues around the world, such as climate change and the current war in Ukraine. These conferences last around 4 days, and students give speeches about the topics they have researched for the entire year.
Due to so many Middle and Elementary aged students, they are split into smaller groups, or committees. Since the system that MMUN uses is based around the United Nations, children represent countries that they choose, and talk about the issues in their nation. All countries in that committee then make a draft of what they could do to stop issues brought up in the speeches, and present it to other committees. Committees then combine their drafts, to make a paper of solutions.
Preparing for MMUN
Although it sounds hard to give a speech to a lot of people, the children have a lot of preparation. At the beginning of the year both Middle and Upper aged kids are divided into countries, which they represent at the conference. They then divide topics and committees among each other. Topics are issues in the respected committee, so a topic example is: special situation of landlocked countries, which would fall under the committee ECOFIN. ECOFIN stands for Economic and Financial Committee. The children then research about their topic, and write a two paged position paper, which shows the position of the country in that topic. They then continue to cut parts of the position paper out to make a one minute speech, which they give at the conference. Not is all over however, as they make a poster board which shows what life in the country is like, Including geography, economics, and the history of the nation.
Understanding the United Nations
The United Nations is one of the biggest intergovernmental organizations. They focus on helping the world, which lately has been largely climate change related. To run this giant organization, there are different committees, which focus on different things such as the safety of people in countries. There are many different committees, and they all have a different purpose.
The first committee is Disarmament & International Security, and it focuses on the safety of the people in the world, and tries to end conflicts, and seeks international peace.
The second committee stands for Economic and Financial Committee, and its core purpose is to help countries with its economic and financial problems. This means it’s trying to help countries regain biodiversity if they lose it, as well as finding financial aid to those countries that need it.
The third committee of the UN is Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural issues. The main purpose of this committee is focusing on crime prevention and the safety of women and children.
The fourth committee is the committee of Social Political and Decolonization, and they focus on fixing the issues of colonization, and a big effect of that was conflicts, which lead to refugees, which is a major part of their program.
The fifth committee is the Administrative and Budgetary Committee, which focuses on keeping the UN running and their budget.
The sixth and final committee is the Legal committee, where they help the general assembly with article 13, which is the legal use of tools and weapons. They also help promote legal and law development to other countries.
The general assembly is one of the most well known parts of the United Nations, as all the countries that are member states are a part of it. The general assembly is where countries can give speeches to bring up issues in their nation, which they want to be solved. All of the other member states vote on their opinion of this topic, and they come to a decision by majority.
What are the benefits of MMUN?
MMUN teaches Middle and Upper aged students how to write a speech, and use or practice their public speaking skills, which is one of the most important skills to learn. Learning how to write a long document is important, as many jobs require this skill on a daily basis. Writing the position paper also lets students practice not plagiarizing, as this may get you into a lot of trouble in High School and beyond that, and knowing what it is and how not to do it is very important.
Giving the speech is also super important to public speaking skills, as public speaking is another very important factor in our everyday lives, because connecting with people and voicing are feeling are a part of public speaking. Students also speak a lot with other students from around the globe, which has lead to new friendships to be created.
Another thing that MMUN teaches students is the issues that are happening all around the world, and lets them come up with their own solutions. This is important, as they realize the consequences of doing things like littering, and the impact it makes to the globe, which helps prevent that, and maybe in the future, let them start making an impact of stopping climate change.
