Competitive Model UN Essay

I admit that I was very competitive, but ask all of my students and you will hear that I don’t drive competition in my classes, and try to create a warm environment in the class. A place to experiment and learn. However, if not for my competitive drive I would never have got the habits, skills and information I do. Also, after my competitive days ended, and I stopped the ‘mental working out in the gym of the Model UN in the same way, all I was left with were the hard-earned skills.

Competitive or not, what comes easy goes easy and to get these skills you will need to work and work hard. I see a MUN culture where we improve each other by striving to be better. I see rooms where people aren’t taking advantage of shy first timers but a room of 20 delegates who all have 20 conferences under their belt evolving and improving their game to further refine their skill. I see the working on skills to make them memorable in a room of perfect speeches, I see a room where everyone does their prep on everyone else and comes with clashes and calls to action ready to engage. I see a room where after a speech everyone has a proper assessment of their fellow delegates and each speech has multiple layers of subtext and a different message is heard by 6 different people, and each interpretation intentional. 

These skills can only come from practice and drive and I feel that it doesn’t matter if you’re coming from competition or curiosity. As long as you aren’t immoral, and don’t bribe or get someone else disqualified, and play within the very stretched confines of the game, it doesn’t matter why you’re doing it. You will respect who is good and who is serious, whether they are competing or not. In the end, you will respect who is good and who worked hard. In the end, you might be friends with this person, and it will be because of the quality of their actions and not their intentions.

This book can be used for competitive Model Uners. This book can also be used by people who want to study and better understand the human psyche and what makes people tick. This book can be used by curious people who want to understand the complex world of Model UN. I don’t discriminate and think all should be accepted. If you put in the work, gain the skills and love what you do all the power to you. In Model Un people can get hurt, and sometimes we fail, get outmaneuvered and don’t achieve our goals, whether by being bested or because of mistakes we made. 

This is how things work in real life as well. Pain is part of the process. Model UN isn’t about a safe space from some aggressive or strategic diplomats. We are lucky that at the end of the day no one pays the price for our wrong choices, even if we unanimously decide to bomb a country or dismantle all the nuclear power plants in the world. The place to do with, with others, is the safe space and biosphere which you will not find anywhere else. This is the place to try and learn and experiment. This is the place to put yourself out there, lose and learn. I have seen students of mine get “destroyed” only to learn from it and, with a specific committee, I chaired in mind, watched all of my students who “lost” in that room ALL take the best delegate at the next conference they took part in.

The specific story I might recount later in this book but the moral here is clear to me. You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs and what you do here, both for those who put a little and those who put a lot, will last a lifetime. Don’t be afraid of hardship. Do your best and love what you do. It was this environment which changed my life and instead of thinking who is competitive or here for the wrong reasons, this who can I learn from. Who, when I watch them is an artist at work? When we engage with the greats, we become better. Engage with the greats. Even if they have different motivations than you do, or the same when it’s done you will have lessons and stories that you won’t find anywhere else. Go get them.