A couple of weeks ago, I took 10 students to Bangkok for a Model UN conference. Model UN is a class at AES, so we had weeks to rev up for this event. The bad news was that the class had 15 students but the conference only accepted 10 delegates. Hence, I had to tell 5 students that they could not go, but of course they would still have to go to class for the rest of the semester. This is the equivalent of telling your boyfriend/girlfriend that you are rejecting him/her for someone else, but that they have to accompany you on your dates with the new person. Not only that, but if they don't eagerly participate in the conversation, if they "ruin things" by acting sullen or interrupting, etc., then they will get a bad "grade" from you, which will probably affect their ability to attract a new "love." It's just ugly all the way around.
Of course, I had been flattering myself that the reason everyone in the class laughed at my jokes, said encouraging things, helped me to my feet after the whiteboard hit me on the head, and said that they appreciated my harsh grading, was not just because they wanted to be selected for Model UN but because they were students who truly appreciated me, finally, after years of talking to students whose MFQ (most frequent question) was "Can I go to the bathroom?"
So you can imagine my surprise when, after sending out the acceptance and rejection emails, suddenly student behaviors changed. Those who had not been selected immediately stopped smiling, sat together in a corner of the room, and demonstrated a textbook case of "acting out" in response to low expectations. For some odd reason, these students no longer seemed enthusiastic about researching and debating topics that would be the focus of the Bangkok conference. They didn't relish the conversations about dress code and who was buying a new suit and what river cruise we would be taking and who was rooming with whom. And frankly, I didn't blame them, and I told the principal that I did not want to teach the class again unless the whole class could go to the conference and/or the class size was limited to match the number of delegates who could travel. So . . . next semester, when I will be teaching the class again, all 16 of them will be heading to St. Petersburg with me. Wait . . .16? What WAS I thinking?
OK, so leaving those children behind (get it?), the "chosen ones" started to become childish and annoying - since they had already been selected and the air tickets purchased immediately by our travel office - they felt that they could now be their "real" selves. Great. So those who wanted to go to Bangkok to #1 shop and #2 attend some old conference suddenly revealed this in an unwanted "tell-all" . Those who wanted to be out of school for as long as possible for any reason at all experienced a rapid drop in IQ as the conference approached.
Bangkok - all went well on the trip, despite my anxieties beforehand. Our delegates didn't get much of a chance to speak ( a couple remained shell-shocked by the high level of debate through the entire conference) because there were many experienced students there. I realized that the proposal to make the class into a club makes sense, because then ninth graders can participate and gain several years of experience. Currently, the only way students can gain experience at conferences is by taking the class more than once, which leads to a class that seems overwhelming to some and boring to others.
The delegates each had their strengths and weaknesses.
First, Pranav, our shining star, who had been nominated and selected to serve as one of 12 committee co-chairs. Pranav remained seriously committed to the process the entire time, refusing to be distracted by the raunchy notes being sent to him from committee members.
KY, the student who normally seems soft-spoken and deferential, made his debut as "most diplomatic-looking delegate" at this conference. That's him on the right and below.
Ananya and Tanvi, two of the three girls who went along (which was pretty much the standard proportion of females to males - what is it about Model UN? Girls, join!) became frustrated at not being called on during the General Assembly, despite their smiles here.
Renaud, the French-Canadian young man on the left in the picture, has already graduated from high school but wanted to come to India for a year with his parents so he signed up for a second senior year at AES. Despite being voted the "most confused" delegate on his committee, he was the main attraction for the young female pages who were ready at any time to deliver a message for the Russian delegation (his assigned country) and who stood in line while he sketched portraits of each of them at the final banquet.
Renaud had his first "professional massage" at the Bangkok airport while we waited for our plane, and he said afterwards, thoughtfully, "That was the first time that I have had a massage from someone whom I do not know." My response was (thought: boundaries!) "Renaud, maybe I don't need to hear more on this topic." But he continued, "I find it much better to both give and receive a massage." At which time I decided that I really should go check and see what the other students were doing. Keep in mind that Renaud is quite good-looking and imagine the word "TABOO" stamped on any further classified material.
Highlights of the trip - seeing the Reclining Buddha,
student enthusiasm for the sightseeing events I arranged, particularly the river cruise,
the walk from the hotel to the UN conference center, where there was a lovely canal
with giant lizards climbing out of it (?!) . . .
and the poster-boy cute, overenthusiastic page who literally ran back and forth with messages while the female pages hovered around Renaud.
Low points - missing out on the Grand Palace due to the common "it's closed but my friend with a cab will take you to other open attractions" scam; losing my cool and making a fiery speech that would have left Gloria Steinem weeping for joy (or at least weeping), after other advisors insisted - " it's no big deal" - that numerous sexual comments about girls were being read over the microphones during committee proceedings; getting yelled at at the MBK mall during my first attempt at bargaining, during which the saleslady told me to go away and never come back, that I had made her late for lunch, and that she did not need customers like me (and she actually meant all of this, since she then went to join her friend at a nearby lunch table, who also gave me a venomous look and told me "Just go away"); and last but not least, setting my watch alarm wrong and sleeping through part of the opening ceremony on the first day.
A couple of random observations during the trip:
The ticket-takers for the river boats appeared to be occupying their time touching up their gray roots with permanent markers,or (something I haven't seen adults doing for awhile) shooting bottle caps at each other
.All in all, I loved Bangkok. It is a mix of huge malls with lots of cheap "stuff" mixed with Western fancy brands, nice people trapped in a repressive political environment, beautiful architecture, and great food. And beaches. What more could one want?
I appreciated your harsh grading!
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