Ella Williams, Grade 11
UWC Mostar
When joining UWC, I had very little prior knowledge of Global Politics; it was not a subject that was taught in my previous school. I did not originally take the subject and only decided to join after a spur of the moment choice to sit in on a class. This was a great decision as I spent the whole class totally fascinated by everything that was going on and, even though I didn’t really understand most of what they were talking about, I realised just from this one class that everything is connected to politics and this amazed me. As a result of this, I joined the class a month late, causing me to find myself much further behind the rest of my peers than I’d liked to be. It took me some time to catch up and feel comfortable enough in my own knowledge to speak up in class, share my opinion and answer questions as I often found myself struggling to understand all of what was happening. Despite this struggle, Global Politics has always been one of my favorite subjects.
One exercise that stands out to me as the time when I really found myself getting involved, possibly for the first time, was a simulation and discussion that was spread across two classes. We started with an anarchist state (one that is in a state of disorder due to a lack of authority) and were told to organise it as best we could. This activity felt very unstructured as no one really knew what we were supposed to do. We had a lot of fun debating and talking about many different ways to run our new state; discussing what would and wouldn’t work and what we wanted to happen.
After a bit of time with none of us coming to any clear decisions, my teacher gave food to one member of the class, and from there we had to organise how this would be distributed. We continued through the class with my teacher adding more and more tests. Eventually, no one could decide on anything. We began to run out of time in the class to organise ourselves. We became an authoritarian state (one that involves enforced allegiance at the expense of freedom) with the entire class forced to pledge allegiance to one group of seven “equal” leaders. They, in reality, were powered by one person. There were some opposing groups; one that advocated for socialism (everything should be communally owned and regulated) and one that was attempting to enforce democracy.
In the next class, we talked about what we had done in the previous one, what kind of groups had formed, and how this correlated to the real world. We discussed how the seven leaders were able to create an authoritarian state as they had access to the food and other resources, and so forth. As we had all taken positions in the previous class, it helped me to feel comfortable to speak up as all of my peers were doing the same. These classes were so completely different from any other kind of class that I had experienced before, and it really helped fuel my interest in the subject. The fun of laughing with my friends and debating at the same time and not necessarily taking the exercise really seriously while still getting the work done made the experience very memorable. I learnt so much in this class, but somehow it didn’t feel like a task at all.
In reflection, I feel it was very productive as I am now very comfortable with the terminology we were learning to use. I remember these complex terms as they come with a funny memory and for me this is the best way to learn.
One exercise that stands out to me as the time when I really found myself getting involved, possibly for the first time, was a simulation and discussion that was spread across two classes. We started with an anarchist state (one that is in a state of disorder due to a lack of authority) and were told to organise it as best we could. This activity felt very unstructured as no one really knew what we were supposed to do. We had a lot of fun debating and talking about many different ways to run our new state; discussing what would and wouldn’t work and what we wanted to happen.
After a bit of time with none of us coming to any clear decisions, my teacher gave food to one member of the class, and from there we had to organise how this would be distributed. We continued through the class with my teacher adding more and more tests. Eventually, no one could decide on anything. We began to run out of time in the class to organise ourselves. We became an authoritarian state (one that involves enforced allegiance at the expense of freedom) with the entire class forced to pledge allegiance to one group of seven “equal” leaders. They, in reality, were powered by one person. There were some opposing groups; one that advocated for socialism (everything should be communally owned and regulated) and one that was attempting to enforce democracy.
In the next class, we talked about what we had done in the previous one, what kind of groups had formed, and how this correlated to the real world. We discussed how the seven leaders were able to create an authoritarian state as they had access to the food and other resources, and so forth. As we had all taken positions in the previous class, it helped me to feel comfortable to speak up as all of my peers were doing the same. These classes were so completely different from any other kind of class that I had experienced before, and it really helped fuel my interest in the subject. The fun of laughing with my friends and debating at the same time and not necessarily taking the exercise really seriously while still getting the work done made the experience very memorable. I learnt so much in this class, but somehow it didn’t feel like a task at all.
In reflection, I feel it was very productive as I am now very comfortable with the terminology we were learning to use. I remember these complex terms as they come with a funny memory and for me this is the best way to learn.
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