IN this era of advanced technology, the need for today's youth to speak up has been at an all-time high. With all the harmful old practices, it is time for the young to take action and assert their existence, as they will be the leaders of tomorrow.
After experiencing the latest Global Education City Model United Nations (Gecmun X) conference last month, three delegates — Tashi van Ommen and siblings Bryant and Bianca Khu — shared their thoughts regarding the need for educators to train their students in the way they were trained through the Model United Nations (MUN) club.
Van Ommen, a 15-year-old Dutch Filipino, said that as the world is currently enmeshed in various issues, it is up to his generation to make a difference. To do so, the youth must "continue [to practice]" and "grow [their] God-given talents and gifts."
"I've noticed this a lot, and I really do believe [that] a skill that's being neglected [by many of the youth] right now is [the skill of diplomacy] and [the ability to collaborate] with other people. Lots of teenagers nowadays, including me, [choose to] go on their phones during their free time [instead of spending time with friends and family]," he said.
He explained that he could not judge others as he was constantly glued to his phone. But he acknowledged that this generation called for improvement because "if you don't know how to properly talk to people, [how well] do you expect [you'll do] with a job interview or [in communication] with a client [or people around you]?"
As members of their school's MUN organization, they agreed that programs such as their club can be crucial to youth development.
"I find MUN extremely beneficial [in promoting] awareness and enabling critical thinking in solving world issues that [your average] student [would not] usually discuss," 18-year-old Bryant said.
"[It] invites its students to really think about how [to] tackle a world issue [through] debate composed of different delegations." He believes his club is critical in creating leaders for present and future generations.
Bianca, also 18, acknowledged that certain aspects of the current educational system could be detrimental to students' individuality and ability to speak up amid injustices such as "restrictive rules" and "close-minded [educators] that disregard their students' efforts and beliefs."
She said establishing more classes that teach students about happenings around the world and more public speaking opportunities would help raise more confident and eloquent youth.
"In most Philippine schools, there's a notable hierarchy of respect between teachers and students. Students are expected to respect their higher-ups [regardless of whether or not they are in the wrong]. This poses a huge issue as it greatly discourages speaking up and forces students to remain silent and 'accept' what is being said, giving them no chance to express themselves and their varying viewpoints and perspectives," Bryant said.
Like Bianca's suggestions, he said professional debates should be normalized in the classroom to teach students to argue for different perspectives without the fear and argumentativeness most commonly seen in today's youth.
Adding on to the two siblings' inputs, van Ommen said that through the implementation of programs and classes like MUN and debate, students should be encouraged to be "more empowered to be self-directed learners and really dig deeper into what they are learning, rather than shutting [their questions] down."
The three agreed that it is the responsibility of parents and educators to properly train and educate students to be more confident and driven individuals striving to make a change in the world.
Andreanna Dy is a Grade 11 student at Faith Academy in Cainta, Rizal.
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