A Three Year Trip from Shanghai to the Netherlands

We were nearly stranded  in China when the first wave of Covid lockdowns hit in January 2020. I was chaperoning a group of students in Shanghai at a Model UN Conference. At the conclusion of the four days of resolution writing and debate, we flew home on January 21. We just made it out. I wrote this piece on January 23,  after getting back to Abu Dhabi, praising Shanghai dumplings and talking smack about high school debate. Unbeknownst to any of us, that same day the first Covid lockdowns began in Wuhan. Within a few weeks everything everywhere had closed. You know the rest of that story. 

The ECOSOC Committee (United Nations Economic and Social Council) in January 2020 at Concordia International School’s CISMUN Conference

Since the pandemic began, my students have been doing their Model United Nations Conferences and debates online. That doesn't sound like a big deal but it really, really is. Imagine going through a full day of school—sometimes in person, often online—then logging on to debate a policy paper you wrote on refugee resettlement with kids in Karachi, Singapore and Seoul, deep into the evening hours. They’re digital natives but I wouldn’t wish that much screen time on  my enemies. It was an insane ask of them and one they met.

Throughout the three year pandemic period, our club naturally shrank. But the students who remain are deeply committed and now seasoned delegates. So, from the moment the UAE government announced they were lifting all Covid restrictions on November 6, students in our Model UN Club have been full speed ahead to the THIMUN Conference in the Hague. The conference is massive: 3,200 delegates and advisors from over 200 schools.  The conference was held at the World Forum. The building is on a sprawling campus, bracketed by the UN International Criminal Tribunal, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Europol HQ.  During the conference, I spent hours circulating to the various committees where my students were debating. In the times between, I got to chop it up with teachers from London, Rome,  Cairo, Tashkent, Athens, and Kaiserslautern. 

The delegates in Environment Commission I, on the last day of debate

Longtime readers know that I am short (betting against) the near-term future, but long (betting for) the kids and their longer-term future. Each time I walked into the sessions in the Hague (with the exception of the chaos that went down in General Assembly I), I was reminded of why my sentiments about both—the near-future and long-term future—are so stark. It’s heartening to see students from all over the world  engaging in complex arguments, many in their second (or third or fourth languages) about disarmament, territorial disputes, human rights, environmental conservation, and myriad other topics. At the same time, I couldn’t help contrasting these delegates and their nimble thinking and commitment to making the best possible policy to the absolute Muppet Show of politics back home. Literally, we’d be better served by having one hundred randomly selected delegates from a conference like this sitting in the US Senate than the collection of fossilized culture warriors who occupy the North Wing of the US Capitol. I would trade Chuck Grassley for a random Jordanian teenager any day of the week.

This was a great experience for the students and for me. I got to spend some time wandering the streets of the Hague and taking in some of the sights. Although Hope and I have tramped our way around Europe, I’ve never been to the Netherlands. All the stereotypes about the Dutch speaking perfect English and being impervious to cold weather are spot on. Three plus years in the Gulf have softened me to how brutal a ten minute walk in two degree weather can be, while these fools were dining al fresco with their toddlers. 

We have one more conference scheduled for this year. But it's almost a home game, a smaller conference (800 delegates) at Dubai International Academy in the spring. It feels good to know that our next conference experience will be in a few months rather than years.

A Shanghai Travelogue: On the Merits of Dumplings, Debate, and Democracy

I have history with Zhōngguó, the Middle Kingdom, enough so that when word got out last winter we were departing the states, many people assumed we were China-bound. In 2018, we hosted two Chinese exchange students: Bob and Wong. I got a dose of being a dad for a moment; it cemented for me that I’m not cut out for parenthood. In the summers of 2014 and 2015, on the invitation from a visiting professor, we went to Chengdu in Sichuan Province to teach Chinese students in a summer program. I taught a blend of US history, American college culture and knowledge, and some theater. Each time before we began our teaching, we flew into a different city and traveled overland for three weeks. We spent time in Beijing, Xi’an, Hong Kong, and Macau. 

After our second trip to China in 2015, my school hosted a visit from President Xi and I hosted him for a lecture in my Government class. He spoke to my students via a translator -- it was surreal. If you think an urban high school is a stressful place, toss a phalanx of armed Chinese and US Secret Service into the mix. I’ve opined on that experience previously, but I continue to be struck by a line in his talk: “If you want to time travel, go to China. Go to Xi’an and see the Terracotta Warriors to understand the world 1000 years ago. If you want to go 500 years in the past, go to Beijing and see the Dragon Throne and the Forbidden City. But if you want to see the future, go to Shanghai.” 

Last week I took up his offer and made my third trip to China. As chaperones, I and a colleague accompanied a travel team of thirteen students from our school’s Model United Nations Program to Concordia International School for their Model UN conference, heretofore, CISSMUN. For the unfamiliar, Model UN is the international school equivalent of US high school debate. Over three days students… rather delegates... researched and wrote resolutions on various topics that they presented to committees to be debated, amended, and voted up or down. At this conference, there were committees on human rights (HRC), world criminal justice (ICJ), global health (WHO), economic and social matters (ECOSOC), and disarmament. Students took on roles representing various states. The conference had over 1000 delegates, from over 75 schools all over African, Asia, and Oceania. It’s a fascinating environment, an ocean of pant-suits and blazers. It felt like the NFL combine for aspiring lawyers, diplomats, and NGO workers.

CISSMUN was hosted by Concordia, a Christian K-12 international school, in an expat enclave in the city. We took an overnight flight from Abu Dhabi and landed in Shanghai at ten am. Y’all, Downtown Shanghai is Blade Runner. At CISSMUN, students did homestays with local families (awesome), so I was relieved of the usual hotel bed checks in the evening (more awesome). In my off-time, I checked all the usual Nate boxes: small talk about politics, knife-cut noodles, beef noodle soup, Shanghai dumplings (xiaolongbao), and several wanders through unfamiliar neighborhoods while listening to podcasts.

I was struck by the nature of my students’ task and how they rose to the occasion; Model UN is an amazing way for students to learn about the world. Writing resolutions requires regional specific knowledge, an understanding of recent history and international law, and the ability to present your findings in an organized, compelling manner. I had several students in my delegation who are veterans of MUN, including several who chaired sessions and were main submitters of resolutions. I think it is such a smart way of preparing students for life in an increasingly complicated world. 

I especially appreciate the skill-set they are developing when contrasted to the HS debate experience. No shade or smoke to debate coaches out there, but Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson are champion debaters. In a debate, students are often competing, rather than cooperating and sophistry is rewarded because a person willing to lie or make stuff up has an innate advantage over a person making evidence-based arguments. In Model UN, students all have a laptop in front of them. They fact-check each other in real-time and will pounce on non-sense and resolutions lacking evidence. On day two I watched a student from Hong Kong, with an Australian accent, representing Argentina, demand specificity on a human trafficking resolution, while sipping a juice box -- like a boss.

China’s human rights record is notably complicated (and the fact my student from Pakistan was unable to obtain a visa was a frustration to me). But on this trip, I heard Chinese students talk about the importance of tolerance, defend religious freedom, and call for protection of human rights. They overtly addressed their country’s domestic politics. Like my American students and my students in the Emirates, they want to build a more just and equitable future for their states. I can mess with that.