Agents for ‘world peace’ — inside the United Nations International School
A cultural institution that gives students an access all areas pass to the world, the United Nations International Schools (UNIS) gives students a trip around the globe in just a stroll down the school hallway.
“We’ve got over 60 countries represented among the staff and that diversity of cultures from within the teaching staff brings about perspectives that can only really be achieved here,” Executive Director Stewart Walker told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
“Even at other international schools around the world, you don”t find that diversity among the staff and that’s a critical piece for us to maintain.”
Nestled between the East River and Franklin D. Roosevelt highway in Manhattan, central New York City, UNIS stands at the eastern edge of midtown where it overlooks the rest of the city. As a symbol for both international heritage and cultural diversity, it’s a crossroads for children and families across the globe that are looking for a unique, international educational experience.
“We’ve got these kids around the world who interact with each other and therefore get an international understanding that is based upon personal friendships and personal relationships, which is the strength from it,” Walker said.
Established as an International Nursery School in Queens, New York, UNIS was formed by a group of UN parents in 1947 who wanted their children to maintain their cultural upbringing, as well as to receive an education that would allow them to matriculate back into their national educational system.
Quickly transforming from an enrollment of just 20 children to a fully fledged educational institution by the late 1950s that included campuses in both Queens and in Manhattan, the student admission also started to include those outside the UN community — families from both the non-governmental sector and local New York scene.
Today with 1,550 children from all ends of the globe attending UNIS, a little more than half of the student population has parents that are working for the UN or missions attached to the world body. A quarter of the students are internationally based, with the remaining 10-15 percent from the United States.
“It’s not good enough to simply just come here and to be a privileged child who gets a wonderful education,” Walker said. “The mission of the school and the United Nations is really about creating a new world order — one that is based upon peace and understanding.”
“It’s really to take that experience and to build on it and take the understanding that you have here, to take that commitment you get to community service to make a positive change, to take it out into the world,” Walker said.
With the UN values as the cornerstone of UNIS, Walker urges students to go out and make the “positive change that is based upon these ideals that are espoused right through their education here.”
The UNIS Junior School provides kids with the necessary cushion when transitioning from home to being in school full-time. Walker says relationship-building starts in Junior A (kindergarten), where teachers work on engaging children in a nurturing environment with group activities both in and out of the playground.
Life-long themes are explored in Junior School in connection with the ideals of the UN Charter, such as self-esteem, respect for others, integrity, personal responsibility, and cooperative partnership.
According to the curriculum on the UNIS website, in addition to the core academic subjects that are taught, kids are taught art, music, science and movement by specialists. Computer studies are introduced early on so that kids are taught different modes of communication and information retrieval, as well as problem solving.
A hands-on environment, the Junior School encourages these youngsters to get an international perspective — whether it be in a science lab exploring under a microscope lens, cooking a cultural meal, sharing a tale from their origin, or singing a song in their mother tongue.
“Our connection to the UN is critical for us,” he said, while commenting on a recent visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to rally kids for the UN’’s campaign “To Stand Up Against Poverty” on Oct. 16.
Kids prepared posters and signs that welcomed him — treating him like a “rock star,” Walker said.
The skills that the students acquire in Junior School allow them to understand their sense of “self” in preparation for their studies in Middle and High School at UNIS. Middle School builds upon the skills of self-reliance in those crucial years of forming their own personal identities, as well as peer-group identification.
Source:Xinhua
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