I read with astonishment that the President of the National Assembly received students who will make a model of the United Nations at the headquarters of the legislative authority. With all the problems of inefficiency and parliamentary ignorance, it seemed to me that it was not a suitable environment to represent the world’s highest organization for discussions and proposals to achieve peace.

What does that model consist of? In imitation of a UN conference, where each young delegate represents a member country, previously assigned to him, which they have studied, knows their problems and has to defend his proposals and claims, as if he is really their ambassador to the United Nations forum and will have a mission reaching agreements that satisfy their interests.

It will be a challenge to find allies, negotiate with others and defend what you believe will contribute to the well-being of your country with arguments and an excellent presentation.

You must be able to analyze opposing and related arguments, draft resolutions, seek alliances and consensus, work as a team. The real teaching of democracy.

I thought this training would be useful to many MPs, but that is a different matter altogether.

And I thought that it would be an excellent way of learning to live in a democracy if young students at the end of high school or some university studies applied a similar model to our most everyday and close reality. In the long run, political training will bear fruit in the present and future of the country. Knowing where we are going and how we can do it gives a collective identity, along with the culture and history that are the roots that anchor this small piece of land in the collective adventure of humanity.

What would happen if they were trained to be a mayor or a mayor, if they had to solve the problems of their canton? It would be interesting if, for example, schools in the 25 cantons of the province dedicate part of their students’ training in the final cycles to getting to know other municipalities in the province of Guayas.

To visit the population, find out something about their main needs, talk to their mayors, listen to their proposals and work plans, present the demands of their citizens and listen to their answers and programs.

And in class, express your opinion about what you saw, what you considered positive in the works carried out by the authorities and which you think should be changed or prioritized.

Choose a student to be the mayor of the canton you studied in and hold an assembly where all the student mayors will be present. Mayors should be visited within the public, without the right to speak and vote, they will be there to listen and learn.

They will need to agree on the priorities they need to address and how to do it. And it would be nice if everyone knew something about successful experiences in cities in other countries, which they can learn about on forums and with special guests. Above all, how cities like Itzapalapa, Medellín, Curitiba have solved their security problems.

Personally, I am very interested in what young people propose who are not yet limited to one model of democracy. (OR)