Introduction
Representing the Czech young people, one of the activities of Petra Bezděková - the delegate of youth in our country - is to travel around different cities and inform students about this project. One of these lectures took place at our school on 28th March 2017. We , septima A and some other people, were explained the basics of the Youth Delegates Programme and shared couple of personal stories and advices. In addition to that, we have also learned how to participate in this long-term event and discovered some of its possibilities such as visiting New York or having the opportunity to participate in official UN debates.
Debate & Discussion
Although I am not a big fan of political discussions or politically-based studies, I got really interested in this project because of this lecture. Not only have we heard general information about this topic, but Ms. Bezděková also shared some of her personal experience. However, would she present more of her personal stories, I would certainly enjoy the lecture significantly more.
Adam Vacek
Although we were told that this lecture was going to be a discussion between the delegate and us, it ended up being a very boring monologue of hers which I didn’t enjoy. Even though I don’t wish to insult anyone, I must admit that I don’t believe that the young delegates are taken seriously and can actually influence anything.
Václav Knížek
The lecturer seemed to me a bit disappointed by our assertivity, because nowadays it is so hard to evocate interest in politics among teenagers. Although I found the lecture enlightening, most of my classmates probably didn't because they just didn't care, which is quite sad.
Barbora Šandová
My personal opinion is that Ms. Bezděková wasn´t actually leading any debate even though it was promised to be a debate. Most of the time she was talking only about her own experiences and there was no interaction between her and us. On the other, hand when there was a time for some questions nobody said anything.
Lenka Klementová
Even though I was quite invested in the topic I found it difficult to keep track of what Ms. Bezděková was saying. She seemed to get tangled in her own stories every so often and I couldn’t help feeling like she didn’t prepare her presentation enough. On the other hand, it was interesting to get to know her personal opinion on the whole experience.
Markéta Zindulková
Despite her being likeable and she looking like she knew what she was doing, I would prefer her to talk to us some other time instead of our lunch break. On the one hand, she was talking about interesting experiences of hers, on the other hand I just couldn't focus enough. I was just thinking about all these things I needed to do instead of sitting there and listening to her.
Kateřina Soukupová
The topic of what should have been a debate as we were told, was really interesting even though I could never imagine myself as a politician. However, the way Ms Bezděková presented it seemed very boring to me, despite of her unsuccessful effort to get us involved.
Lenka Nguyenová Xuanová
Even though I’m not really interested in politics and stuff related to them I thought that this lecture could be quite interesting, probably because the lady was younger than I expected. The beginning was actually quite nice, but as soon as she started talking about her personal experiences and showing her selfies with all the people from the UN I immediately became bored and my mind transfered to the realm of daydreaming.
Jan Mařík
The lecture seems to me like a good type of informing people who are interested in the topic. As we are young and our class is mostly not talkative, the discussion couldn't work as was expected. However we didn't have a chance to discuss anything. Due to her talking monotonously and us being tired, someone could even fall asleep.
Jakub Zahradník
Although I was looking forward to the lecture I did not enjoy it very much. Ms Bezdekova was talking quietly and when I asked her some questions she was not really able to answer them properly. I did not quite understand how the project works even though I participated in similar projects before. Having said that, I feel like I could spend the time more effectively.
Štěpánka Havlová
I must say that for me it was quite boring. Ms. Bezděková seemed really polite, so did her voice, but her speech was monotone and the content was not really interesting (for me). I bet that there are many classmates who liked it and who want also to participate and experience things she did, but unfortunately I'm not one of them. On top of that, we didn't have our classic lunch break, so we were hungry and annoyed.
Tereza Šlaisová
Although I find the topic of involving the young people in politics very interesting this lecture seemed a bit long to me. Everything Ms. Bezděková was talking about for an hour and half could be said in 10 minutes or less, so I consider it completely useless to just sit there instead of our lunch break. However, I would really like to get more information about the project, not just look at the selfie of her and her colleague.
Katka Merkunová
I did not enjoy this presentation that much. It cut our lunch break, which is a big relief when we have to be at school for 9 hours, and the topic was not really tempting as well. I have no ambitions in being involved into politics, so I would appreciate the lesson off more. The lady was nice and just a few years older than us, but she did not leave much room for question or discussion during her presentation. She talked more or less for like an hour and a half straight so it was pretty exhausting.
Martin Škopek
Unfortunately, I was late for school that day and so I missed the first part of the presentation. Maybe the first part was more interesting than the second part. But I can say that I did not like the presentation because I am not interested in politics at all. On the other hand some people who are really interested into politics and in EU must enjoy the presentation. For me it was just boring, because the only informations that the young lady told us in the second part was about all countries she visited and which famous people she met. Maybe if I was there for the whole presentation I would have different opinion.
Jakub Fišer
I was quite interested at the beginning of the lesson but I got lost immediately right after the introduction. Speaking for myself I did not really enjoy it. This topic of is certainly attractive for people focused on politics among whom I unfortunately do not belong. However I believe that it the idea of the incorporation of young people in the politics is amazing progress in achieving equality. However, the debate could have been better organised.
Edita Dvořáková
Reactions
Reaction to Václav’s opinion
I have to disagree with you because if it’s true what she said, they can present amendatory motions and therefore they can actually change the OSN resolutions. Especially when their opinion could be truly honest and not state bias.
Štěpánka Havlová
I honestly disagree with you. The whole reunion of the delegates seemed really serious in the video that Ms.Bezděková showed us. I really trust in the benefits they can provide to all young people around the world who might feel powerless against the rest of the world.
Edita Dvořáková
Commenting on Václav’s opinion, I need to admit that there is some truth about young delegates not being heard out, however, I believe, he missed the point Ms. Bezděková was speaking about. As a matter of fact, she mentioned they are facing the issue of their beliefs not having the same value as the opinions of older delegates.
Adam Vacek
Reaction to Lenka Klementová’s opinion
I need to partially disagree with Lenka’s last sentence even though I agree with everything else she mentioned above. Some of my classmates actually asked Ms. Bezděková some questions but she wasn’t able to answer them properly and tended to start talking about different things which was quite confusing.
Václav Knížek
Reaction to Tereza Šlaisová´s opinion
I totally agree with Tereza´s opinion that some of us were interested but I guess that maybe for half of the class it was just boring and useless because the topic was not interesting at all for them. To avoid this problem it would be better if it was not an obligatory lecture next time.
Lenka Klementová
Reaction to Katka M.
I have to agree with you on the fact that a half of the presentation, which included just facts that we could easily search on the Internet by ourselves, could have been summarized in shorter amount of time. It was more about the lecturer's personal experiences than what I thought the ‘debate’ would be.
Lenka Nguyenová Xuanová
Reaction to Katka Merkunová’s opinion
Even though I’m not interested in the topic as much as Katka is, I have to side with her on what she said, because the lecture could be a way shorter than it actually was.
Tereza Šlaisová
Reaction to Jan M.
I share my opinion with you. The selfies were pretty boring and not important at all. If it stayed out of matter of her personal enjoyment, it would not have to be so bad, but unfortunately it was.
Martin Škopek
Reaction to Václav’s opinion
I disagree with the statement that youth delegates are not taken seriously. Ms Bezdekova herself noticed that senior delegates were more interested in the speeches of the youth than in the ones of their colleagues. All in all, Youth Delegates project makes sense because, after all, we, the young, are the ones to rule the world one day.
Barbora Šandová
Reaction to Martin’s opinion
I definitely agree with what Martin said. The fact that we didn’t have a lunch break is one the reasons I wasn’t in the mood for listening to that lady. And I agree that her continuous speaking for almost an hour wasn’t really pleasant.
Jan Mařík
Reaction to Lenka Klementová
I completely agree with Lenka. As she stated, Ms. Bezděková wasn’t leading a debate, she only asked us if we had some questions. And with the information given, there was not even that much we could ask her. However, she did try to engage us into the conversation and keeping in mind that she probably isn’t an experienced lecturer, I’m still very glad that she came to our school.
Markéta Zindulková
Reaction to Markéta Zindulková
I would like to react to Markéta. Even though the preparation probably wasn't the most rigorous, I felt like she were there to talk about her experience instead of basic political facts. While many people would just tell us the facts, she tried to get us to empathize with the youth delegates.
Kateřina Soukupová
Reaction to Lenka Klementová's opinion
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but if it should be a discussion on a serious level and most of us were not interested in the topic or did not know any information about it, we have to be informed first, even if some personal experience are included or not. On the other hand, you are absolutely right that the interaction between her and us was really bad, maybe also due to the fact when we had a chance to ask anything, everyone was quiet.
Jakub Zahradník
Reaction to Štěpánka
I have to agree with Štěpánka, because I was really looking forward to this lecture, as we were already a bit informed about the topic (UN) and I supposed we could participate in the lecture. Nevertheless, I was disappointed that the presenter wasn’t prepared at all to answer the questions, although at the beginning of the presentation she mentioned that “this is supposed to be more like a discussion”
Katka Merkunová
Reaction to Martin
I completely agree with Martin’s opinion. The young lady was talking to much and her voice was very monotone. I was there for 45 minutes and she asked us for our opinion just once, which I find as inadequate. But at her defence, talking about something to about 50 people might be really hard sometimes.
Jakub Fišer
