IB Global Politics: International Trade Game

An oldie, but a goodie; the Seniors played International Trade Game this morning. The basic premise of the game is to introduce or highlight various mechanics of trade as it relates to development, globalization, inequality, and sustainability. The flow of the game was loud, messy, and contested...just as both global trade and good learning should be. The debrief season in HL2 was one of the best we've had in some time. Students were able to articulate the role the geography, technology, strategy, relationships access to resources, information, and more all played into the politics of development. One of my favorite insights, and there were several from the game, was from a student whose country was among those without access to technology, "I wasn't born to be poor." This insight reflects the real and salient issue that the bottom billion face each and every day. One of the suggestions for improving the mechanics of the game for next time was to "set up enforcement mechanisms to be sure that everyone is trading fairly"; keen insight from a 17 year old who is calling for rules and institutions to assist in the global governance of trade.