The U.N. and the Challenge to Provide an International Education
When the United Nations formed in 1945, there was a lot of interest in creating an affiliated educational initiative. Advocacy for a specialized school came from both within and without the organization, and after some debate about pedagogy, the United Nations International School (UNIS) was established in 1947.
In this episode of New York: A Portrait in Sound, you’ll hear the many voices of students as they describe their education and their relationships with their peers of other nationalities.
Two main concerns arose in the discussion of establishing a UN School; first, who would be allowed to participate? A committee of New York educators proposed to UN officials a school open not only to children of UN diplomats, but also to American children from outside the UN community. Arthur Sweetser, co-founder of a school in Geneva with similar international values, provided an alternate view based on his own experience, suggesting the school be lead under the advisement of UN parents, and that admission be limited to UN children.
The second concern regarded the mission of the school itself: would its goal be to create educated, international “citizens of the world”? Or would the school emphasize student’s cultural roots, maintaining their connection to their unique language and culture while growing up in the US? In the above clip from the 1960s, you’ll hear the headmaster and various teachers talk about the wide range of nationalities represented and the school’s focus on teaching world history.
In the end, of the approximately 1,000 children of UN officials in 1948, 70% were under the age of nine, and the UN’s private International Nursery School opened in 1947 with twenty pupils of fifteen nationalities. Today, the private International School has over 1,550 students of 125 nationalities, accepting applications from children both within and without of the UN community.
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