For the the first official running of this simulation, we will not use this part of the simulation. It is important, but it will be more important to classrooms that develop a real "Classroom Country" as outlined in the instruction manual.
For background information on the pledging of money, be assured that the money is all "make-believe" money. It is designed to help students learn the old cliché, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." The concept is that, while it is one thing to vote for great and wonderful ideas, each thing we agree to do means that we must give up something somewhere else.
To help students internalize this concept, individual classroom countries pledge the amount of support they will give to a specific proposal. The pledge will be in the form of their own imaginary classroom currency. The country's leaders must remove the pledged amount of money from their economy. They can do this through taxes, donations, etc. Then the money is transferred to the Electronic United Nations. For comparative purposes, a monetary exchange then converts the classroom currency to a common denominator so countries can see each member's relative support for the issue at hand. A record is kept of the amount pledged and monies received. In this manner, over a year's time, students can see how the issues they want to support can very quickly add up and the effect that will have on local taxes.
