schoolyard subversion

2001-01-23 [< * >]

Counsel with the Students on Student Council

As our Student Council works to redraft its Constitution, I think it's an ideal time to restructure the way that Student Council works. Sadly, our Student Council, like the vast majority of those in America today, is little more than a glorified, poorly-functioning, misrepresented popularity contest. Luckily, this can be fixed and Student Council can be made one of the best parts of our curriculum.

How it Is

Currently, our Student Council is set up as a representative democracy, in a sort of imitation of our own government. Students are voted for not on their ideas or policies, but because people get along with them (mostly because they share similar opinions). Many students run for office not because they are committed to Student Council, but because they crave the thrill of competition and the acceptance of their peers.

Many insist that while our system is not an ideal system, it should be continued because that's the way it is in "the real world". I respectfully suggest that this reasoning is a mistake. The differences between the real world and our own community is so great that the systems cannot be compared. Even if they could, giving in to problems without trying to fix them would teach nothing but cynicism to our students. ("Politics is stupid -- it's just like Student Council in High School -- a big popularity contest where nothing important is ever done.")

Instead, we should try to make the system the best we can and teach our students the power of agreement and working together.

How it Could Be

Fortunately, we have the opportunity to just that. Instead of a representative democracy, where the views of the many are poorly represented by the few, we have the ability to create a participatory democracy where all can take part. The school tries its best to teach democracy and civics, but there is no better way to learn about these then to experience them in real life.

If we are to invite every student to Student Council, we must make it easy for them to do so. It would not be difficult to find a period a week in the schedule to give to Student Council. These fifty minutes are surely worth it as they will be at least as educational (if not more) than any other class we give. That way, with a portion of the week specifically set aside for it, we will have no trouble getting students to come to the meetings.

Getting them to participate, however, is another matter. Currently Student Council has very little (if any) power to make a difference in the school. However, to encourage student participation, Student Council could be given a reasonably large budget, for use at their own discretion. In addition, they should have the ability to vote on the allocation of school funds to important items.

This Student Council time could also be made into a "Town Meeting" -- a true town meeting. One where every student had the right and ability to voice their opinion or breach a subject that was important to them. A time when the Upper School could come together and discuss issues facing the community and work together to solve them.

I'm sure you can forsee the incredible effects this would have on our school and the enormous benefit over our current Student Council system. Giving students a taste of democracy and the ability to improve their school will repay itself many times over. The proposal I outline, while radically overhauling our Student Council, is perfectly possible if we are willing to give it a chance. And if we do give it a chance, I'm sure we will be justly rewarded.

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