If my high school, Victoria Park CI, was a country in its own right – Victoria Parktopia let’s say – then I think we’d be doing pretty well compared to other entities in the United Nations (the Toronto District School Board).
Our government leaders (student council) have decent approval ratings. We ran a budget surplus for two consecutive fiscal (school) years. Citizen (student) engagement is high. We have significant representation on the UN Security Council (the TDSB Student SuperCouncil). Oh, and we just enshrined our first Constitution.
Only if we were a real country, eh?
Only if real world governance was as easy as high school student governance.
Only if being a Member of say, the City Council, was like being a member of Student Council.
Well, the reality is, student government and real world government are distinct in their own ways and although student governance and municipal governance have certain common characteristics, the two are otherwise worlds apart.
Though it is a representative body elected by the students of the school, a student council has a much different dynamic from that of a government institution like City Council. Being a part of student council could logically be compared to being a councillor but realistically, it is more like being a part of the mayor’s Executive Committee, the city’s own Cabinet of sorts.
There’s a real sense of intimacy you get when you work with a dozen fellow schoolmates over the course of an entire year. Shouting matches, personal attacks, and table banging – all of which are often seen in government institutions like City Hall– are virtually non-existent in student council offices across the land. We are just a small group of student leaders working towards a common goal.
Much like real world politics though, student council is what the electorate (students) make it to be. If the students choose to elect popular but incompetent people onto the council, the entire school ends up suffering. If they choose to elect kids who perform dumb stunts at the speeches assembly, the students are the ones who end up bearing the full burden when their school year ends up in the gutter. In other words, the stake of student government is truly in the hands of students.
Elections for high school student councils are often disparaged for being blatant popularity contests. More often than not, this is true. However, I honestly believe that there is still a considerable amount of students who base their decisions on a candidate’s substance, which includes experience, leadership abilities, and intelligence.
Still though, student council elections are intensely personal and emotional. Most of the time, the charismatic and jocular nature of a candidate alone can carry him or her to victory. Sometimes, a candidate’s physical features/looks can give him or her an advantage over the opponents. On this note, it’s easy to criticize students for being shallow and naïve, but I don’t think this phenomenon is limited to high school elections alone.
How many people voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because of his oratorical skills or skin colour rather than his policy proposals? How tempting is it to pick a candidate just because they look like they belong in the office they’re running for? Would you pick someone who had a ton of substance but was terribly inarticulate? Politics is more than about substance and policy. That much is universal.
Student council elections are personal as well in that friend is often pitted against friend. Situations like that put many students in a dilemma, forcing them to make choices they are uncomfortable in making. However, it is exactly the personal nature of these elections that makes them unique as well. Candidates really get to know the electorate and build connections with them because after all, a few hundred hands to shake and faces to remember is a lot less daunting than knocking on the doors of strangers in an entire city.
Though the complexities of procedure and bureaucracy are not as intricate as in real world government, red tape within student council and the school administration can make initiatives and progress painfully slow at times. Our student council has what I think is tremendous freedom in carrying out events and starting up new ones. Part of that is gaining the trust of staff advisors and school administrators. I always thought that they (advisors and administrators) want to empower student leaders as much as they can. However, administrators are busy people and sometimes, student council issues drift to the peripherals of their radar.
From my experiences, student council members are vulnerable to a motivation slide as the year drags on. I don’t blame them. Just by human nature, it is hard to feel excited and driven after your climactic event of the year has passed. Usually, this occurs in the middle of the school year (Semi-Formal for most Toronto-area schools). So for the rest of the year, the members may lose the interest and passion they once had for student council activities. It’s an inevitable process, I think.
One of the most effective ways in countering this process is the forging of bonds between council members. If the members feel they’re a part of a family, they’ll likely maintain that passion to do something great collectively. Whether the motivation within the council sustains itself all the way until the end of the year is the difference between having a decent school year and a spectacular one.
More often than not, high school student councils are dedicated too much to organizing social events rather than representing the student voice. It is my strong belief that part of a student council’s duty is to be the megaphone of the student body. They are the closest thing to high school student unions.
Like members of greater democratic institutions, student leaders should always be in touch with their constituency (student body) and really understand the issues that the students are concerned with. Interestingly, in this role, a student council becomes an interest group of sorts. After all, lobbying the administration for student interests is part of being the “megaphone of the students”.
From my experiences, staff advisors can play a huge role in making or breaking a student council. Last year, one of our advisors likened his role to that of the Governor General. In my opinion, I would argue that the role of staff advisors is more hands-on than that of our Queen’s representative. First of all, staff advisors say no a lot more often than the Governor General does. Secondly, they participate in our meetings and offer us much-needed advice and support, which the GG never does for Parliament. They’re more like the old style monarchs, there when you need them but staying out of your way most of the time.
In high school politics, there are far fewer political games played than there are in real world government. Unlike their real world counterparts, student council members seldom make decisions based on his or her re-election chances. I believe this is mainly due to the absence of a party system. Although candidates do not carry official party labels in municipal elections, they are still usually aligned with one political faction or another. For example, it doesn’t take a political pundit to know that Mayor David Miller is clearly a partner of the NDP.
At the high school level, there is really no need for students to be aligned into factions or parties, which are simply social constructs that divide more often than they unite and impede progress more often than they advance it. They don’t need it to get elected, stay in power, or advance an agenda, which are why I think parties exist. In fact, I think the absence of these groups encourages cooperation and independent thinking, both of which are integral elements of a high school education.
High school student government is certainly exciting and definitely impactful. It has a tinge of real world politics to it, but is still unique on so many different levels. The experience of being a part of student council is something truly life-changing. The two years I’ve been involved in student government have taught me lessons I would never have learned otherwise, lessons that could prove valuable if I decide to enter the political arena down the road.
