Are you a fan of voting for Prom King, Queen, or Student Council President? Well, too bad. In real life, voters vote, not directly for the President of their choice, but for someone to be sent to the Electoral College to vote. Here we closely resemble the US Government; students really have no say, and the administration is who really controls who becomes student body president.
According to the Student Council sponsor Kim Oliver, she and Dr. Brackett have the final say.
“All officer positions are decided on by the sponsor and administration. An application process is followed that includeds an interview with administration. Admin has final say in officer positions,” she said.
Being selected by the sponsor and the prpncipal for such a position as STUCO president shows too much favoritism. “Teacher’s Favorite” would likely be a more accurate title.
Unfortunately, the feelings of the “average” Wildcat are so fragile, that voting for someone to speak for them would just put the biggest cloud over our parade. To avoid such assaults on the gentle student body, elections of a Prom King, Prom Queen, and STUCO President and never held.
According to Ms. Oliver, “campaigning is not allow at Har-Ber. This was decided by administration and student leaders. In an effort to allow everyone (regardless of popularity and economic status) equal opprotunity to serve on Student Council, there is no campaigning.”
We should be able to vote for a student body president. Sure, it gives students a title over the others, but if they present their candidacy more favorably than their opponents, then they should be given the position.
The president speaks for the student body, but ironically enough, the students don’t choose them. So, what’s the point in having one?
There’s also the question of a Prom King and Queen. In any John Hughes movie, this would just be the captain of the football team and the head cheerleader. While this may be true to some extent, unfortunately for everyone, life is not a John Hughes movie and believe it or not, students actually have integrity and the ability to speak their mind.
Why does this matter for the average student? Having a student bureaucracy of sorts could allow the students involved to build an attractive college application. If there were two students who were identical academically, but one of them had STUCO president listed as an accomplishment, then they would become the favorable choice.
The truth is that when Har-Ber does not allow the students the chance to select their leaders, they’re not just robbing us of the obvious; they are also preventing us from building a decent college portfolio, which could in turn open doors in the future.
