The student council is a concept that is present in most of the international schools and is widely adopted. This council is meant to be a group of students who are elected by the student body; the group’s duties are to address the schools’ and the students’ problems. This group is elected by the students and they are to elect those who are best fit to accomplish this duty. The members of the council are the president, vice president, class rep, and treasurer.

The system was created to represent democracy, self-government and the importance of student participation.The council also helps convey the student’s ideas and concerns with the administration. The purpose of creating the student council was to develop communication, leadership skills, responsibility and accountability in students. The students are trusted
with money and are forced to be
responsible and to contemplate the
repercussions of their actions.

The council teaches students how it is to participate in government. This is material that cannot be learned in regular classes, and is an great experience for the students.

However, although this system of a student council may look good on paper, it does not always translate into reality. What is occurring in most schools is that the council is given minimal responsibilities and has a minuscule effect on changes in there. The council has little to no value and is just a trophy.

Additionally, the student council members are decided by their popularity instead of their policies. This is because the voters are biased towards their friends during the voting. This can skew the results heavily since those who are popular have the most friends, consecutively more votes are cast for them.

Furthermore, this has a snowball effect. According to a survey that was sent out to ISB, most voters look for whether or not the candidate has previously been in the student council or not. Therefore, once someone gets elected, their chances of getting elected next time is dramatically increased, leaving little room for new candidates.

The final trend that blows this snowball effect out of proportion is that most of the students are too afraid to run for student council. This is due to the fact that most of the people who make student council keep making it in succession, and the students assume that this pattern will continue.

Also the repercussion of running for student council and not making it, is teasing from friends and embarrassment. The combination of both of these result in most potential candidates being deterred from running for the council.

In retrospect, although the student council was created with good intentions, it did not turn out the way it was planned. The student council is a popularity contest where students vote for their friends, and those with the most friends win. Also, those who have previously been in the council have a greater chance of making it next time.

It is possible that all the conflict about the student council was just because of miscommunication. Due to this uncertainty, we can not draw any conclusions yet. For now, we have to wait and watch to see how the implementation of this new StucoLine works out.

Adarsh Abbagani