Who feels that the Prefect elections are popularity contests, to an extent? (1 Viewer)

[LoneWolf1990]

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of these little 'elections' I instantly know that it's a popularity contest, that most(there are a few good people in office) of the non-straight people already won this. Who feels the same?

 

[risole91]

they pretty much are.

 

[Aplus]

That's what an election is.

 

[LoneWolf1990]

Yeah, yeah, yeah I get that but what really bugs me is that a certain posse managed to worm themselves into an influential state, you get what I mean?

 

[michael1990]

They have to be.

If you are liked, you will get a vote. Simple?

 

[ccc123]

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of these little 'elections' I instantly know that it's a popularity contest, that most(there are a few good people in office) of the non-straight people already won this. Who feels the same?

They're not even popularity contests. Or captains/prefects aren't particulary well liked by many people, but are in the positions they are because they are experts at ingratiating themselves to theeachers.

 

[Caitlin63]

Its a popularity contest. Simple as that. But sucking up to teachers also counts if the teachers in your school can vote.

 

[romancandle]

Hey guys,

I go to a school where the election of prefects and school leaders has been scarred by corruption and extremes including popularity contests and leaders that were placed in positions by the staff, and consequently had no respect.

Actually our x school captain, Mitch Donaldson based his speech on the corruption that was inherent in the system. It was so good it was sent around to other schools (so some of you might have read it). In response, the whole system was overhalled.

In order to be considered for either school captain, vice captain, prefect our house captain and vice positions, you must first submit an application. All who submit applications make it to the voting stage where the year group, staff members and the last year’s leaders vote. From those categories you must receive at least 25 votes. Those who get let are cut from the list. This shrunk our list of about 140 applicants down to 48 (from memory). The headmaster then randomly selected staff members from different areas of faculty to form an interview committee.

All those who got more then 25 votes were then interviewed for 10 minutes each. The committee then recommended 6 students to the headmaster, who had a ½ hour interview with each. From those a school captain, 2 vice captains were selected and the remaining 3 were given the title of executive prefect. The committee then decided on a final list of around 15-18 others who were given prefect positions. No second round offers were made and the system seems to have worked thus far without any signs of corruption or outside influence.

I reckon this system combines the popular vote. Leaders need to be popular or otherwise the sheep aren’t going to follow them. It also makes sure that a ‘too cool’ with air in his head and horrible leadership schools isn’t going to get a high position.

 

[wuddie]

that, my friend, is about the most complicated process for selecting the most over-rated position in the history of mankind. even the pm is just a simple number in the ballot box.

let's admit it, anything in the school is selected on a popularity basis, period

i was a prefect myself, and i will put my hands up to say we, as a group of student executives (10 of us), did about zilch in the whole year. obviously, there's the occasional visit to other schools, donation collection and whatnot. but nothing extraordinary, nothing at all.

i don't think any student leader has done anything amazing in their time. in fact, i challenge anyone to tell me otherwise. it is nothing more than a badge.

 

[Aplus]

Some of those speeches are too deep. Talking about change and reform and all that lol.

 

[Jes03]

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of these little 'elections' I instantly know that it's a popularity contest, that most(there are a few good people in office) of the non-straight people already won this. Who feels the same?

Hi everyone,

I definitely agree that school captain is a popularity contest. I go to a QLD school and we recently had our 2021 School Captain election. Originally there were 13 applicants, including myself. However, at the interview stage, this changed to 11. All 11 of us were successful and went onto speeches. Both students and teachers vote at my school. Our school normally has 4 positions, but next year there will be five because of how close the votes were.

Unfortunately I was unsuccessful and I do think this was largely due to the fact that although I was overqualified and had many great initiatives, I wasn't the most popular student. I did receive quite a few votes, but not enough and its disappointing to think that many students would vote for their friends and not think about how these students could actually benefit the school as a whole.

From years 7 - 10, I was an active member of my school's Student Council, taking on positions of Junior Treasurer and President. I had been awarded with an ADF Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork award and various scholarships for my school and community service. I had entered numerous public speaking competitions and was just an overall good student. I was an academic and had planned to design a student fund in which through fundraising efforts, the students themselves would benefit. I wanted to get everyone's ideas on board and to do this, I designed a school satisfaction survey.

Instead, the people that were selected had little to no leadership experience, poor manners and behaviour, had non-existent public speaking skills and would often misbehave when teachers were not around.
It made me look differently at the school and the students. It shows what the system is all about, being built with a hidden agenda of not selecting students on true leadership characteristics and their potential contributions but rather their level of popularity. It may be a badge to some, but it is much more to others. If we never question the system and ask why things are happening, this is why there is no significant change. We, as students must ask questions and not be afraid to form opinions about the obvious bias that it existing within our schools.