The Dreaded Student Council

mflevity
Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:49:27 +0000

Is Student Council/Student Government something that competitive colleges expect to see on kids’ resumes? Will it count against me that I don’t have it?

I only ask because, at my school, both are pretty much a complete joke. Student Council meets once every two weeks to discuss either a) the planning of school dances or b) fundraisers to get more money to plan school dances. For the record, we only have 2 dances a year.

Student Government is completely fundraising-centered. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but there is no leadership involved at all.

Both receive quit a bit of “guidance” from their staff sponsers. They are both heavily based on popularity–for example, last year, stucco and class office speeches were taped in advance, with the idea that they would be played on all school moniters during homeroom. Technology malfunctioned; we never saw/heard the speeches at all.

And our class president is a popular girl who does drugs.

Is this typical of public high schools? Do you think it is even worth running, to demonstrate leadership? Or is it better to focus on showing leadership through other extracurriculars?