Student Government

The Child is running for Student Council. She and her friend JB are running for "Spirit Team". As I understand it, this will put them at the forefront of event planning and whipping up enthusiasm for said events. If anyone was born to an office, this is it.

I was in student government during college. I ran for Student Body Secretary with the slogan "Process AND Policy". I wasn't going to be just another pretty face taking minutes at Senate meetings, no siree. My ground breaking message resonated with the student population for I won in a landslide. The fact that the only person running against me was that year's student body president, who felt strongly that no one should just walk into a top office, is a mere historical footnote.

I was a good secretary and I DID have an influence on policy. I also got a 30% break on my tuition, met a ton of guys and scored some records. (The school radio station was defunct but we still received albums all the time. This was 1978. Some punkalicious goodness was crossing my desk nearly every day).

I was so compelled by the power of public service (plus all the guys and free records) that I ran for student Senate and served in that august capacity my senior year. I don't remember a single issue we discussed or policy enacted. I think we tried to legalize on-campus dancing.

The Child is very excited about the possibility of being on student council but it will be a tough race. This is one of the few that has significant competition with at least 2 other teams running as well. She's made posters, worked on a cute, spirited little speech and is thinking of taking cookies to her class on Monday with the word "Vote" spelled out in chocolate chips. For the record, she has no known ties to Jack Abramoff.

There's a funny thing that sometimes happens when she tries out for things. Part of me is encouraging. Part of me only wants her to do it if she's going to win. You know, just because I don't want her to be sad. But I keep my mouth shut on that point and she is, as she always has been, game for anything. Besides, win or lose it's a good experience for her. And frankly, this generation is pretty soft. They've been given trophies just for showing up for ball practise and had graduations from pre-school complete with cap and gown. My generation of parents, sorry to say, has been collectively so focused on "building self-esteem" in our children that we have cushioned them from the harder bits of life. Like competition and failure. Everybody, it turns out, is not a winner and we have done a bloody awful job of teaching that. (I'd like to say that The Spouse and I have attempted to distinguished ourselves from our peers in this regard and to some extent we have but it is pretty damn pervasive).

So losing is an option here and I've had to find ways to discuss this with her in a cushioning-for-a-possible fall sort of way without sounding like I don't think she can make it. So I've said things like, "Just because a person isn't elected doesn't mean they couldn't do a great job". To which she replied, "Like John Kerry." She's having fun campaigning and that in itself is fun to watch. And if she wins it will be an additional hammer which I will be able to hold over her head because we've told her that she must maintain a C average next year or she'll have to drop all her extracurriculars. She does not want that.

The election is on Monday and it will be free and fair. Paper ballots are still in use at St. G's and I'm confident the final vote will be legitimate and verifiable by U.N. Legitimate Election Verifier people. There was a Diebold salesman sniffing around in the hedges but The Principal sent Safety Patrol after him. He was pummeled with crossing flags until he cried. Don't mess with kids in hard hats.