That's a line from Little Wonders, a song by Rob Thomas. Yeah. Just a thought to someone who's undergoing a lot of stress in the past few days. I mean, it's quite obvious to see, what with SLI and all the council stuff... And nope, its not Johno...
It's our new council president, Zhongming. Yup, we know how much you've tried to put in for everything you do for the school, but you have to understand, it's not you we're still mad at. It's more like, the attitude the council has, and inadvertently the school has. The fact that the various boards are acting up against each other is bad enough; now the total lack of school unity, good management and the sheer disorganization of the council and school is putting everyone off. It's not your fault; we just hope that with a new head, things can finally be better, and we can move ahead to become a "higher-class" school. I mean, just look at today's SLI; sad as it is to say, it's quite badly done, from rehearsals, to choice of theme, to the presentation of the final event itself.
Now, there are quite simple ways to give our dearest school a new lease of life, in an effort to kick-start a new order of business that should and would probably last for as long as the school. Be very careful what you do, Zhongming; any traditions, rules or even ways of doing things will probably be held for a long time.
Firstly, you MUST get rid of the notion that the council can and will do everything, or even as much as they can for the school. The purpose of having different boards in the school is not so there can be as many student leaders as possible; it is to have each board and eventually each student specialize in a different area of leadership. In the case of the council, they are still labouring under the notion that they can and should take on every event that occurs in the school. This is a relic from ancient times; though this worked 3 years ago, when there were only 2 levels in the school, it is NOT going to apply now. There comes a time when everyone has to grow up, and leave some things behind. NOW is the time for the council to do just that. NOW is the time to make changes, to clearly define the roles of the various boards, societies, and ambassadors in the school. Take action now, Zhongming, or you might just find that it is too late to do so. The only way forward is the way through the youth; you MUST change this mindset before the younger councillors catch it, and spread it in turn to their younger councillors. Trust me when I say there is very little time; in your words, STEP UP NOW; you do NOT want this attitude to continue on in future incarnations of the council.
Therefore, you should redefine the role of the council ASAP; in most other schools, the council prides itself on being the link to other schools, to, in effect, be the ambassadors of the school. It is not an easy job; events like SLI or random symposiums held by the school are hosted by the council. Here, do not worry that the school body will think that you are not doing anything for them. Just because the council does not actively and obviously give benefits and advantages to you should not be sufficient reason to label them as "useless". Even so, remember what is the definition of a leader; he is, in essence, a servant. And, unfortunately, servants do not always get recognition, or even appreciation for their efforts. Take it in your stride; even though the student body may mock and jeer at you, there are always some who will see past the "obvious" useless-ness, and appreciate you all the same. Live for these people. These are the ones that truly see; do not succumb to random insults by people who cannot even see deeper than face value.
Since most schools already have this system of the council being "ambassadors of the school" working, it would be good to model them. Train up your councillors to excel in hosting coat-and-tie events; investitures, symposiums, school opening ceremony, formal concerts, etc; in effect, things that have to be done in a very strict and formal way, or if parents or the public are involved. Councillors are the face of the school; any other councillors that visit our school immediately look to a councillor to judge the standard of the school. Be the best councillors you can be; train your councillors in all the ways to be formal and smart and how-to-public-speak. This is the school's image; with all images, it might be fake, but it definitely has to look good.
The next step would probably be to work with the president of the PSL's, to once again redefine their roles. Now, this might be a problem, as you are only the president of the student council. Yet, it is crucial that the problem must be solved both ways, with the minimum of delays. Therefore, you have to talk to the PSL's. The only thing important is that the rivalry between them, imagined or not, must be dispelled. Now, it is probably easier this year, as I think May Fong is president? She will be open to any discussion; frankly, I think everyone is sick with the way the council and the PSL's compete for events.
PSL's, as their name suggests, support their peers. they provide the foundation on which the school body places its spirit and soul; they lead classes on their orientation, and should be specializing in, (yes, I'm going to say it), encouraging the heart. That is the true strength of the PSL's; usually made up of more popular people, their job is to handle internal events such as 2+2 day, Games Day and Orientation. They can sometimes provide the workforce for some events, like manpower for slightly more informal fund-raising concerts. (for your information, the concert by Ms Flo is informal, while Pianissimo and other parent-related events are usually very, very formal. o.O) I can't really think up of more events like this, but I think you get the picture; PSL's concentrate more on the informal, school-based internal activities, while the council should turn its focus outward. No one wants to come to a formal event, and be greeted by (frankly) informal looking ambassadors of the school. Imagine if Mitchell was the MC for today's SLI; he would provide a lot of laughs, but that isn't what's needed in a formal Investiture. Yet he excels in being the MC or whatever for the Pirates of the Clementi thing. (which I think is kind of lame, but still, I guess they need stuff to do, and we need to relax every now and then)
It is the balance between the PSL's and the council that will define how well the school spirit runs; if every formal event is strictly held "formal" by the presence of the councillors, the school will naturally bend to make sure that every time there is a formal event, they behave themselves. On the flip side of the coin, internal events are meant to be slightly more relaxed, and we can afford to have more clowns like Mitchell on stage, because that will spur the rest of the school to let their hair down too.
I think this is very important; the school, or mainly the younger levels do not seem to have the discipline to behave during formal events; for example, when Reico was making his speech this morning and said "faces" or something wrongly, the year 3s and 4s repeated it and started laughing. I think this is very rude; it's an honest mistake, and don't they realize that this would make him nervous, and probably stumble more? Truly enough, in the next few lines he made a few more speech-related blunders. I think you yourself should know; you just made a speech up there today, and I don't think people laughing at your blunders is going to help your confidence a lot. Now, this might be excused if it was just anyone or even a teacher addressing the school; however, it happens even when a "distinguished speaker" comes to speak. This may be because the school has no model of how to behave when in a formal setting. Thus, the councillors, being role models for the rest of the school, should be setting an example.
Now, I am not saying that you guys are not setting a good example or anything; just that you should be more focused in doing so. The council should train itself in the ways to carry itself in everyday events. I am also not saying that it is the councillors fault, or your fault. I just feel that as head honcho, you have to take the lead in making changes (I'm not just saying that -_-), cause everyone is just waiting for you to make your first move as president.
Now, in my old school, all we had left were the class reps/CCA leaders and the sports captains; their roles were basically described in their names, with the sports captains basically putting their all into cross-country and Sports Day, while the class-reps/CCA leaders were... well they had a nice badge, and took good care of their classes or CCA's. However, our school has the irritating habit of creating some rather dubious leadership boards with obscure purposes which should have belonged in my land of smoketitude.
So, we see the creation of boards such as NEA's, Interactors, Music Ambassadors, House Captains, CCA leaders, and most recently, rumours of yet another board, the Sports Ambassadors. Now, its no problem to have everyone in the school as student leaders; the problem only comes in when everyone tries to lead the same thing at the same time. Now each of these boards should be defined clearly, and any venturing out of their so-called "domain" should be strongly discouraged, and should only be done under unanimous vote.
Anyway, it's your decision whether to implement these changes or not; you ARE the president of the student council. Take it one step at a time; things usually turn out better that way, and you'll definitely feel more relaxed. Whatever it is, just know we're waiting for you to make your first move, and remember that irregardless of how the rest of the school thinks, the Year 5s will probably support the only male councillor who bothered to step up in year 3.
Don't worry; personally I believe (and hope) that this year there will be some changes, especially in the school leadership structure. If the school is to go far, it has to have a good leadership framework, and it starts with YOU. So no pressure!
I realized after I wrote all that it was really like a letter to Zhongming, so I think I'll let him see the blog. I mean, what harm could be done (I hope) by doing that? Hmm... he's not online, so I'll send an offline message later.
Anyway if you do read this, remember that there are some people who you can still talk to; this level may have lost its fangs, but there's still poison behind these gums. And if there's one person who still stands up and fights, I don't think that the enemy has truly won the war.
P.S.: I started writing this at 8.21pm and I posted this at 12.20am or thereabouts. Wow.
