Democracy is overrated - Camille Getz Tuesday, May 29, 2012 By The Staff Advertising The Student Council’s new plan leaves the choices for next year’s student body officers in the hands of adviser Patricia Dias and this year’s seniors. That, in itself, is undemocratic. We admit that fully. Yet it may be the best solution to the problems that Student Council faces. The problem, simply put, is inefficiency. Country Day has had complete democracy for decades—student body officers elected by a popular vote of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Too often the officers chosen have been ill-fitting for the job or ignorant of what it required. Occasionally we chose the best-qualified people for the job. Much of the time, however, the student body voted for other reasons. They voted for friendship, popularity or one of a thousand other reasons completely unrelated to a candidate’s ability to govern. Sure, these changes do make it less democratic. But why must our student government be a full democracy? As much as we hate to admit it, our Student Council is essentially a social committee. It does a good job of planning dances, school events, community service, bonding between grades and more, but what the Student Council does not currently do is act as the representatives of the student body to the administration. However, they provide a valuable service, and, quite frankly, our school is so small and teacher-student relationships are so personal that that kind of student government is simply unnecessary. And why does a social committee need to be a full, representative democracy? Isn’t it more important that we have an effective committee that represents what the student body wants and can efficiently provide it? This new system can make that happen. Now members will need to make a significant time commitment and will receive a grade for their participation, resulting in better-qualified, time-committed officers. They will now apply for officer positions, be interviewed and be selected from among a cadre of experienced Student Council representatives. Our only complaint about this change is the addition of three new representatives for every class. Yes, it allows more student participation on the council, but having five class representatives for every 30 students (or so) is simply excessive. Five members doing the work of two will allow students to coast through without demonstrating real dedication and could make it more confusing and crowded than can be justified. We don’t know if these improvements will work. We can’t know and we admit that fully. But our current system simply will not do: it is inefficient, ineffective and a popularity contest. We applaud the Student Council for remedying that.

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