Student leadership has turned into a sham.
In theory, giving students leadership opportunities in their schools is a great plan. Identify potential leaders of tomorrow, give them the skills and tools they’ll need, and let them loose on the world to make it better.
That’s not what’s happening in our schools.
For every officer in a student organization who is genuinely dedicated to the cause, there are two more just looking for another extracurricular activity to tack on in bold font to a college application or résumé. Colleges, we are told over and over again, are not just looking for stellar grades, but “high-impact students” who are “deeply involved with their communities.” To impress admissions, we are told, we should have several high-ranking positions in a school club or organization. If we save a village in the Congo while we’re at it, well, it certainly doesn’t harm our case.
The pressure creates a culture of obligation. Joining as many clubs as you can is obligatory. Volunteering with a charitable organization becomes a chore rather than an enthusiastic opportunity. And for those who really want to get ahead, the only way to go is up the leadership ladder. Secretary, treasurer, historian, vice president and president. With every ascending step, we’re becoming more attractive to colleges and employers. The organization and its goals don’t seem to matter.
Leadership has become about self-improvement instead of helping others. When these students enter the workforce with that mind-set, our whole society suffers. These students are future CEOs, state legislators and politicians. We can see today what harm these leaders cause when they work in their own self-interest. Do we need to raise another generation of them?
Success as a leader needs to be measured by what was accomplished, not by the position held.
There are 70 student organizations at my school. Some of them have been inactive for years. Others have grown so large that they aren’t so much organizations as they are mobs, waiting to be summoned for “meetings” in the largest room our campus can provide.
So when 44 of us students were gathered and told by our principal that we should have found a leadership opportunity by now, the numbers make sense. But when she said that, my friends and I all looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
We just don’t think being an officer in a club is the same thing as being a leader. A leader has to be more than someone who assumes responsibilities and gets things done. A leader has to be more than someone who can speak well and appeal to the masses. A leader has to do all this and inspire others to do the same. A leader has to lead.
My school’s motto is “Leading With Pride.”
Our principal repeats this phrase at each pep rally. I find myself invariably yelling the same chant, louder and louder until my ears are ringing and the entire room seems to be unreal.
In that moment I want to do something to support my school. My principal makes the school seem like something more than the sum of the students and the faculty and linoleum tile. When I leave the pep rally, the school seems a little brighter than it did when I arrived.
This is the world that a leader can make people see. This is what a leader is — someone who can bring out the best in people to reach a common goal. This is the kind of leader I want to be in my community.
With such a great role model right on campus, there’s no reason to think that we can’t raise great, selfless leaders in our communities. But to get there, we have to care more about our common goals and less about our individual résumés.
Megan Fass is a senior at Plano West Senior High School and a Student Voices volunteer columnist. To respond to this column, send an email to voices@dallasnews.com.
