Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

In real life, power in United States schools is in the hands of the principal and faculty and the board of education; and of course, these are subordinate to the power of state and federal courts. In England and Wales it lies with the Headteacher, the Board of Governors and the Local Education Authority. Other jurisdictions, including Scotland, may have their own arrangements. To create the illusion of students having power over their lives at school, student councils are forged. In truth, these groups are largely figurehead posts, the only real power they have is superficial and the only benefit is a student council slot on your college application under "extra curricular activities" and an extra picture in the yearbook.

* Taken to its logical extreme in ''[[Shattered Angels]]'' where the post apocalyptic scholastic city of Academia is ruled by an iron fisted student council. Along with the power to imprison and even use capital punishment, they have an inquisition-like force (which consists largely of [[Expy|exported characters]]) of secret police.

* ''[[Hana Yori Dango]]'' consists of 4 self-proclaimed gods of the school; They pay off the school to allow them to get away with ANYTHING, including publicly humiliating students they don't like.

** Actually, the treasurer of the Council,[[Defrosting Ice Queen|Juri]], was briefly seen in one episode talking with a teacher about Student Council-y stuff. By the way, the teacher seemed pretty much ''terrified'' of her.

** In an odd pass, neither the school nor the Council itself ever thinks to hold "elections" for a new Vice-President and no one ever blinks for a second when Nanami declares herself President in her brother's place.

** [[Hand Wave|Handwaved]] when a teacher goes to the principal because he thinks the student council is getting too much authority, and she decides not to interfere—not because she's afraid of them (as would be typical of this trope) but simply because she doesn't want the students to feel inadequate and, well, like a ''real'' student council.

* This seems to be common in [[Yuri]].

** ''[[Strawberry Panic!]]'' takes this one and runs with it: the setting involves a complex three-schools-in-one situation, and the student councils and their goings-on are given a great deal of ceremony, and the members are treated like royalty, with just getting to see the Etoile (the one who is above the three [[Student Council President]]s) up close being a longtime dream of many students. When power struggles happen, it is Not Pretty, in a way that's much darker than the show's usual lighthearted tone.

* ''[[Manabi Straight!]]'' is a [[Deconstruction]] of this, about a group of girls [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] who are newly forming a Student Council. A theme of the series seems to be that kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore and the notion of an Absurdly Powerful Student Council takes itself far, far too seriously.

* One of these types of Student Councils appears to be the focus of ''[[Student Council's Discretion]]'', though they tend to get distracted by [[Conversational Troping]] so often it's a wonder they get anything done.

** A wonder, or rather {{spoiler|the male member staying behind ridiculous hours to get through all the paperwork that doesn't otherwise get done}}.

* In ''[[Asura Cryin]]'', the student council can give an authorization to kill. Can't get much more powerful than that.

* Definitely the case of the high school on ''[[Dance in the Vampire Bund]]'' as Mina was the one who founded the school and takes it over. Much to the anger of the current student council president.

* In the feature film ''[[Pinch Runner]]'' (starring the J-Pop group "Morning Musume") a character fakes a suicide attempt in the girls' bathroom. She is "treated" in the school nurse's office by a classmate who is a sort of junior-trainee doctor, with the rest of the Track and Field Club in attendance. Despite the liters upon liters of fake blood splashed all over the bathroom, the nurse's office, and three different girls' uniforms—not to mention the fact that all seven students apparently skip class for the rest of the school day—there is no indication that the adults at the [[Two-Teacher School]] (or the girls' parents, for that matter) ever learn of the affair.

* ''[[The Hairy Bird]]'':

 

 

* While student positions in High School or below are generally powerless, student positions at Colleges are often far more influential. For example, the student trustee of many institutions will often have a full vote that is fully equal to those of the other school trustees. Also, many schools have student run boards set up to manage the portion of student fees used for student organizations. In large schools, this can easily lead to control of many thousands of dollars.

** Most of the funds are either used for things like bringing in comedians, musicians, and films (to be enjoyed by students free of charge, since after all they've already ''paid'' for them), or are given away to campus clubs. Frequently, if a club bothers to ask and the amount isn't ludicrous, it's essentially a rubber-stamp decision (all officially recognized clubs generally have representation on the council, and if your club's representative gets a reputation for turning down requests, guess what will happen to his own club's requests).

* [[wikipedia:Sudbury Valley School|This school]] and [[wikipedia:Sudbury school|the educational model it founded.]] The entire student body is, in theory, an absurdly powerful student council.

** [[wikipedia:Francis W. Parker School (Chicago)|This school]] has a similar, although far less extreme, thing going on.