I sort of got this from my email. quite interesting, actually, in the light of the recent RIPB elections '08

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For years, Raffles Institution has selected its prefects by nominations, interviews, then voting. Nominations are definitely essential, Interviews are good, but why do we need to vote for our prefects? Why are we being presented with a form, a semblance, of democracy? Why are we expected to pick our student leaders for ourselves? How can we be expected to be the ones who can discern who will be a good prefect and who will be a bad one?

As an organization, the RIPB is the most efficient, most productive student body in the whole school. Their members are afforded the largest number of privileges and the prefects have a say in the running of the school. This is evident in the rule changes they have advocated in the past, namely the ankle socks rule and the haircheck rule. Prefects are role models. Leaders we can look up to. The ones to inspire school spirit in us. But the inconvenient truth is that there are some prefects who just don't pull their weight in the RIPB.

There are some prefects who put on a show for elections and use the Prefectorial Board not as a platform to serve the school but instead to boost their own Sec 4 Testimonial or even their University Application.

There are some who had no idea what they were signing up for as fresh, young, bright-eyed Sec 1s. Then as the intensity of the Raffles Program sets in in Upper Sec, they slack off.

I am not discounting the good work of the RIPB. My point is that for every 20 good prefects, there's bound to be a bad one.

But what can we do about this?

How do we make sure that bad prefects are not elected?

The answer: Scrap the Elections. Scrap the campaigns. Scrap the speeches. Haven't we got enough of scared, nervous nominees coming up on stage and making fun of their own names? "A Vote for Me is a Vote for You. (ME = YOU)" Remember that? How about "GULshan - Helping you achieve your GOALS! (GOALS = GULS)"? Or, "Vote King Arthur and Brendan Yo-Yo!"

Why is all this campaigning necessary? Well the obvious justification is that we, as students, should have a right to choose our leaders. To decide who we want to be the role models, the exemplary Rafflesians. But what makes us think that we can choose correctly? In all honesty, how do you know if "J LOH" will be an effective leader or not? Based on his speech and corny posters? Will the "Dynamic Duo" really bring about the change they are promising?

Maybe they can. Maybe they will. But how do we students know? In short, we all eventually have to admit that we cannot possibly tell the future. Nobody can. And all this leaves us with one question. What is the alternative to elections and speeches? Interviews. Simply stop at the interview stage. Make it more stringent. There's a reason why we don't vote for head prefect. Because the Head Prefect position is important.

I will admit, there is some merit to the election process. For example, I already know, from the campaign speeches, that Pang Wei Han (Peter PANG) is an effective, confident orator. And I know that J Loh is not. But I'd like to believe that leadership isn't just skin deep. Effective orators aren't always good leaders. *coughhitlercough*. The more important quality we should be looking for is integrity. I'm tired of seeing "Prefects" allow their friends to cut queue or change in class or eat in class. I want someone who can make the right decisions at the right time, rather than someone who looks good on stage or speaks with confidence. Of course, both qualities would be a big plus, but that's not the point.

I think, at this point in our lives we trust our teachers to be able to pick the best candidates. After all, they don't have a vested interest. Why don't we leave the selection of prefects to them instead? As mature adults, I'm confident that they can make wiser, much better decisions than most of us students.

So what can you do, as a student? Election day fast approaches. You have two choices. One, vote for whoever has the more colorful posters and more impactful speech. Two, put your trust in your teachers, acknowledge the limitations of the election and voting process, and submit a blank vote. The choice is yours.

(P.S. Whatever your choice may be, please forward this email to every last RI student you know.)

-Nigel Chua (at least, i think it's him)

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it's definitely insightful, and a history teacher definitely would've gone crazy with happiness marking it like L10/1000000000 or something.

but then again, i think the author's missed abit of the point why we have to hold elections. although asking teachers to select is definitely a good way to do so, i feel that the point of having elections is to give a new sort of experience to the nominees about the pressures that you have to live up to of being a prefect. for example, when you just wear the nominee badge, you definitely become subjected to a lot more scrutiny, pressure and definitely criticism.

and as a prefect (with your koolnewkool blackshoes and badge!) you're definitely not going to hear the end of it.

and at the end of the day, i think that the objective of the elections is to publicize, in an indirect way, the new prefects that have joined. Let's say that teachers choose them, but nobody will actually know or recognize them besides their friends and teachers. As a prefect, i think that we have to deal with loads of people (you really, really get to do that alot more, whether you like it or not)

however it's definitely a good argument though. maybe what we could do is give teachers priority voting (like 1 teacher = 10 votes) to show.

PS: i'm speaking from my pov, so don't go blame ripb for anything.

Quote of the Day:"NICOLL HIGHWAY! no link, no link!" -Isaac/Biquan