So some background is the two clubs involved in the problem are National Chinese Honor Society(NCHS) and Asian Culture Club(ACC), their meetings are at the same time and day since there is a lot of membership overlapping. My Friend Dillon and I both applied last year to run for president in the election for officers. We ended up being the only ones to run for president of either club, Dillon for NCHS and I did for ACC. Dillon and I are the only kids who are Seniors this year that have been in both clubs since our sophomore year(we are the only kids in the club that have been in for what will now be our third year). Ever since joining, we have both attended every meeting and every event possible for the club, and were officers last year(our junior year). The other officers last year were all Seniors so all of the positions were open this year and the presidents of both clubs encouraged Dillon and I to apply for the presidency since they thought we were positive influences within the club. So at the meeting where they are supposed to announce the winners, the advisor comes out and says that instead of an election, we will instead submit applications for her to review and this way more people can apply. Dillon and I still ended up being the only person to apply for the president position in each club. So fast forward to the beginning of this year, and she pulls us both aside in class and says that neither of us got the presidency but there is a small chance we can get a smaller position later in the year. My girlfriend had been chosen as the secretary of ACC and sent me a photo of an email she got with the officer list so we asked all of them if they were president and they all said no. She had rejected us and removed the presidency from both of the clubs. We went to go talk to her about it after-school on the advice of another teacher and our conversation went as so(Also she is from China so she is fluent in English but has trouble understanding sometimes). We asked her why we didn’t at least receive any position for the club since we had been the most qualified if we look at our past activity in the club and the presidents had given us their endorsements, and she interpreted this as since we were Seniors we are entitled to a position, so we tried to explain that if all the people who ran for any officer position ran for two equal jobs, we would likely get it because we were most qualified and such. So after we explained that, she said oh well, i had talked to another teacher who said that they removed their president too since it is a big position and their president last year was bad. So we tried to tell her why we should have at least any position within the club and how the other officers had agreed and her response was, “Some teachers said your personalities aren’t good for leading so you shouldn’t get a position” and we asked which teachers and she said she couldn’t say but she had sent an email around the school to get teachers to tell her our personality. So we left trying not to get her angry, but honestly it feels like such BS. we have talked to some teachers we had about how this is the first year she has done this and everything that went done and they say that they think it is fake, a few I have had in the past didn’t get the email and I haven’t asked any other teachers but still. We have both had problems in the past where she loses our homework and we receive 0s and arguments ensue over where the blame is placed but these occur not with other students around in order to show respect. Honestly though its so upsetting that we gave so much time and effort into a club that we both love and both got denied. I just wanted your opinions on what we should do…
Let me guess, you wanted to be able to write “President” on your college applications?
That one little item will NOT change your admissions results.
You can continue to be the leader that you seem to feel you are by acting like one (contributing, organizing, teaching, setting a good example, etc.) Your description of your involvement in these clubs as an EC should read exactly the same, except it won’t say ‘Pres.’ Colleges will not care.
I just wanted your opinions on what we should do…
Nothing. @WhataProcess gave good advice. If you truly like the clubs, do it for the gratification and don’t worry about the President title. It won’t make or break your application results.
Yeah, I understand that, it’s just I’m tired of her screwing me over my entire high school career.
Sorry but I think the real narrative here is that you were in this for the title and now you are mad because you feel entitled. I suspect the teacher knows this, or learned it from other teachers, and acted accordingly. If you love the club so much, then why would you be so upset, no one is stopping you from being in the club. My kid was in a club for which for various reasons she was not president her senior year, and it was no big deal to her, she still loved the club.
Also how can you have two clubs that meet at the same time with overlapping memberships? Wouldn’t students have to choose one or the other? This also sounds like resume stuffing–attend one meeting, list 2 clubs.
@mathyone I can understand what you are coming from but just today, I checked my grades for her class and she had given me a 0 on summer assignment i turned in a day late(forgot to bring it on the first day) and a friend of mine had turned in the same assignment a day late and got half credit. So I went to go talk to her about it after-school and she said that her late policy changed but after I left,i texted my friend and she got half credit. Like what the hell.
Don’t turn in things late. And quit making excuses.
You turned in the assignment late. She can set whatever policy she wants. It sounds like you have a long history of issues with her, and perhaps she was more understanding to the other student because the other student didn’t have such a history. Or maybe the other student had a better reason than you did.
How active were you in the club? Do you want the title of president or to lead the club?
I would go talk to your Guidance counselor about this. Say that you have been an active member, have attended all of the meetings, participated in the X, Y and Z activities…You got positive feedback about running for president from last years officers and were the only ones who ran for office. Tell them that all of a sudden the adviser changed the method of selecting officers to letting her decide…she says that “Some teachers said your personalities aren’t good for leading so you shouldn’t get a position”.
Then say that part of HS is having leadership opportunities and you understand that you may not be the right person for th job but the process seems very arbitrary this year and that she cannot explain why she didn’t choose you and blamed it on un-named other teachers. You would like to get feedback on what you need to work on.
Also talk to your GC about the summer assignment…that you had done it but brought it in on the second day and got a zero and is that the policy of the school, especially when your classmate got half credit.
In schools, they want you to go through the heirarchy before you escalate, which you have done. First talk to the teacher (check!) and then talk to the GC. Don’t accuse them but state facts.
Yes, agree with above. Discuss with the GC your disappointment and surprise at not being assigned a leadership position given your past involvement with the club. Perhaps add that the advisor said that other teachers had said you were not leadership material, and how surprised you are to hear that. Try not to use the word “President” as much as you did in your post. Isn’t your main goal to try to be helpful with the club activity that you love?
You can try this if you like but personally I wouldn’t drag your GC into this. Evidently you have a history of not turning in homework on time and arguing with the teacher. I wouldn’t want to be overseeing a student activity with a person in charge who is not organized and responsible enough to hand in a major assignment on time and who has a history of arguing with me. Do you really want your GC to hear her dredging up all the dirt on you?
I disagree with @mathyone…I think it would be good to have a third party involved…Sometimes it really is the teacher with the issue…but be open to the fact that you may have issues to work on as well.
I’m skeptical that a teacher who has known a student for 2-3 years both in the classroom and in both of these clubs which the OP somehow manages to attend at the same time, would suddenly change her mind about the student based upon a discussion with a GC who has spent perhaps an hour or two with the student.
Or maybe the outcome will be that the GC will explain to the OP why the club leadership decisions were made.
If I’m understanding correctly, you and your friend were the only ones to put your names in the hat to run for president of these clubs. Your teacher then decided that instead of elections, she’d accept applications instead. When no one else applied, she abolished the positions. If this is true, I’d complain to your GC, but only about this. Where she’s from and how unreasonable you think she is in class aren’t relevant. Unless all students who apply for leadership positions in your school are vetted by other teachers, I think the way she handled this was inappropriate.
Report back to us @SamPEach
Ok, well we didn’t get the leadership position sadly. But in the end we still just participate in every single event and are close with the officers so we are pretty much always in the loop. We just agreed to participate a ton anyway. @bopper
I think it’s really unfair because you obviously do a lot for your club and that student denies you some compensation for what you are doing. I hope everything works out in the end.