Since 2022, Michuhol Foreign Language High School has adopted a separation of powers system, where the student council is divided into three branches: legislative, judicial, and administration. This system has been in full operation since 2023. The legislature is responsible for enacting and reforming the Student Life Code and examining the administration's budget and settlement of accounts, the judiciary is responsible for holding the Student Autonomy Court to determine educational dispositions like volunteer activity to students, and the administration is responsible for organizing, planning, and executing the student autonomy budget.
Michuhol Foreign Language High School is one of the few schools that realize the separation of powers. Only a select few schools, including the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, operate these autonomous systems. However, since the separation of powers was only formed last year, there is a lack of understanding among students about the student council. Misunderstandings about the Student Life Code which is not clearly established and the fact that students are not informed about what exactly the student council is doing have led to disagreements between students and the student council. In particular, some students want changes in the SSM program. SSM stands for School Safety Monitors, a system that monitors students for unruly behavior in order to keep students safe on and off school. One problem with the SSM is that the student council serves as a watcher over the students, creating an unintended hierarchy. We found the cause of the conflict to be a lack of communication, and to resolve it, we organized a discussion meeting for students and student council executives to communicate.
At the Tribune-organized discussion meeting held on September 4 at the International Conference Center, students and student council executives exchanged opinions on how to activate communication between the student council and students and garner student support for the SSM system.
The first topic of the discussion was 'How to improve communication between the student government and students'. The background of the topic was that the current student council system has become complicated, and various events are being held by the student council, but there is a lack of communication.
One of the ways the student council is using to communicate with students is through Instagram. On Instagram, the student council currently manages an account named "Michuhol Foreign Language High School 14th Student Council". The student council uses Instagram to communicate about school events and announcements, and strives to make the student council Instagram an easy way for students to communicate with each other.
However, given the low number of followers on the student government's Instagram account and the fact that some students do not use Instagram, it was felt that Instagram alone was not enough to communicate with students. In response, a number of suggestions were made to revitalize communication between the student government and students, including the following: 1. Use posters on the walls of the restrooms to communicate the content. 2. Use bulletin boards on each floor to communicate information. 3. Use LED boards in front of the cafeteria to communicate the message. 4. Collaborate with the broadcasting department and student government to convey the content via radio. 5. Activate existing Instagram promotion and increase followers. (The last time I checked, option 2 was in progress on the second floor board. The second floor board is divided into legislative, executive, and judicial sections, with each department's activities explained.)
In addition to this, we also discussed the anonymity of the upcoming "Michuhol Etta" and the need to communicate with the teacher in charge of the student council. We hope that this discussion will help revitalize communication with the student council. The active participation of students will allow the culture of student self-governance to blossom and move the school culture in a more positive direction.
The second topic of discussion was ‘how to make students support the SSM system’. SSM is a surveillance system that prevents students from going out without permission or bringing in outside food. SSM consists of student council members and the members of the school police club ‘Posea’. Recently, students are becoming increasingly unhappy with SSM for a variety of reasons.
Before suggesting solutions to make students support the SSM system, the students discussed the main reason for the current negative perceptions of students. The first comment was about outside food. Currently, no outside food is allowed in this school. The SSM does not clearly explain the regulations regarding outside food, so some students thought they were allowed to bring in outside food after going out and unfairly got punished, and some students brought in side dishes or snacks from their parents without realizing that they were not allowed to do so. Kim Jae-ah, a sophomore representing the student council, showed a receptive attitude, saying, "I admit that there are inconsistencies in the SSM rules and that the rules were not well communicated to the students, so there is a lot of resistance from the students." She also said that too many students do not know that the reason for the ban on bringing in outside food is due to the problem of wasted school meals and inadequate food waste disposal.
In the end, it was concluded that the problem of students’ less support of for SSM was because of a lack of information about SSM and its regulation. Students don't know that there is a policy against walking in the winter, or against bringing in outside food, and SSM regulates these things, which is why they are hostile. To fix this, the student council should establish a way to actively communicate other information including SSM and the reason for its existence.
The second opinion was that SSM is seen as a privilege of the student council, which creates a sense of rejection. Some students raise a question about SSM activity, pointing out that even though they are the same students, they are restricted from going out. Also, they argued that SSM-related regulations are made up of closed decisions between the student council and teachers, which deepens dissatisfaction with the student council. The solution was to change the organization of SSM. It was suggested that the SSM be separated from the student council and run as a new organization, or that some members of the SSM be selected from the general student body, which would increase trust in the SSM and make it easier to communicate with other general students. The moderator, Lee Shihu, the current sophomore 8th-grade class president, expressed his intention to talk about the separation of SSM at the delegate assembly.
In the debate, worthwhile opinions and proposals were raised regarding the two discussion topics: ‘How to improve communication between the student council and students’ and ‘How to make students support the SSM system.’ For the former, the perceived problem was the current method of relying on Instagram only. Concerning this, suggestions were made such as informative posters on the walls of toilet stalls, bulletin boards on each floor or the LED board in front of the cafeteria, and collaborating with the broadcasting club to send notifications in a way similar to a radio. Enhancing the effectiveness of the Instagram account was brought up as another possible solution. In improving the reputation of the SSM system, elucidating the SSM rules to students and detaching the SSM from the student council were considered possible strategies.
The proposals gathered from this discussion were relayed to the student council members. As the Legislative Session, a major event in which the members of the legislative branch of the student council converge and discuss, was due a few days after the discussion, we had high hopes for the contents of it to be of use to the student council to get a better grasp on the opinions of students. Gratefully, signs that the suggestions were taken into account with consideration were spotted after the Legislative Session. The school council's notifications were attached to the bulletin board on the second floor, and they also began to recruit SSM members from ordinary students as well, instead of simply picking the whole group among the student council members and the club POSEA. Such a demeanor reflecting their willingness for reform and change is praiseworthy, as it offers students the faith that the student council genuinely runs for the sake of the students, and therefore encourages their participation. The active participation of students will allow the culture of student self-governance to blossom and move the school culture in a more positive direction.
Yun Seohyeon (1-8)¹ | Staff Reporter
Park Sehyeon (2-7)² | Staff Reporter
Bang Eunseo (2-7)³ | Staff Reporter
Lim Nayun (2-8)⁴ | Staff Reporter
1) yunseoheon10812@gmail.com
2) pysyhy@naver.com
3) eunicebang8888@gmail.com
4) nayunqq0603@naver.com
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