As the school year comes to an end, the ISB stress machine has reached new heights. Even with over a month left before summer vacation, student organizations have already begun preparations for next year. Each organization is swarming with opportunities for ambitious students - if they can beat the competition.

Students compete for sought-after leadership roles in a variety of ways: Student Council holds elections where candidates make speeches, Roots and Shoots functions solely on an application basis, Nightingale Charity Club asks members to nominate candidates among which the board members will choose, Model United Nations Officer applications are reviewed by current officers, whose decision is moderated by a teacher. The possibilities are endless.

Who is the best judge, then: students, teachers, or a combination of both?

Howard Liu believes that teachers should decide, because “the teacher is more likely to make a decision based on aptitude.” While students may have personal agenda, teachers want the best for the organization. However, Arie Pittman, the previous Secretary General for ISB’s MUN conference, has a mixed opinion about this method. Although “teachers with a close relationship with students will know a lot about the candidates, peers may have other insights that the teacher lacks.” Therefore, she believes that a combination would be effective in eliminating teacher bias.

On the other end, some believe that only student officers know which individuals have the skills required to fill their departing shoes. Ella Gao, President of the Nightingale Charity Club, says that she and other officers “have the best judgement,” because only they know what their roles entail. Yiwei Ang agrees with giving student officers input, because there is “no point in giving students a leadership position of we’re not allowed to make important decisions.”

However, student officers can only be unbiased if they put aside their own competitive streak. Sehoon Joo explains that “for some students, getting into colleges will inevitably involve competing with friends. Just look at MUN: we’re all buddies, but we all want the highest positions.” To that end, student officers could easily abuse their power in keeping their peers away from the upper echelons of certain organizations.

It seems that it's every student for him or herself, especially when the system is viewed as a zero-sum game. This is high school politics. How does it compare to real life?