Race, Gender Non Factors in High School Elections

YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia, News Report, , Words: Eming Piansay and Donny Lumpkins//Video: Min Lee and YO!TV Crew, Posted: Feb 04, 2008

Editor’s Note: As the country turns its attention to Super Tuesday, high school student body presidents discuss the issues that matter most to them. Hint: It isn't race or gender. Eming Piansay and Donny Lumpkins are content producers and Min Lee is an editor for YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia.

When it comes to electoral politics – no matter what the scale – the process is much the same. Whether it’s a race for student body president or president of the United States, who we elect as our leader says a lot about ourselves.

With race, gender and the power of the youth vote garnering so much attention in the 2008 presidential primaries, we were curious about the demographics of the younger generation of leaders. We polled some 24 schools in San Francisco Bay Area to find out the gender and race of those they elected as their student body presidents – and found an incredibly diverse group of young people who weren’t necessarily elected by a constituency that voted on racial identity alone.

Of 24 schools, eight of the student body presidents are Asian, seven are white, five are African American, four are Latino, one is Arab American and one is biracial. There were 13 male presidents and 12 female presidents. Two of the schools had co-presidents, one male and one female.

Some schools elected a student body president that looked like their majority populations. For example, Lincoln and Lowell high schools in San Francisco, which are 60 to 70 percent Asian, both have Asian male student body presidents. Students at San Francisco’s John O’Connell High School, where the number of Latino students is 73 percent, elected a Mexican American female.

But this formula didn’t hold true for all of the schools. Mohammad Abid, the student body president of the mostly white Palo Alto High School, identifies as Algerian American. Terrell Gunn, student body president of the mostly Asian Burton High School, is Filipino and African American.

Statistics like these indicate a larger trend: the younger generation of voters doesn’t care about the race or gender of their prospective president, a lesson from which the older generation would be smart to take a cue. The results are in line with a 2007 statewide poll conducted by New America Media entitled California Dreamers, which interviewed 600 young people via cell phone. When asked how they identified themselves, more respondents (27 percent) cited their music or fashion preference as opposed to a much smaller percentage (14 percent) who defined themselves by their race. U.S. presidential hopefuls may be bickering over when to pull the troops out of Iraq and throwing the race and gender cards around like they were playing a game of UNO during recess, but we found that student body presidents are just trying to keep their constituents informed and happy.

Many of them, however, have concerns that go beyond the halls of their school. “I just want to make sure everyone knows the issues (and knows) about what is going on. Like, people don’t know where is Darfur is. How can you not know?” said Angelou Taga, 17, president of Mercy High School.

Other students, like Daniella Martinez of O’Connell and Steven Huey of Lincoln High School, believe violence is one of the bigger issues facing teens today. Their most immediate concern is the world outside their front window, whether it is the health and safety of their peers, their educational system, or the local laws that affect them directly. “We’re concerned about violence more now, because there’s a lot of killings going on and its mostly high school students,” said Martinez.

A typical profile of any student body president, regardless of area, would probably be a well-rounded individual who excels in nearly everything. However, many of the students interviewed admitted to being the exact opposite of what an ideal student typically looks like. This could be a sign that young people are more willing to vote for someone who understands their everyday issues.

Some leaders, like Cristian Luecke, have been part of student body government for years. Originally, he started his campaign off as a joke, being a self-identified “class clown.” But soon after his campaign began, the student body quickly identified with him because they couldn’t relate to the other people running.

“The other guys are 4.0 students. Y’know, the stereotypical student body president, whereas I’m not exactly a 4.0 student. I struggle with life here too, and they understand that,” said Luecke. When it comes to their political counterparts in the national elections, the high school presidents – even those too young to vote – have a clear view of the candidates and who they feel would be right for the job.

“I’m an advocate of Hillary Clinton and (Barack) Obama because it opens doors for numerous other people,” said Abid of Palo Alto High. “I’m also a fan of Ron Paul. He’s an advocate of lowering taxes. Letting the government leave people to do what they want, less government.”

Many student presidents say they are interested in Obama and Clinton because of the historical connotations of a win for either of them.

“I think it will be a really good election,” said Carter. “It will be a really big change, probably. We know there is a black guy, a woman running. We know it would be a big change for the U.S.A.”

It seems that all politicians, no matter the size of the stage, want to make things better. This sentiment is shared by Terrell Gunn, student body president of Burton high school, and Angelou Tagal.

"If I can leave Burton High School better than I found it,” said Gunn. “If the next year they keep following the same principle, it will keep getting better and better."

Tagal agreed, saying she wanted to “end the year knowing that I made a difference, knowing that I accomplished something that I never accomplished before.”

Related Media:

Iowa Killed Apathy

Youth Alone Can’t Take It

Hot Chicks Dig Obama

Page 1 of 1

Printable Version Return to Normal Version Send Page to Friend Subscribe to NAM Newsletters