This time 2 years ago I wrote “Were You School Captain?”
My daughter nominated and ran for the captaincy but wasn’t elected and learned the hard lesson that sometimes these things are popularity contests; not necessarily a meritocracy.
This year is my son’s turn to weigh up whether to run for the captaincy. For the past 18 months he spoken, at length, about his desire to serve on the leadership team but last week he announced he wasn’t running.
“I won’t win; I’m not the most popular kid. Might go for house captain; I think I have a better chance there”.
Even though I’ve explained to him that he can nominate himself for both he’s still a little skeptical about this chances for the top job.
I am in no way saying that my son is the best candidate for the job but in his eyes, qualification doesn’t mean much, it’s about who has the most friends.
Is he too young to be so disillusioned? Does the popularity over merit element of in leadership teams render the whole concept second rate?
Related posts: My Kids Have Election Fatigue
Maybe we should elect our leaders based on Youtube hits and social media following :-/