Class Representative for all learners at the day school plenary class.
LEAD: Legal Education and Development (Auckland Park) [Law Society Day School]
January 2014 – January 2014 (1 month) Auckland Park, Johannesburg
The lecturer for criminal court practice asked if we had a class representative. While the students at the school said I was the class representative for all the students in the day school (We only have one elective: conveyancing or labour, for the rest, all +-60 students are in one class). I stated that I had not been elected as such in any official capacity. The lecturer asked if students wanted a class representative, most shouted they wanted me to be so. One student said they would like their friend to be representative instead, so I requested we have a vote in case there be any dispute or hard feelings. The lecturer put one of the students, a man named Brendan in charge of the election, and three candidates including myself were nominated and seconded. One candidate got 6 votes (10 % of the students), and another got about 10 votes, however, the plurality of students by show of hands, again decided that I should be class representative, confirming the vote by voice earlier.
When I brought the first major student issue to the attention of the director, she said there would be no place for student elected representatives of students. She then had an election where 6 group leaders for an assignment were called aside and with her staff decided on a student representative among them. The group leaders took on a role like high school prefects, and the student representative and deputy student representative however they were chosen were much like head students in a high school. I was neither a group leader nor part of the election, and I was not chosen then by the staff and some few students to 'represent the students'. As a result of the positions of Student Representative and Deputy Student Representative, elected by 6 of the 60 students and the lead staff, my elected role no longer existed.