I was part of a “political” discussion on one of my high school Facebook groups, and I seem to be the only corporate memory of what took place…

Here it is as best as I can recall:

It seems a fellow student was running for student government in the late 60s when we were all juniors in high school. He took the odd detour from his prepared speech, and said in-effect (after some hemming and hawing), “It doesn’t matter who you elect for student offices — The administration has full control of this school and nothing will ever change.”

…we were to partake in a form of government, while being denied the basic tenets…

This young man was something of a rebel. (Weren’t we all?) The Viet Nam war was raging. The “establishment” was losing control, and all in all, things like insubordination to authority, — which had not been tolerated in post-WWII America, — were beginning to seep out about the edges.  “Question Authority” had not yet become a byword, but we were headed into the ’70s and the momentum was building.

Well, a little background: All of the boys in the US were faced with becoming part of the draft for the Viet Nam war upon their 18th birthday. This was a true lottery, in which birth-dates were pulled out of a hat. It was the luck of the draw. There may have been some exemption for being in college??  Someone can refresh my memory in the comments below.

Additionally, citizens could register to vote at the age of 21.  So drafted at 18; not allowed to vote until 21….  This was the ultimate “tax”ation without representation to us.  Hadn’t there been a Revolution to protest something of the sort in an earlier era?  The move was on to correct these inequities.

Back to our hapless politician…  He had taken the bold step of speaking the truth in an assembly in which all student speeches were to be vetted by the (unfortunately unpopular) Vice Principal for Student Affairs.

There was no free speech.

This was a speech-controlled environment.  So we were to partake in a form of government, while being denied the basic tenets on which our government was founded.

Immediately, the student was pulled from the program, — if not quite pulled from the podium.

The students were up in arms!  Couldn’t the faculty see the irony of crossing someone off the ballot merely because he had just said (in effect) that they had such power?

I was on the Student Judicial Council which had some role in judging student matters.  A special session was demanded!  A special session was called!  Most of the students were expecting that finally, this unpopular Vice Principal would have his comeuppance, and we, the students, would prevail.

The Judicial Council met. The charges were read.  We expected them to read something like: “Was this speech offensive to the student body?” — at which point we would vote “no” unanimously and put that pesky VP in his place.

Well, in hindsight, I have learned that, as an educator, it is not pleasant nor is it advised to let students get to this point. The adult does have to maintain control, however tenuously.  I can see from both sides now, what happened.  However, at the time, it was nothing short of shock and arrrrgh!

The charges were read to the Judicial Council:

“Did the student candidate deviate from his staff approved speech?”

Say, what?!!

There we were, the Judicial Council, — ready to answer the question that would right the wrongs of a generation, — and instead we were being asked a query such as, “does 2 = 20?”

A no-brainer question; a question that can only be answered one way!  We were the justices of the student body, and we could only feel manipulated and diminished.  Personally, this was one of those broken brick moments when you come to realize that life does not operate in the way you were lead to believe.

Well, of course, the high school VP won the day.  Someone else won the election. We all lived to see another day, and — eventually — the national voting age was lowered to 18.