Senior Poll Controversy Reflects M-A’s Issue with Diversity
A screenshot taken of the some of the controversy that unfolded on Facebook surrounding the senior polls. (Altered)
It is easy to point fingers at the yearbook class for approaching the polls unfairly or at the dissenters for their lack of participation. The real issue, however, is much larger than meets the eye; the blame cannot be pegged on any one group when the problem lies in the lack of communication among M-A’s diverse components.
With 452 students, it is unrealistic for two people to conduct a poll that represents the entirety of the senior class. This is not due to a lack of effort, but simply due to the nonexistence of an effective mode of communication that reaches all students within an allotted time frame.
Though the announcements are read daily through the loudspeakers, many students have a hard time hearing them, or are focused on work or conversation while they are being read. The student Facebook page is theoretically an effective way to reach students when they are paying attention, but the way in which people gain access to the online page limits its actual accessibility. People are added to Facebook pages by their friends and classmates, but M-A’s segregated academic, and therefore social, tracks prevent entire groups of students from ever knowing each other, and thus ever gaining entry into the “Class of 2013” page.
Even those trying to combat the way the polls were approached found themselves having to use a survey through Facebook, the same ultimately ineffective method with which they took issue.
The “school within a school” atmosphere that arises as a result of large schools with tracked classes ultimately prevents such a small enterprise from successfully representing all the students in the senior class.
I think this is a very good point. The accusations of racism towards the leadership staff when this issue first came about don’t make sense when you look at how hard it is to truly get the poll out there fairly. However it also does comment on the divisions that are extremely apparent within the school. Great opinion piece.
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Compared to last year’s relatively limited poll, I thought this year’s poll was treated relatively fairly, despite the definite lack of diversity and the widespread rumors that yearbook staff members altered some of the names on the ballot. This certainly brings to light the larger diversity issue at M-A that undoubtedly exists. Anyone interested in tackling that?
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i can see how getting a poll “equally” out to everyone would be difficult…perhaps both those who are getting others involved and people who want to be involved should share responsibility?
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I can imagine that these polls would be hard to carry out, but I’m sure there’s a better way to handle them. Hopefully it’s a little better next year
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I think that involving everyone at M-A is difficult. But the fact is, that every student wants to participate. Not that they are not “involved”, maybe they want to be nominated and the best way to do this is at school, not through facebook. If the yearbook staff wants to make sure every student is represented and not have to deal with students saying that they were not able to vote, or that they weren’t told… etc. They have to think of more creative ways to include everyone. If it means having to count each and every ballot, then so be it, I’m pretty sure that if the leadership staff can count the ballots of mostly every single student and come up with king and queen for prom. Then I think yearbook should be able to, too. This facebook survey thing may be easier for them but I think it only creates a bigger gap between different cultures within our school.
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Every single day when the announcements are being read, my teacher has to literally silence everyone. After he has done this, it sounds like whoever is reading the announcements is quietly whispering them into the P.A. As a voter, I had no chance of receiving the message.
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I think that the real problem here is that people only got angry when they found that they weren’t involved. People don’t care enough to actually participate in school activities until they find that they’re being excluded. If the groups who felt left out of the superlatives really wanted to be included, they should have been more proactive.
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The displeasure among seniors about the senior polls was ridiculous. Obviously the yearbook staff was not racist. Just another miscommunication illustrating the disconnect among classmates at M-A.
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