In the Spotlight: Social Justice Groups
This week, the new captain Nathan Johnston has indicated that he will co-ordinate a massive recruitment drive for the school’s social justice groups. This attempt is just the latest in recent years to try and resuscitate groups which are now dying. But what is causing this massive decline in membership and enthusiasm? Are Smith’s Hill students just less socially aware, or is there a deeper cause?
According to Nathan, the problem is a lack of enthusiasm
“A few years ago, there was a huge push in the social justice clubs…the helpful fever caught on to the year bellow [sic] and a fair bit of my year caught it too” he tells Smog. “Now that these years are gone…the enthusiasm hasn’t caught on…thus the interest hasn’t been rekindled”
Whatever the cause, there is little doubt that the social justice groups are in need of serious help. Oxfam, once a powerhouse under Laura Hopkin’s leadership, is floundering to the point where it is now offering new members free chocolate. Amnesty is down to 3 or 4 members, but still defiantly continues to hold elections that no-one takes seriously. Team Tibet
Of course, there has to be an elephant in the room, and that elephant is Abstract, Smith’s Hill’s oldest social justice group. Abstract refuses to die, with membership steadily growing each year, as enthusiastic year sevens join the group. According to the long-time face of Abstract, Dominic Wilcox, this is due to its actions more than its recruitment efforts.
“Many students see Abstract as a group of free pancakes, bands, and jumping castles” he told Smog during an online interview
“This has helped boost its popularity, especially among the younger years, who are particularly susceptible to free pancakes”
Of course, to Smog, this seems a bit like buying membership, but Dominic is quick to reject this suggestion:
“The aim of Abstract’s Exo day, ever since our first one in 2006, is simply to give something back to the school” he claims.
The truth of this or otherwise, there is no denying Abstract’s continuing success. However, the future may not be entirely bright for Smith’s Hill’s religious discussion group, which is considering changing its name to “Fish”. The departure of the popular Mrs. Barraclough has seen Abstract quickly slip out of the public eye, and some structural changes have resulted in members leaving. Dominic, when asked about this, doesn’t deny it.
“Recently, Abstract has made some significant changes. It has come to resemble more of a scripture lesson than a social justice group. As a result we have seen many members simply leave, particularly the senior members”
But will he criticise, or even leave Abstract?
“It’s not my role to criticise these changes. Abstract is still a fantastic group, and as long as we don’t lose sight of our activities in the school, I see no reason to leave.”
So it seems that even the Abstract powerhouse faces a rocky future. To their credit, at least they have not adopted the “Jesus: All about Life” campaign (yet!) But while the future looks rocky for Abstract, it looks simply hopeless for the other groups. So what are our social justice groups to do?
To answer this question we should look at some examples from the past few years. While Oxfam was still running Night of Rock, it enjoyed huge popularity and publicity. Similarly, SET was at its height during the “Dancing with the Staff” years, and Abstract owes its strength to successful ‘Exo days’. Recently however, we have seen the social justice groups descend into endless fundraising activities. There are only so many bake sales that we students can handle! Meanwhile, the group meetings have descended into actionless whinging about each group’s pet issue, or in the case of Abstract, prayer. This has seen the groups become increasingly irrelevant except to their current members; and has had a serious effect on membership numbers. If the groups seriously expect us students to join, they should resume their former role of maintaining an active presence in the school, not just easy fundraising. That involves putting something into the school, rather than just taking our gold coins. As Night of Rock demonstrated, this can lead to more money for the groups to spend; at least more than that produced by a few 50c biscuits.
Nathan seems to agree, albeit less coherently. “events like Night Of Rock and Amnesty's various things are great interest grabbers and that, however these events have died down with the lack of people and thus THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF UNHELPFULL AND GENERAL BADNESS CONTINUES”. He tells Smog his strategy is simply “to harp on about it”. He believes that we are such a “caring and sharing school I think just knowing will be enough to make people sign up and stuff”. The captain’s optimism is commendable, but it remains to be seen whether a more-of-the-same approach will work. Perhaps there is a future for our social justice groups after all…
13 comments:
Dear Smog, you are treading very thin ice - we have discussed you at social justice meetings; know this will be the last you hear from any of us on ANY issue.
Hi Nathan...thanks for your comment...what exactly are you referring to that you don't like? We thought you'd be happy to get some publicity for your admirable efforts
Not particularly impressed, Smoggy, but it's not THAT shocking!
still, need to lift your game!
I would completely agree with your analysis of the current state of the SET, if it were not completely wrong.
The SET has a number of students from various year groups of both genders. Personally, your statement about SET being an “all-boys” group offends me as that statement goes against my political views. We are not stopping anyone of either gender or year from joining the SET, in fact, we welcome it.
You seem saddened by the fact that Singing and Dancing with the Staff has not yet run. Ironically, we were planning on having one in the next few weeks and, at our last SET meeting, a female member proposed that she would write the proposal. It plans on incorporating both singing and dancing and is therefore being renamed to “Performing with the Staff” this year, as we have realised there is not enough time for both.
The only difference between the current state of the SET and last year’s ‘dynamic organisation’ is that we have lost the year twelve of 2008, which had to come to pass at some point. More specifically, some time in 2008.
Haha, well you seem to have caught on about just what exactly I didn't like - good job smog
I can't believe everyone's whinging about this article...good job smoggy!
A greatly researched and written article, which is very thought provoking. Just what Smith's Hill needs!
SET is forever going to be a joke. Sorry, but its an even bigger joke as the testosterone party that its recently turned into.
Also, I reckon if OXFAM had another NoR they'd draw people in, not only because of publicity from the night, but there would be that much enthusiasm about its organisation. Variety night was a flop anyways.
agreed!
This whole blog is a joke. People don't need to be told what they already know. If you think people don;t already know all this then obviously they're not the type of person who'd be reading this blog.
I honestly don't knwo what's sadder. This blog, or me reading/posting on it?
Amnesty has more than "three or four" members!
But that does not change the fact that people aren't exactly queing up to join... failing :[
I like it how the only non social justice group seems to have more members then the social justice groups.
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