Synthesis

The Continental Congress is a model for all political type groups today. The PSEC community is one type of political group. We as a community make our own rules and we control what happens to us. This is what the Continental Congress was trying to make happen for the colonies in America. Since we are already governing ourselves we have to do it so that it will benefit everyone, not just a certain number of people. We’ve learned that all governmental processes are trial and error. The Continental Congress learned that they had to take matters into their own hands and not rely on England to help them. I think that if we can take anything from them it is that government works best when it is a democracy and when everyone works together. I’ve heard from both seniors and faculty that PSEC has become a much better place since it has become more democratic. It works better and more cohesively than it did before students got more involved with their learning environment. By coming together through community meetings and the advisory council, PSEC students are able to voice their opinion. They are able to tell others how they feel about a situation within the building, how they think something in the PSEC community can change for the better, or if something should be taken away. I think it’s great that we come together every week so that if anything has happened since the last meeting, it can be discussed and resolved. Like with every government, however, the PSEC government has a few slight problems that I can see.

There are only a few problems that I see within the PSEC government. I think that there should be more involvement of juniors within the community. I know that there are some juniors that are active members of different committees and activities at school but some juniors just aren’t enough. Right now it is mostly seniors that are taking charge in what goes on at PSEC. That makes sense since they have been there longer. I just think that juniors need to take a more active role since we will be seniors next year and will be trying to do what the current seniors are doing now. To be ready for that role, we juniors have to start participating now. I don’t think we can wait till we’re seniors, by then it’ll be too late. The PSEC government will face challenges as long as it exists.

Some people don’t like the idea of students, or kids as some would say, of being in charge of themselves especially in this type of legislative system. I think that we as students will always be, and have always been, challenged. People don’t like us to be independent until they think we are ready. Sometimes they think we’re ready when we enter college and sometimes they think we won’t be ready till we have a career. I think that’s wrong. We are responsible enough to look out for ourselves and decide what happens with our education. If we are ignored then we will either continue to thrive as we are now or crash and burn. That will be up to us. That’s the point though. It is our choice what does or doesn’t happen to us. It’s no one’s choice but our own, only we control that. The outcome of this will be one or two: for the better or for the worse. Gerda Lerner believed that history affects everything and that what happens in the past can affect the future. This applies to the PSEC government. If we handle our roles in government responsibly then the school will flourish. If we choose not to do the right thing for PSEC then it will fail. We as a student body and as a school community will fair. This will affect the future or PSEC. It might even decide whether the program will continue or not. That is why what we do with our history now will affect not only our future, but the school’s as well.