History Main / AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil

* Parodied in the short story ''[[http://www.xamuel.com/anime-story/ Anime Story]]'' (which is an attempt to invoke as many anime tropes as possible). Takes a more sinister turn when [[spoiler:it turns out the student president is the puppet of an EvilOverlord]].

* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'', during the shooting episode, Jay says "When your girlfriend's student council vice president, nobody asks questions." Otherwise, they limit the student council to what a student council would be involved in, raffle tickets and dances.

In real life, power in any [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem American]] and Canadian school is in the hands of the principal, the faculty, and the school district. And of course, each school is subordinate to the power of state and federal courts. In [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem England and Wales]], it lies with the Headteacher, the Board of Governors, and the Local Education Authority. Other jurisdictions, including Scotland, may have their own arrangements. However to create the illusion of students having power over their lives, student councils are forged. In truth, these groups are largely figurehead posts: the only power they have is superficial, the actual election of these groups is basically one big popularity contest, and the only benefit is a student council slot on your college application under "extracurricular activities" and an extra picture in the yearbook.

In fiction, student council is SeriousBusiness, with power worthy of corruption and abuse in the hands of those with evil in their hearts. Council members have unparalleled freedom -- they do as they please on campus, invent arbitrary rules that punish the masses, and give themselves and their allies special privileges. No member of the staff dare rebuke them. In fact, the staff may rarely appear at all (see TwoTeacherSchool). Occasionally, their power will be checked by others, such as the SchoolNewspaperNewshound. In the event that the student council is ''not'' corrupt and seeks to use their powers for good rather than evil, their rival will be the actual school administration, who will often butt heads with the council over the administration's own corruption/tyranny.

* ''Anime/ShatteredAngels'': Taken to its logical extreme with the post-apocalyptic scholastic city of Academia being ruled by an iron-fisted student council. Along with the power to imprison and use capital punishment, they have an inquisition-like force (which consists largely of [[{{Expy}} exported characters]]) of secret police.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when Cartman becomes a Radio/GlennBeck {{expy}} of a school announcement reader, he tries to turn the entire school against StudentCouncilPresident Wendy. In the end, Wendy, who unlike Cartman knows how little power her position actually has, gets revenge upon Cartman by appointing him her replacement after resigning from Student Council, which effectively costs Cartman his job as announcement reader. Cartman's defeat is made worse when he discovers the lack of power the Student Council actually has and his replacement as announcement reader is now crucifying Cartman for not fixing any of the school's problems.

** The student council essentially polices itself, with its actual headmaster being little more than a figurehead. The vice-president Reito Kanzaki is [[spoiler:the host body of the BigBad]] and the [[StudentCouncilPresident president]] Shizuru Fujino is [[spoiler:one of the super-powered [=HiME=]]], and most of their on-screen council duties are limited to organizing school festivals (wherein [[WhamEpisode plot-related stuff happens]]), leaving the disciplinary work to its most HotBlooded member while they sit back, relax and [[SpotOfTea drink tea]].

* The Vigils in ''Literature/TheChocolateWar'' are somewhere between this and a gang.
* In ''Son of Interflux'', Simon Irving, as student council treasurer, is able to use school funds to purchase land and, through various means, lead a surprisingly-effective student protest against the eponymous company.

* The teachers in the 1992 BoardingSchool movie ''Film/SchoolTies,'' a crib sheet is found on the floor during an exam and the teachers ''tell the students'' to form their own [[KangarooCourt impromptu hearing]] to decide which one of them was cheating. The [[InformedJudaism token Jewish]] protagonist [[TheScapegoat is seized]] upon by a JokerJury of [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Anti-Semitic]] schoolboys. The [[AnvilOfTheStory heavy-handed]] tone of the scene is HilariousInHindsight once you consider [[Creator/DickWolf who wrote the movie.]]

** We do. The class rep has a voice in deciding whether the students in his class will move on to the next grade, which (given [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld how little time the Lyoko Warriors have for studying]]) becomes a plot point in one episode.

* {{Justified}} in ''Webcomic/MobPsycho100'', in that their president Kamuro actually ''tricks'' the faculty into giving them this kind of power by engineering a situation they don't really want to deal with and "offering" to do it in their stead, and by the point the faculty realizes what's happening they can't take it back without losing face.

* {{Justified}} in ''Manga/MobPsycho100'', in that their president Kamuro actually ''tricks'' the faculty into giving them this kind of power by engineering a situation they don't really want to deal with and "offering" to do it in their stead, and by the point the faculty realizes what's happening they can't take it back without losing face.

* The trope is subverted in the obscure ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' television special, ''You're (Not) Elected, Charlie Brown'' when Linus runs for class president (he's assumed to be in 2nd grade or so). He makes all sorts of outrageous promises and manages to win, but then meets with the principal and discovers he has no actual power whatsoever.

* Unlike in ''VideoGame/Persona5'', where StudentCouncilPresident Makoto Niijima was a glorified gofer for the principal, she and the student council make all of the major decisions for Shujin Academy in ''Fanfic/TheEvilQueen''. Many of the students believe Makoto is blackmailing Principal Kobayakawa to have this much power and influence.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': The Public Safety Commission was originally a good, necessary institution that suffered heavily from MotiveDecay. Now they're comparable to the {{yakuza}} who abuse their literal license to kill, and none of the faculty does anything about them. It's only after Tsukune and the members of his UnwantedHarem stand up to and defeat their leader Kuyou that the members finally get their just desserts. [[spoiler:Later it was revealed that the Kuyou was in fact a member of [[AntiHumanAlliance Fairy Tale]] spying on the academy, which might explain some of why it got so evil.]]

* Frosh Week at the University of Waterloo is run by the Education Committee or EDCOM. They dress and act like [[DrillSergeantNasty military police]], but their authority only lasts for the duration of Frosh Week, and they are usually very friendly outside of uniform.

* ''Franchise/PrettyCure'':

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' {{exaggerate|dTrope}}s this [[UpToEleven to hell and back]]; Honnouji's student council has created a straight-up fascist state and has the power to annex other schools and execute students. As crazy as this sounds, this is actually more plausible than it seems considering the school is owned by the incredibly wealthy and powerful Kiryuin family, with daughter Satsuki at the head of the student council and her mother Ragyo willing to enable her daughter's project. The school is also a Life Fibers research and development facility that cranks out [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman superpowered uniforms]], which they use to control the student body and the faculty. Satsuki herself is pretty open with how the school is run by MightMakesRight and is emulating a military.

* In the manga ''Manga/MedakaBox'', the student council goes UpToEleven on the scale. Powerful, capable of defeating any number of delinquents without effort, trained in ridiculously high levels of martial arts, and seemingly impervious to any school authority for taking whatever actions are deemed necessary to carry out helping students with their requests. All the more amusing that in this case, the student council is ''one girl'', the eponymous Medaka, whose standards are so high that after being elected StudentCouncilPresident, she wears all the armbands of the entire student council herself to signify she's the only one capable of doing their jobs to her satisfaction (until she eventually gives one to her childhood best friend).

** Taken UpToEleven in the fifth book with Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, which has even more disciplinary powers, which could possibly include legal consequences. By that point, however, everyone's so sick of Umbridge that points don't matter to them, and they proceed to make life miserable for her and anyone helping her.

** The HighschoolAU DatingSim spinoff ''Sunrider Academy'' takes this UpToEleven in Ava’s route, where it’s revealed that no student council in the past ''thirty years'' has managed to do so much as getting a single club budget passed. Previous student council presidents just used the position as a way to get dates.

* One of these types of Student Councils appears to be the focus of ''LightNovel/SeitokaiNoIchizon'', though they tend to get distracted by ConversationalTroping so often it's a wonder they get anything done.
** A wonder, or rather [[spoiler:the male member staying behind ridiculous hours to get through all the paperwork that doesn't otherwise get done]].

* The Elite Ten of ''Manga/FoodWars'', who make all the important decisions of Totsuki Culinary Academy and hold higher authority than the teachers. The Elite Ten are approached for consultations and advice by much of the culinary world and have access to recipe collections, ingredients and cooking equipment of near-immeasurable value. A seat on the Elite Ten is considered to be more valuable than a place at the school, meaning that those who wish to challenge the Elite Ten to a [[CookingDuel Shokugeki]] have to bet ''more'' than just expulsion.

In real life, power in any [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem American]] and Canadian school is in the hands of the principal, the faculty, and the school district. And of course, each school is subordinate to the power of state and federal courts. In [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem England and Wales]], it lies with the Headteacher, the Board of Governors, and the Local Education Authority. Other jurisdictions, including Scotland, may have their own arrangements. However to create the illusion of students having power over their lives, student councils are forged. In truth, these groups are largely figurehead posts: the only real power they have is superficial, the actual election of these groups is basically one big popularity contest, and the only benefit is a student council slot on your college application under "extracurricular activities" and an extra picture in the yearbook.

In real life, power in any [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEducationalSystem American]] and Canadian school is in the hands of the principal, the faculty, and the school district. And of course, each school is subordinate to the power of state and federal courts. In [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem England and Wales]], it lies with the Headteacher, the Board of Governors, and the Local Education Authority. Other jurisdictions, including Scotland, may have their own arrangements. To create the illusion of students having power over their lives at school, student councils are forged. In truth, these groups are largely figurehead posts: the only real power they have is superficial, the actual election of these groups is basically one big popularity contest, and the only benefit is a student council slot on your college application under "extracurricular activities" and an extra picture in the yearbook.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Turtles}}'', the [[Anime/GirlsUndPanzer Oarai Academy student council's]] status as such is emphasized. It's shown that Anzu's status as student council president is high enough that she can afford to address a teacher as "-san" rather than "-sensei," thereby emphasizing that she's the superior and the teacher is the subordinate. As such, Koume points out that they're not exaggerating when they threaten to expel Miho for not doing tankery.

* Unlike in ''VideoGame/Persona5'', where StudentCouncilPresident Makoto Niijima was a glorified gofer for the principle, she and the student council make all of the major decisions for Shujin Academy in ''Fanfic/TheEvilQueen''. Many of the students believe Makoto is blackmailing Principal Kobayakawa to have this much power and influence.

* The Yearbook Committee variation is subverted in ''Series/TheWonderYears'', in which Kevin, giving into peer pressure, puts a disparaging quote by the picture of a likable but overweight friend. He agonizes over the effect this will have on his friend, only to find that RealityEnsues when the school administration, learning of the quote, has it removed and tells off Kevin.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'': The Disciplinary Committee president, Kyoya Hibari, has everyone in the school afraid of him; no one does anything even when he harms the other students. He has the director of the local hospital under his fingers and is the most feared delinquent group in their town AND can get rid of dead bodies, no questions asked.
** The reason for Hibari's considerable influence becomes clear by the Varia Arc -- he is quite simply one of the deadliest people on the planet and resisting his will immediately puts one in severe physical danger.

* ''Franchise/PrettyCure''

* Taken to absolutely preposterous levels in ''VisualNovel/KoiToSenkyoToChocolate'', as the elected student officials have control over tens of billions of yen, make political war with each other, have "S-Agents" (spies) planted throughout the school, and even go so far as to directly attack or even try to eliminate students who oppose their will on occasion.

* ''Anime/MaiHime'': The student council essentially polices itself, with its actual headmaster being little more than a figurehead. The vice-president Reito Kanzaki is [[spoiler:the host body of the BigBad]] and the [[StudentCouncilPresident president]] Shizuru Fujino is [[spoiler:one of the super-powered [=HiME=]]], and most of their on-screen council duties are limited to organizing school festivals (wherein [[WhamEpisode plot-related stuff happens]]), leaving the disciplinary work to its most HotBlooded member while they sit back, relax and [[SpotOfTea drink tea]].
** When Shizuru leaves the job, it becomes apparent that her laissez-faire attitude and sweet-natured diplomacy, [[GoodCopBadCop combined with]] Haruka Suzushiro's [[HotBlooded boundless energy]], kept the school running. Haruka can't do the job without her; though part of this is the job getting a lot harder [[spoiler:after the school got half-destroyed in the [=HiME=] battles]], she complains that Shizuru could have things sorted out if she was there.