Today my students got some real life experience of what we usually only cover in the textbook

I teach a lot about authoritarian states, rigged elections and such.

Today we had "elections" for the Student Council. There was a google form to fill out, but each position required to be ticked. All candidates had already been vetted and chosen for their positions.

I pointed out how hilarious this was. How we were having a sham election just like the regimes we study in class. Maintaining the illusion of choice, when in reality there was none.

Then one of my students (who happens to be StuCo Secretary) objected. "But last year everybody just voted for the popular kids, who made outlandish promises and never came through with any of them..."

And I was like, "Yeah kid that's called Democracy"