Battle of the Classes is one of Freehold Township’s most anticipated annual events– that is, if you’re cool enough to participate! To be a part of Battle of the Classes, you need to go through the voting process, which isn’t all that fair. It is not based on intelligence and character, but simply on popularity. The wildly popular event features many different athletic events from sports competitions to dance offs, but what seems like a great opportunity to have some fun and show your class pride is actually nothing more than a big popularity contest.

To get your name on the ballot is a simple process. On a certain day, you need to show up at school at 7:45 in the morning and go to the the little theater, where you can sign up and your name will then be put on Naviance.com. Once all of the candidate names are put onto Naviance, the student body goes to the site and votes for ten males and ten females in their grade to participate. Here’s the catch though: it’s not mandatory to vote. “Naviance isn’t the best way to get votes because majority of people don’t want to log in, or they don’t know their login information, so only a small fraction of the class is voting,” states sophomore Andrea McClung.

Different “cliques” or groups of friends will make sure that each of their names are on the ballot, and then just take turns voting for each other, therefore making it extremely hard for anybody else to have a shot at getting in. “I applied to BOTC [twice] and I never got accepted because the cliques appoint their clique members and if you’re not popular or pretty or an athlete you won’t get in. You have to make yourself known from freshman year in order to ever be a part of this tradition,” states senior Valona Klobucista.

Things need to change around here. The way that the student body votes should be random, and everyone should vote — it shouldn’t be a choice. Also, the participants should only be allowed to participate one year out of the four they are in the school for. It’s not fair to the rest of the school that the same ten people get chosen every year and nobody else gets a shot to have fun.

“I think we as a student body need to change this and make it less of a popularity contest and more of a way to get the student body involved,” says junior Aly Petruch

Other Criticisms about BOTC:
“BOTC is not fair because it is a popularity contest,” – Taylor Reck Grade 12

“BOTC is one of the best events of the year. Although it’s really fun to watch it’s hard to say you didn’t wish you were on the team representing your class. Realistically it doesn’t matter how ‘qualified’ you are or how great you would do because in the end, it’s just a popularity contest.” – Sylvian Mendes Grade 12

“The group of ten girls that were voted for my grade all voted for each other … and no one else had a chance to be involved. Plus, Naviance isn’t the best way to get votes because majority of people don’t want to log in, or they don’t know their login information so only a small fraction of the class is voting.” – Andrea McClung Grade 10

“It’s not fair because during sign ups people will sign their friends up, and you should only be allowed to be put on the ballot if you made the effort to get to school early and go to the sign-up meeting yourself.,” – Teresa Capretta Grade 10