Significance of a class president

Due to the recent school elections, the topic of a class president has been active around the school. This brings up the question, why is having a class president so important?

To start, When participating in the school elections, students have to choose between the candidates by evaluating their speeches and comparing the candidates’ values to theirs. Doing mock elections develops critical thinking skills and prepares students for the future. In today’s society, having this knowledge at a young age is a huge advantage. By voting, a person is participating in the democratic process and making the wisest decision for themselves.

Having a class president helps establish close communication between the students and the administration. This is a significant part of school life. The president helps deliver the students’ requests and suggestions to the staff and tries to create a positive environment. This sort of relationship helps the students enjoy school more and makes the administrators’ jobs way easier. The current Freshmen president, Desha Chokoshvili mentions: “the class president is the representative of the whole class, so It's important to choose someone who will be able to take all the responsibilities.”

But even with its advantages, having a class president has some drawbacks. Often, the elections turn into a popularity contest, leaving the students who are not as close with their peers with little to no chances of winning no matter how well-thought-out their plans are. Persuasion skills and communication with classmates are important for a president to have, but that has nothing to do with popularity and social life. Someone with a lot of friends in their class will have an upper hand over the other candidates. Many students agree with this statement. When asked if the elections are conducted fairly, Giselle Rein-Hagen, grade 9, said: “No. They’re mostly just a popularity contest. People don’t seem to care about the ideas and abilities candidates have, students just vote for someone they like the most.” This is the biggest flaw the GZAAT election system has.

Now the only question left is: how can we improve the system? Well, we need to bring the focus of the elections on the speeches, and what the candidates actually have to offer. There are many different ways to do this, such as adding more rounds and Q&As to the elections. This will help the candidates present their goals more clearly and help voters make more thought-out choices. The GZAAT presidential election system is helpful for the students but, healthy criticism like such will help make it even more effective and fair to the whole school.

Edited by Mariam Begiashvili