U.S. Rep. John Barrow visited Sand Hill Elementary fifth graders Thursday for a lesson on U.S. government.

Barrow (D-Savannah) said there are two questions, who should govern and how should they govern. He said there was a problem for the founding fathers of would the government represent the colonies or the people.

“That was a tough nut to crack,” he said. He said big colonies wanted the people to be represented while smaller colonies wanted each colony to be represented the same.

Barrow said they compromised by having two bodies that had to agree and allowing the people and the states to have representation.

“There are some things that groups do well, and there are some things that groups do not do well,” Barrow said. “A committee is very good at brainstorming. A group cannot get its act together very well. The bigger the committee, the harder it is to make a consensus.”

Barrow is into his second term in the House of Representatives.

“The U.S. House of Representatives is the one institution in our government where you cannot serve unless you are elected by the people,” he said. “Members of the U.S. House of Representatives serve two year terms, which means every two years we have to go back to the voters, and get their permission to stay in office.”

Barrow served as a county commissioner for 14 years before serving in the House of Representatives.

Barrow was asked if a lawyer had to go to law school. He said now law school is required, but when his father was a lawyer it was not required, but a lawyer had to pass the bar exam.

One student asked Barrow if he was thinking about running for any other office.

“No, I’m very excited and feel very fulfilled in the job that I’ve got,” he said. “I think it’s a very good job to have.”

He was asked if he was nervous the first day.

“I’m nervous right now,” Barrow said.