@rushedcanvas I believe you would be mistaken in thinking Mabaram was a good leader before Jung-suk joined his school. A good leader will make the most of it while taking difficult decisions. This implies sacrifices (they did drop some middle schoolers at some point, but the circumstances are still unexplained). Mabaram is a benevolent leader, he won't take difficult decisions until it's too late, he will only accept anything that will result in only positive results, from what I've seen. So, in my opinion, the only way his ideology works is with a tremendous manager like Jung-suk taking the difficult decisions in his stead and/or minimizing the negative aftereffects of the benevolent leader.
Imagine if Jung-suk never introduced the ''cages'', some students ended up liking it. Do you think Mabaram would have thought of that kind of shit? It still had some tremendous effects on the students.
If you'll allow the comparison, Mabaram is the benevolent communist leader and Jung-suk is the right arm that pushes down the starving population while hiding it from the leader... As a reader, having seen how fucked up this series can be in chapter 5, I think there will be something that will have Mabaram be broken at some point. I'm hoping the author will shatter my expectations.