Youth Court

Author: Liu Dongfeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-12-12
Features: Law is a system of rules, with its value goal being to promote the formation of a fair and efficient order. Value is the source, and rules are the stream: order, fairness, and efficiency are the soul of legal rules. As a system of rules, educational law should have a high-standard value pursuit.
When the manuscript of The Young People's Court was completed, it coincided with the implementation of the newly revised Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China. The promulgation and implementation of this law marked the beginning of balanced development in China's education sector. Scientifically allocating educational resources to achieve balanced distribution, ensuring that every school-aged child has equal opportunities to receive compulsory education, was a historic first in the history of the Republic.
In addition to the concept of balanced development, which runs through the entire law, the new Compulsory Education Law contains three other significant new provisions:
1. Schools cannot rank students based on scores or publish their academic performance;
2. All forms of "key schools" and "key classes" must be abolished, and renowned teachers are encouraged to teach at under-resourced schools;
3. Holiday tutoring is strictly prohibited, and teachers who provide after-school tutoring will be considered unprofessional.
It can be said that the implementation of this law will bring new shocks to China's basic education.
The idea of writing this book originated from my daily work. I often hear colleagues discussing topics like "governing schools and education according to law," and everyone speaks passionately about it. However, when comparing China's Education Law, Compulsory Education Law, Teacher Law, and Law on the Protection of Minors with reality, I found that many common or overlooked incidents in our surroundings and educational practices actually infringe upon the legitimate rights of minors to varying degrees—even though many people haven't realized it yet.
In our eyes as adults, we often assume that children are just children, and a little coaxing will solve everything. This led to the initial motivation to write a book about children's rights advocacy from the perspective of young people, with a high aim, a unique angle, a fresh viewpoint, and strong readability.
When I shared this idea with friends in the industry and media, some were concerned that it might cause chaos. In other words, if one day a child suddenly stood up to us and said, "You have violated my rights!" wouldn't that be very embarrassing? Our response is: when Pandora's box is opened, unexpected things may happen. But we must clearly recognize that if children truly start advocating for their rights collectively, the "blame" does not lie with those who "caused trouble," because the trouble had already existed. Children's conscious advocacy should be seen as an important part of school legal education and as the awakening of legal awareness, representing progress in human civilization.
Thus, I invited my colleagues—Ye Lijiao, Liu Xiaowei, Fan Rongbo, Wu Yaqing, Ge Yirong, Zhang Zhizhong, He Licao, Yang Hongyun, Li Hong, Liu Fengyun, Li Yue, Wang Ting, Zhang Shujing, and Wu Jinzhi—to collect over 100 cases and select 99 of them (all names in the cases are pseudonyms), and we began the writing process.
However, when we actually started writing, it turned out to be much more challenging than we had imagined. First, we faced professional difficulties. The editors are not legally trained and work in basic education, so we relied on the internet and consulted experts. Sometimes, analyzing a single case required multiple opinions, which was a significant challenge in terms of both energy and expertise.
Second, there was a conflict between teaching responsibilities and writing. Since I worked full-time with heavy tasks, I often had to interrupt my writing when new assignments came in, so I had to make the most of my spare time and start writing during holidays.
Some of the cases in this book were selected from online resources. During the writing process, we received guidance from some judicial workers, including lawyers, judges, university law professors, and publishing house editors. Special thanks go to Professor Chu Hongqi of Beijing Normal University and his talented student, Jiang Xuemei, for their meticulous guidance. Professor Chu not only provided many valuable suggestions for the book but also kindly wrote the preface. Professor Jiang Xuemei's review of the book was particularly thorough, reflecting the rigorous academic style of a renowned institution. Mr. Kang Xiaoyue, a seasoned lawyer from Shenzhen, also contributed significantly to the review and revision of the book.