Law-related Education For Adolescents From The Perspective Of Rights Consciousness

The success of law-related education for adolescents matters a lot to the construction of a society governed by law in China.Since the socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era,the law-related education for adolescents shall also present a new look but should not remain stagnant.Therefore,starting from the connotations and purposes of law-related education for adolescents,a core view(namely,the law-related adolescents shall begin with the cultivation of rights consciousness)is proposed from the moral perspective and demonstrated from three aspects.Then how to cultivate the rights consciousness?As a model country under the rule of law in the West,America is successful in the law-related education for adolescents.Thus,the law-related education for American adolescents is explored from the perspective of cultivation of rights consciousness so as to gain beneficial experience for better cultivation of rights consciousness for Chinese adolescents.The study consists of five parts.In the Introduction,the author briefly presents the background and significance of law-related education for adolescents,the necessity and urgency of cultivation of rights consciousness,as well as the research processes.Starting from the connotations of law-related education,Chapter 1 lists five characteristics of law-related education:firstly,be aimed at spreading the ruling-by-law thought;secondly,be educate-based;thirdly,be equipped with professional teachers of law-related education;fourthly,be equipped with a scientific law-related education system;fifthly,be jointly organized by schools,families and society.Then,the definition,characteristics and purposes of law-related education are given.Chapter 2 points out that the law-related education for adolescents shall be implemented with the rights consciousness as the core so as to achieve the intended objectives and purposes.Next,its necessity is demonstrated from the perspectives of the rights notion significance,the civic duty performance and the discrimination with traditional moral obligations.In Chapter 3,the historic origin and development processes of the cultivation of rights consciousness in the law-related education for American adolescents are investigated,and the social studies teaching materials published by Houghton Mifflin Company and another two widespread teaching materials on law-related education(Foundations of Democracy and Street Law)are chosen to summarize the objectives and contents of the cultivation of rights consciousness in the American law-related education.In Chapter 4.the problems in the cultivation of rights consciousness in the law-related education for Chinese adolescents and the underlying reasons are comparatively analyzed.The problems are reflected in four aspects:unsound concepts of rights;imperfect teaching materials;inadequate professional teachers;insufficient realistic basis.Combined with the connotations and purposes of law-related education for adolescents and the experience learnt from America,the measures are proposed for improving law-related education for Chinese adolescents from the perspective of rights consciousness.