Comparative Study Of Law-Related Education Between China And The U.S.

In order to make a country ruled of law and prevent campus violence,Law-Related Education(LRE)has attracted increasingly more attentions.This study reviews the emergence and development of LRE,concludes the common trends of LRE in China and America.Then compare among Legal knowledge of Everyday Life,Foundations of Democracy(FoD),Street Law(SL)from the perspective of objectives,content,organization and implementation.Finally,the paper is going to gives some advice on reconstruction of LRE in our country.By historical examination,the paper finds out both in China and America,LRE arose from social unrest;the curriculum content in the early LRE is legal text such as Constitution,to legal knowledge of everyday life,and then legal ideas related to citizenship;experienced a transition from discipline-based to curriculum integration.Based on comparison,the paper finds out The People's Education Press(PEP)textbooks emphasize practical legal knowledge,FoD stress legal principle to cultivate legal thinking.Secondly,The cases presented in PEP's textbooks outnumber cases in Street Law and Foundations of Democracy,the length of an article is shorter thanthe other textbooks,the cases of PEP also simplify facts,while the cases in SL and FoD are longer and easier to thinking training;thirdly,Street Law is based on law Provisions,it is a linear curriculum designed by legal units,so it can adjust the logic of jurisprudence;Foundations of Democracy is a spiral curriculum consisted of legal ideas,so it can adapt to cognitive development of students.It is necessary to concern on civil law,and minimize the content about criminal law;we should also keep balance between legal knowledge and legal reasoning;giving that curriculum implementation rely on cognitive development and social construction,it is essential to optimize the case studies,strengthen communication between students and resource people,it's very necessary to concern on the inquiry of legal issues in accordance cognitive development of law.We should intensify teacher training instructional strategies,organize learning experiences by the adjustment between the logic of jurisprudence and psychological sequence.