The Ministry of Education recently released a newly revised "School Code" on its official website and asked the public for comments. It transpires that previous content including "to love the people", "to love the Communist Party of China" and "to do boldly what is righteous" has been removed. "To be courageous in expressing opinions" has been added in the code for the first time.

Let us imagine a group of students: They will stand with respect when hearing the national anthem; they will salute the national flag during the flag-raising ceremony; they will help to clean the campus; they will respect their parents and teachers; they do not smoke and drink, and they even understand taking care of themselves and how to ask for help when needed. Traditionally, in the eyes of Chinese teachers and parents, these are the ideal students. But they may lack a very important quality - a sense of independence.

A sense of independence reflects firstly on the consciousness of rights. It means that as individuals, people have the right to make their own choices to the extent permitted by law. For students, a sense of independence means that when they do not agree with the teacher's point of view, they will have the courage to challenge the teacher and express their views.

The target of education is not only to form good individuals, but also good citizens. Sometimes an inclination to stir up trouble on the part of the latter may not seem so "harmonious", but this is necessary for building a well-directed civil society. When a donation scandal occurs in a charity, a good person may keep silent, choose to avoid the charity, and donate directly to the people in need. But the response of a good citizen might be as follows: asking the charity to publicize income and expenditure, or urging the legislature to improve the regulation of charities. Obviously, a good citizen's behavior will be more beneficial to the development of a law-abiding community.

Forming good citizens is a long process which requires teachers and parents to train the independent consciousness of students from the very beginning. Adding "To be courageous in expressing opinions" to the code is a very important step forward. Telling students what they have the right to do is just as important as telling them what they have a duty to do.

This article is edited and translated from 告诉学生“你有权做什么”, Source: China Youth Daily