Just Citizens, Just Laws and Just Education

From my perspective, “just education” has something more to do with “just citizens” than “just laws”, because I agree with Thomas Hobbes’ claim that “Laws that are meant to assure justice, often result in injustice.”.

Oftentimes, laws are tools for the upperclass to protect their own benefits. Those poor people who cannot afford a lawyer actually have difficulties in protecting their rights in the court. In this way, with the help of a sophisticated and expensive lawyer, it is easy for those in power to take the laws into their own hands and laws can be used to the detriment of social justice.

For example, in China, 2009, when a wealthy street-car racer who knocked down and killed a young man from modest origins got a lenient punishment due to the disclosure that his rich family used money and connections to help lighten the crime, it ignited the flames of class injustice that resonated among millions of Chinese. Internet was filled with blogs buzzed with angry posts like “See how rich parents are going to resolve this for their son”.

Even worse, photos circulating online showed that the troublemaker Mr. Hu sat in the car with his face buried in his hands, his friends smoked cigarettes and joked around when the police and ambulance crews arrived at the scene. It sparked a furor of angry comments by Chinese readers outraged at the callous behavior depicted in the pictures.

There are “just laws” in China which are supposed to protect the right of every citizen, whereas, Mr. Hu is not a “just citizen” as expected. What he lacks is “just education”. He has become a symbol of rich second-generation, who grew up as “little emperors” and are perceived to live in a protected cocoon, subject to different standards of justice than others. His family never taught him how to treat others with dignity and respect --- the “just and civil education”, which is considered as the essential of justice. It is just the lack of this “just education” that makes it difficult for the nation to use laws to help make its citizens good and just.

All in all, “just education”, which serves as the bridge between “just law” and “just citizens”, should be put to high priority. Since with comprehensive “just education”, “just citizens” is just a natural outcome of “just laws”.