학생자치법정이 고등학생의 민주시민 의식에 미치는 영향 -경상남도 김해시 K 고등학교 사례를 중심으로-

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of teen courts on enhancing democratic citizenship of high school students. The research subjects of this study consist of two main groups. The first group consists of first-year students from a K academic high school in Gimhae which has a teen court program actively participated by its students. The second group consists of first-year students from a K academic high school in the same city but with the absence of an active teen court program. This study utilized a survey method to verify hypotheses. The measuring components of democratic citizenship of each subject consist of human dignity, reasonable decision-making, social participation action,law-abiding spirit. Seven questions were assigned to each component. A total of 200 questionnaires were utilized for the survey (K high school : 100 sheets, S high school : 100 sheets) with SPSS 18.0 for Windows. This study tried to answer the question that “Do teen courts have an influence on improving high school students’ democratic citizenship?” The following four hypotheses were formulated to answer the question:■ Hypothesis 1 : Students from the school with a teen court program respect other people’s liberty and equality and also recognize a human being as a reasonable being compared to those from the school without teen courts (Human dignity) ■ Hypothesis 2 : Students from the school with a teen court program make an effort to collect information when they are faced with problems and are more careful about decision making compared to those from the school without teen courts. (Reasonable decision-making)■ Hypothesis 3 : Students from the school with a teen court program actively participate in solving their problems and actively express their opinions compared to those from the school without teen courts (Social participation action)■ Hypothesis 4 : Students from the school with a teen court program endeavor to observe their own rules and agreements. (Law-abiding spirit)As a result of verification, analysis of the above hypotheses is as follows :First, teen courts have a positive influence on students’ human dignity. It improves the students’ awareness of human dignity by providing an opportunity of self-reflection and human right guarantee simultaneously, instead of a teacher’s one- sided instruction. Second, teen courts have a positive effect on students’ reasonable decision-making. Teen courts are a part of an autonomic activity. The students attending and observing the teen court can enhance a democratic decision-making ability in the process of imposing a proper punishment through discussion. Third, teen courts do not have a meaningful effect on students’ social participation action. This caused these students to feel intimidated and the court had no influence on their social participation action. Fourth, teen courts have a positive effect on students’ law-abiding spirit. The members of teen court appeared to think that they have to become a good model since it is the students themselves who lead the court and such efforts strengthened their law-abiding spirit. In conclusion, teen courts have a multilateral influence on students’ law-abiding spirit. The above results show many educational implications on the way of counseling in high schools as follows : First, the reason that there is no meaningful difference in social participation action mainly attributes to teen court nonmember’s burden regarding participation in the court. Second, the effect on teen courts is to be maximized for students who participate in teen courts many times. Schools, therefore, need to pay attention to teen court operations and encourage many students to actively participate in teen courts. Third, in order to increase the effectiveness of teen courts, it is necessary to reflect on the results of teen courts through student records. To settle teen courts as an education course, it is essential to secure authority, justification and compulsory measures. The result of this study can be a ground to evaluate the educational effect of teen courts in high school. A teen court program utilized as an educational course instead of a meaningless law education program can be a good solution to youth problems such as school violence. In conclusion, we need to expand the teen court systems in schools and continuous attention from student, parents and teacher is required for successful introduction of the system. In addition, follow-up studies to examine various factors have to be carried out to improve the system.