The first legal education class happened around 2012, at the request of the former principal of the high school I graduated from, a nice teacher, remembered by many. He asked me to talk to the students he was teaching about human rights. Although I had worked in educational projects since high school, I found it difficult to make human rights seem sympathetic and to make the students remember something about them. Because the themes of the youth exchanges I had participated in over the years were related to other, non-formal spheres, not legal. The spring sunshine and the fact that I was at the desk of the class where I had taught for 3 years helped me to get the confidence and joy of my audience in the 50 minutes. I think high school students are still more open to different contexts than the standard, passive destination of sterile information. The feedback form was a post-it note each. I received many very good notes, words of appreciation, but also the rhetorical question of whether I ever thought of becoming a teacher. Initially, I was amused. Of course I thought about it and said no, every time, and then I went back to what I had to do. That's why I avoided the psycho-pedagogical module in college. However, a germ of an idea started then and struggled to sprout. It developed every time I was invited to a school or high school for legal education during the "Week of the Other". It made my heart light up to think that those in front of me were starting to think critically. And I saw them in revelations.

The high point was at the beginning of 2017 when, in the chaos in the country, I was hit hard by the Romanians' lack of knowledge about the institutions of democracy, their duties and their ignorance of their rights. In 2014, I had founded an association in Curtea de Argeș whose goals were education and development. So I merged the idea of civic and legal education with "GHEPart". The "Civic Olympiad" project was born. Together with the volunteers of the association, we held workshops for more than 200 students from March to June. We discussed the Romanian Constitution, constitutional rights, discrimination, civic-mindedness, corruption, transparency, we simulated the creation of parties and we played while learning. Or we learned by playing. The experience was an exceptional one, seeing, once again, how captivated by new topics young people can be and what arguments they use. And the feedback we received was joyful on the one hand and sad on the other. Most of them appreciated most of all that they could speak freely and that they were listened to. We encouraged them to debate, to share their views and experiences. What a sad system it is when the opinions of those to whom they are addressed don't matter?

After the "Olympics", together with my colleagues in Leaders for Justice, Generation 8, we started the "RespectEDucation Academy". The first activities are still civic and legal education workshops. We couldn't restrict ourselves to just one of the two, so we put them together, although there are times when it seems to us that civic education is the whole and legal education the part. Anyway, we use both, in two intense hours with high school students from all over the country. We discuss topics of interest in today's society, and, more recently, we have added "fake news" stories. We also probe their needs and values a bit to know how to approach them next, but also to pass on our findings to other organisations. We are planning a summer school where we will explore the topics further. Until then, we are playing with big themes.

There is public discussion about justice laws, about change. We want to be the change and promote democratic values to the new, disillusioned generation. We need education because it is the first path to the evolution of a society. And if we want a society free from abuses of any kind, we need to get involved in the legal education of young people. That's what I believe and that's what I do when I'm not in the office. What do you think? What are we doing together for a better tomorrow?

Iulia Georgescu, LfJ 8, RespectEDucation Academy Coordinator

Text written for the ELSA Guide "Road to Law"