What do China 's teenagers think of the Chinese government?

As Paul mentioned, the kids don ‘t think much about the government, but they do think a lot about people in charge of their class. The teacher (班主任) represent the authority they have to answer to, which comply with education guidelines provided by the Party.

The student delegate (班长), elected by the class, may sometimes become a higher authority than the teacher himself, as he is involved in the political life of the whole school.

Questions related to justice and fairness in treatment are actually very important to most kids. They experience with authority in the classroom determine to a large extent how they consider political power in their future life. The kids that were involved in the school affairs may end up in Communist youth or with party cards, and later on become leaders in their own right.

You can read my answer for more precision about that : Clément Renaud ‘s answer to How does promotion work within the Chinese Communist party?

So if kids don ‘t think about the Party and politics itself, they are exposed early to rules or situations that reproduce what they will experience later in their adult life (at work, etc).

Actually, this is not specific to China. Children do think a lot about their teachers and classmates. Schools are the foundations of any political life.

This text was originally published in quora.