Marcin Kruszewski: Teachers do not understand that the world they knew is being destroyed [WYWIAD]

He became famous for telling children that they could go to the bathroom at school if they needed to. On YouTube, his legal take on the “School” series has hundreds of thousands of views. On TikTok, he briefly and easily explains what teachers can require and what they have no rights to require – and how to defend yourself against such requirements. Marcin Kruszewski, author of “Marcin’s Law”, talks to Marta Korycka, editor-in-chief of the portal Kultura.gazeta.pl, about his first book, intended mainly (but not only!) for students – about their rights, obligations and boundaries, in which the school can discipline them.

Marcin Kruszewski – a lawyer known to every high school student

Marcin Kruszewski is a lawyer by profession, but in the media he works in the very unpopular niche of students’ rights. In an interview in the podcast “Dobrze czyta, dobierz się” by Publio.pl, he talked about the problems that students face nowadays in schools that sometimes recognize the superiority of the institution’s statute over… the constitution. You can listen to the entire conversation below:

“Martin’s Law” was not initially supposed to focus on students at all. Kruszewski admits, however, that due to the fact that he uses modern media (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) a lot to popularize legal knowledge, he inevitably began to reach younger users.

Even as a student, I often found tricks that allowed me to survive the school year. I started answering questions from the comments. I was lucky that my films had a huge reach. After three or four weeks of recording, questions began to arise about a topic I had never thought about. I was an informed student, but I didn’t think about teachers’ rights regarding the telephone or what article it came from. I made a video about phones in school and 50-60 other questions came up. I recorded a video about the most common lies I heard as a student. People said, “why didn’t you record this when I was at school?!” And others: “I won’t allow myself to insert such a number one again!”

– says Kruszewski.

I always felt like I was a cog in the system. Teachers don’t understand that the world they knew is being destroyed. Some are happy with it, others are not – like any revolution, there will always be opponents. Activities for students’ rights, changes proposed by the ministry – I have the impression that older and more conservative, but in a negative sense, teachers would like to destroy it. But they also recognize that perhaps these changes cannot be stopped.

In his book “Marcin’s Law” you will find a compendium of legal knowledge intended specifically for students. What do teachers really have the right to prohibit, and what do they prohibit and violate human rights at the same time? Why did Przemysław Czarnek create a completely opposite wave when it comes to the cell phone ban? Does a student have fewer rights than a prisoner? Kruszewski answers all these questions in accordance with current legal knowledge and the regulations in force in Poland.

In an interview with Marta Korycka, the issue of teachers’ remuneration also came up, which has been a hot topic in recent years.

This is a very important social position, which is often not treated in a prestigious way due to the salary. I believe that changes in school should start not only with the modernization of the school, but also with better wages

– says Kruszewski.