Young American Readers

Our Home and Personal Duty

In these vital tasks of acquiring a broader view of human possibilities the common school must have a large part. I urge that teachers and other school officers increase materially the time and attention devoted to instruction bearing directly on the problems of community and national life.Woodrow Wilson. The notion of what constitutes adequate civics teaching in our schools is rapidly changing. The older idea was based on the theory that children were not citizensthat only adults were citizens. Therefore, civics teaching was usually deferred to the eighth grade, or last year of the grammar school, and then was mostly confined to a memorizing of the federal constitution, with brief comments on each clause. Today we recognize that even young children are citizens, just as much as adults are, and that what is wanted is not training for citizenship but training in citizenship. Moreover, we believe that the good citizen is one who is good for something in all the relationships of life. Accordingly, a beginning is being made with the early school years, where an indispensable foundation is laid through a training in morals and manners. This sounds rather old-fashioned, but nothing has been discovered to take its place. Obedience, cleanliness, orderliness, courtesy, helpfulness, punctuality, truthfulness, care of property, fair play, thoroughness, honesty, respect, courage, self-control, perseverance, thrift, kindness to animals, safety firstthese are the fundamental civic virtues which make for good citizenship in the years to come. Of course, the object is to establish right habits of thought and action, and this takes time and patience and sympathy; but the end in view justifies the effort. The boy or girl who has become habitually orderly and courteous and helpful and punctual and truthful, and who has acquired[iv] a fair degree of courageous self-control, is likely to become a citizen of whom any community may well be proud. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 53653
Author: Fryer, Jane Eayre
Release Date: Dec 3, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Cook, Edna A