THE NATIONAL CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON, AS SEEN FROM AN AIRPLANE The dome of the Capitol rises to the height of 287 feet above the ground. The two great buildings at the right contain office rooms for the Senators and Representatives in Congress. Beyond them, in the upper right corner, is the railroad station. A larger picture of the Capitol is shown on page 204. EVERYDAY CIVICS COMMUNITY, STATE, AND NATION BY CHARLES EDGAR FINCH DIRECTOR OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADES AND CITIZENSHIP PREFACE IN a country governed by the people, with free schools maintained to train its citizens, why has not the study of civics assumed far greater importance? Possibly one answer is to be found in the fact that civics is a subject not easily presented to young students. Government is something that we all recognize. We feel its presence, but we find it hard to define. The author agrees with those who say that it is impossible to teach citizenship from a book, but he is convinced that a book may suggest interesting possibilities and provide material that will supplement the efforts of the most energetic and enthusiastic teacher. The business of government must never be thought of as an isolated thing. It is a vital part of the life of every community and is a constantly changing and growing process, changing and developing as the people change and get new points of view. The teacher who keeps this in mind will not attempt to give his pupils the idea that our government has no imperfections. He will, on the other hand, seek to stimulate in them an appreciation of the duty of intelligent, constructive participation on the part of every American citizen. He will try to make them feel that they have a definite responsibility as creative factors in our social life. For the past five years, the author has been working out courses of study, endeavoring to find the type of work that appeals to children at the adolescent period of their school life. Ideas that have stood the test of the classroom have found expression in the following pages. The vocabulary has been tried out and found to meet the needs of students 459832 |