Community Civics and Rural Life | Page 7

the questions of our day. It is of no consequence to us unless we can translate its general terms into examples of the present day and substitute them in some vital way for the examples it itself gives, so concrete, so intimately involved in the circumstances of the day in which it was conceived and written. It is an eminently practical document, meant for the use of practical men ... Unless we can translate it into the questions of our own day, we are not worthy of it, we are not sons of the sires who acted in response to its challenge."-- Woodrow Wilson, in The New Freedom, pp. 48, 49.
A and B are two boys of the same age. One was born in a rich family, and one in a very poor family. So far as this accident of birth is concerned, have they equal OPPORTUNITY to satisfy the wants of life? Have they an equal RIGHT to health? to an education? to pleasant surroundings? to earn a good living?
Suppose A is a Native American boy, and B a foreign-born boy who speaks a foreign language: does this make any difference in their RIGHT to life and health, an education, etc.? Does it make any difference in their OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants in these directions?
Can you think of persons in your community who have less OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants than you have? Can you think of any persons who have less RIGHT to satisfy their wants than you have?
The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States comprise what is known as a "bill of rights." Study together in class this bill of rights (see Appendix) to see how many of the wants described in this chapter are there, provided for directly and indirectly.
Has your state constitution a bill of rights? If so, read it together in class for the same purpose as suggested in the last question.
READINGS
Preamble of the Constitution of the United States (see Appendix).
The Declaration of Independence.
Dunn, Arthur W., The Community and the Citizen,
Chapters
, i, iv. (Heath).
Tufts, James H., The Real Business of Living (Henry Holt & Co.),
Chapter xxxix
, ("Democracy as Equality").
Van Dyke, Henry, "Equality of Opportunity," in Long's American Patriotic Prose, pp. 311, 312 (Heath).
See the note on reference materials in the Introduction to this book.
It should become a HABIT of both teacher and pupils to be on the constant lookout for news items and discussions in available newspapers and periodicals illustrative of the points made in each chapter or lesson. Individual scrapbooks may be made, but more important than this is the assembling of such material as a class enterprise, its classification under proper heads, and its preservation in scrapbooks or in files as working material for succeeding classes. There will always be enough for each class to do, while each class at the same time contributes to the success of the work of later classes. The idea of SERVICE should dominate such work.

CHAPTER II
HOW WE DEPEND UPON ONE ANOTHER IN COMMUNITY LIFE
INTERDEPENDENCE AN IMPORTANT FACT
Nothing could be freer than air. But even as we sit in our schoolroom, whether or not we get all the pure air we need, depends upon how the schoolhouse was built for ventilation, the number of people who occupy the room, the care that is taken by others to keep the room free from dust, the health and cleanliness of those who sit in the room with us. If this dependence upon others is true in the case of the very air we breathe, how much more true it must be of other necessities of life that are not so abundant.
This dependence of people upon one another for the satisfaction of their wants is one of the most important facts about community life. It is not merely that A and B have the SAME wants, but that A is dependent upon B, and B upon A, for the satisfaction of their wants, that makes their wants COMMON.
Mention the people, both inside and outside of your home, who had a share in providing for you the food you had for breakfast or dinner.
Mention all the workers that occur to you who have been employed in producing the clothing you wear; the book you are reading; the materials of which your house is built.
Show how the people who produce these things are dependent upon your wants for their livelihood.
Show that you are dependent upon other people for your education; for recreation. Are other people dependent upon your education for their welfare? Are others dependent on you for their recreation?
INDEPENDENCE OF THE PIONEER
The farmer's life is often spoken of as an independent life. His independence was certainly much more complete in pioneer days than it is now. In regard to the early days of Indiana, it has