Community Civics and Rural Life | Page 3

distribution over both seventh
and eighth grades. An outline suggesting a vital coordination between
the civics and the history of these grades, and of particular service in
the seventh grade, is given in United States Bureau of Education
Bulletin, 1919, No. 50, Part 3 (a report on Civic Education for the
Schools of Memphis, Tenn.).
It may be added that community civics in the junior high school grades
will be vastly more effective if it is preceded in the six elementary
grades by some such course as that outlined in Citizenship in School
and Out (Dunn and Harris, published by D.C. Heath & Company). See
also Lessons in Civics for the Six Elementary Grades of City Schools,
by Hannah Margaret Harris (Bulletin, 1920, No. 18, U.S. Bureau of
Education).
A list of "Readings" is appended to each of the following chapters.
While it is not expected that pupils in the grades for which the book is
intended will do a great deal of reading outside of the text, an
abundance of illustrative material is desirable and much more easily
available, even for rural schools, than is often appreciated. Let the
pupils USE THEIR GOVERNMENT, in this connection, as freely as
possible. A very large part of the references given are to government
publications, many of which can be obtained free of cost directly from
the departments issuing them, and all of which can be had for a
nominal cost from the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Useful publications of the state
government and of state institutions can usually be had for the asking.
In ordering from the Superintendent of Documents the money must be
sent in advance (stamps are not accepted). Lists of publications with the
prices may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, or from
the several Departments of the Government.
Frequent reference is made to Lessons in Community and National Life.
These are issued in three pamphlets (Series A, B, and C) by the United
States Bureau of Education, at 15 cents per pamphlet. They contain a
large amount of illustrative material. A very few books are referred to
in certain chapters because of their especial value when obtainable.
Among these are two collections of patriotic selections valuable

because of their emphasis upon national ideals--Long's American
Patriotic Prose (D.C. Heath & Company), and Foerster and Pierson's
American Ideals (Houghton Mifflin Company). Other similar
collections will be found useful.
The illustrations of the book, with comparatively few exceptions, are
from photographs furnished by various departments of the United
States Government.
ARTHUR W. DUNN.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
Rural schools, and schools whose pupils have largely a background of
rural experience, have not done as much as they should towards
training for citizenship. This is largely because the text books have
failed to interpret citizenship and government in terms of the actual
experience of such pupils, or to stimulate teamwork and leadership in
communities with a distinctly rural background. More over, in city and
rural schools alike, there has been failure to emphasize the
interdependence of rural and urban communities in a single national
enterprise. Community Civics and Rural Life is planned to meet these
deficiencies.
There has been too much TALKING ABOUT citizenship in school,
and too little LIVING it from day to day. Training for citizenship
necessitates its daily practice in school and out. In the hands of an able
teacher, Community Civics and Rural Life should point the way to real
community living, both now and in the future. It should teach the pupils
what their real civic responsibilities are as well as their civic
opportunities--and assist them to embrace them when they come.
Children so trained will learn to respect, now and later, the rights of
their neighbors, and will become as fair in their dealings with the
government as with their fellowmen. They will furnish their
communities with the right kind of leaders, unselfish and public
spirited. When the time calls, they will be ready to accept and shed a
new dignity upon the old positions of school trustee, highway engineer,
sanitary inspector, township supervisor, county commissioner, or the
more conspicuous offices of state and national government. Or as plain
citizens they will lend these officials their active support for
community and national betterment.

HAROLD W. FOGHT.

CONTENTS
I. Our Common Purposes in Community Life II. How We Depend
Upon One Another in Community Life III. The Need for Cooperation
in Community Life IV. Why We Have Government V. What is
Citizenship? VI. What is Our Community? VII. Our National
Community VIII. A World Community IX. The Home X. Why
Government Helps in Home Making XI. Earning a Living XII.
Government as a Means of Cooperation in Agriculture XIII. Thrift XIV.
The Relation Between the People and the Land XV. Conserving Our
Natural