Community Civics and Rural Life | Page 5

the same apartment house
without knowing one another.
What are some things you do especially for the sake of companionship?
THE WANT FOR KNOWLEDGE
While going to school enables us to associate with others, the principal
reason for going is to gain KNOWLEDGE. Whether we always like
our studies or not, we certainly want knowledge, and seek it in many
ways. We read the newspaper or magazine that comes to the home. We

ask questions of parents and others who have had more experience than
we. We may travel to see new sights. We examine with curiosity a new
machine for the farm. The discoveries and inventions that mark man's
progress in civilization are the result of his unquenchable thirst for
knowledge.
Mention some of the different ways in which you seek knowledge.
Mention some geographic and scientific discoveries that have been
made through man's search for knowledge.
What is science? Name some sciences.
THE WANT FOR BEAUTY
Besides health and knowledge and association with other people, we
want surroundings that are pleasant and beautiful. The want for
BEAUTY is sometimes more neglected than other wants, but it is
important, and we all have it and seek to satisfy it in some way or other.
It may be at one time by a walk in the woods or fields, or at other times
by cultivating flowers, by keeping our room tidy, by looking at pictures,
or by exercising good taste in clothing. We also enjoy beauty in sound,
as the song of birds or music in the home or school.
In what ways do you provide for this want?
THE RELIGIOUS WANT
Very likely we go to church on Sunday. It affords opportunity to enjoy
association with others, to add to our knowledge, and to hear beautiful
music. But the church service is one of the chief means by which
people satisfy another of the great wants of life --the RELIGIOUS want.
Individuals differ in their religious ideas and in the depth of their
religious feelings, but in every community there are certain things that
men do because of it.
What are some of the great religions of the world?

Is religion a strong influence in your community?
Can you mention any great historical events that were due to religious
causes?
THE WANT FOR WEALTH
Perhaps after school, or on Saturdays, or in vacation time, we work at
tasks to earn money, or at least help in occupations that contribute to
the "living" of the family. Doubtless we have thought more or less
about what we are going to do for a living after we leave school. We all
have a desire to own things, to have property, to accumulate WEALTH.
This also is one of the great wants of life. We have perhaps already
experienced the satisfaction of raising our own first crop of corn or
potatoes, of acquiring our first livestock, of putting away or selling our
first supply of canned fruits or vegetables, of buying a set of tools, a
bicycle, or some books, of starting a bank account. But after all the
chief reason why we want wealth, or to "make money," is because of
what we can do with it. It enables us to satisfy our wants. Earning a
living simply means earning the things that satisfy our wants in life.
Make a blackboard list of the occupations by which the parents and
other members of the families of the pupils in the class make a living.
Make a blackboard list of things done by members of the class to earn
money.
What is your choice of occupation by which to make a living in the
future? Why? Make a blackboard list for the whole class.
THESE WANTS GIVE PURPOSE TO COMMUNITY LIFE
The six kinds of wants that we have indicated clearly account for many
of the things that we do. In fact, ALL of our wants are of one or another
of these kinds and EVERYTHING we do is important because of its
relation to them. We may not be ready, yet, to accept this statement.
We may think of wants that seem at first not to fall under any of these
six kinds. It will do no harm to add other kinds to the list if we think it

necessary. But, at all events, the six kinds of wants mentioned are
common to all of us. We live in communities in order to provide for
them, and a community is good to live in proportion as it provides for
all of them adequately. It is these wants that give COMMON
PURPOSE to our community life.
Make as complete a list as possible of the things you did yesterday
(outside of school as well as in school). Then extend the list to include
the more important