Community Civics and Rural Life | Page 7

the
Declaration of Independence sums up in the phrase "life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness." That community is best to live in that most
nearly provides equal opportunity for all its citizens to enjoy these
rights. From the Declaration of Independence to the present day, our
great national purpose has been to increase this opportunity, even

though at times we have apparently not been conscious of it, and even
though we have fallen short of its fulfillment. One of the chief objects
of our study is to find out how our communities are seeking to
accomplish this purpose.
"The Declaration of Independence did not mention 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