the schoolhouse in america is a familiar sight to many adults almost too familiar in sight but relatively out of mind when they do think of it some people know school is a place where children are taken care of conveniently for them five or six hours a day nine or ten months a year others think of it as a filling station for cramming youthful heads with facts and figures still others see schools through the but what is democracy kemah course be written on is it more than a salute more than a pledge greater than patriotism what is this thing we to the building to the national capital give the national structures exist in other nations but democracy is not our texture democracy lives in the lives of our people people like senator geoffrey ames educated as a lawyer he is now both representative and leader of the people of his state on this particular wednesday he studies ways compares matches pros and cons on a matter of increased aid to a foreign country there is a man in his outer office with his own views on that subject the senator's got to make up his own mind and risk his chance of reelection on his decision making decisions is a privilege of democracy but the same day at the same time housewife katherine komarr also has decisions to make in her living room in portsmouth new hampshire with her neighbors she uses the democratic process a chain broke on a swing in a public playground relatively unimportant not like foreign aid but a child might have been hurt new equipment is needed money will have to be found for goldmark finds money every day for a home children husband needs mother wife neighbor she'll face a bigger problem before this wednesday is over has not forgotten his old friends in the plant he finds time to remember he worked hard for is success and got responsibility now his business is making decisions he leaves the truck driving in the choral making to others even so he's got his hands full he can say no to the salesman and stop an assembly line in detroit he's going to face a bigger problem today have a more important decision to make but he doesn't know it yet andrew maly works in latin plant came here about five years ago from a small farm worked up to master machinist here in la tonight as well acquainted with some of the old timers but they're getting to know each other ways respected by as fellow workers he always gives a hand when the going gets rough the way they work the way they think produces the goods the nation needs the adjustment they make going to lave the way they settle a grievance spells democracy and andrew mayle is also important to his family not just the paycheck he brings home or his love know his family affects the way he thinks the way he makes decisions fred gorman the farmer of pennsylvania are his decisions important they are of the nation wants to eat mistakes by fred gorman and his fellow farmers could undermine the strength of the country their productivity the rightness of their procedures freedom sustain a whole people what kind of training gave them the knowledge he was trained to make up his mind about such things he was trained to take his place as part of a living democracy and his wife was brought up under the same system she'll have a chance to apply her training before this day is over there's a problem waiting for fred gorman it came in the mail this morning fred's neighbors plan to build a system of reinforced drainage ditches emptying into a pond that constitutes a problem for fred and mrs gorman the best place for the pond is fred's orchard it's the lowest land in the area the neighbors are asking for the commune and the project he'll get better drainage too but it also means that he'll have to give up his trees was almost washed away last spring with so much trouble that's no guarantee fred if we don't do something to help our land is going to get like there and you will know it i don't like the idea of losing those trees one thing they both know they live in one world and they were both talk to settle their problems in the world in which they find themselves pension plan previously we discussed it all over and over again but now here is one i get to take a look at right here certainly lawton fights back but he knows that there are two sides to an argument and merely argues to support the responsibility that the minute placed on it not yet friends they may never like each other but they'll sweat it out together the problem is mutual much is involved the democratic way is involved and both men taught to seek objectivity catherine komarr is trying to be objective as she examines a new home to buy or to continue to rent that is the question  checks with the agent she gathers all the facts and figures for this evening's discussion with her husband charming too they have a son i blame the same age as your eldest well how nice their names a matter of fact they have a daughter tell all what's her name goldstein martin  g i wonder do you when mind is if i go out and look at the art again i'd like to check the space out there certainly stalled on that question this an opportunity to find out facing mrs goldstein or some across that narrow strip of lawn that she see before her a bridge for a go neighbors or strangers it may be the chief sees no problem at all maybe she's only wondering where the agent went to school and senator amy what does the democratic way mean to him there's a problem waiting for him in his outer office has worked hard for understanding to serve the people of his is become something when expert in foreign economics forestry coach or now he faces a constituent who has his own ideas on those subjects halfway around the world just because that house isn't in our and ours is it's bad business and i can't see a lot of other voters at home can see it either let's put it this way mr baker how would you feel if you had most of the money of our town if your neighbors were having a rough time of it was nothing to sell and no purchasing power now if you sat by and did nothing about them how would your business be affected all at the heart of course but that wouldn't be in my would be hard and it would be your business now the same thing applies if you put this country and place of yourself in the same situation it's not only his own opinion the scimitar advances there are many in his state majority determines the democratic outcome he must help mold that opinion problem every day and the way they are so determined the way the country function dictate or discuss the answer is clear in this country it is still possible speak frankly on any given subject a good merchant knows how to evaluate such public comments he went to school it is still possible to have freedom of choice problems every day yet there is an instinct to be civil and consider differences of opinion surely get differing goals can be reached without lies or bribery or violence develop within each citizen is the democratic spirit the democratic method the tools with which answers may be f learning to read is more than just that a man must learn to recognize lives know the danger of the half truth the citizen must be able to speak in his own fashion the foundation of national debate on great issues is build known by stone in the classroom history is freedom's weapon find mind speaking simple truths through the centuries and sometimes even more important the lament of tens of thousands dying in a gas change the course of history and the way in which the course was changed there is a relation between then and now perhaps there's a connection between what the men of the constitutional convention achieved here and what all of you did last week when you elected george to represent you on the school council how about it george did the class give  the housewife taught in this class will know that free citizens must be free from fear the injustice of the past can control the indignation today strange words down stream until the language is learned and the ways of the people who speak it must be learned to understanding brings respect and like in a team consists of fifteen players whereas soccer requires about eleven now i magine a lot of you are still thinking about the big game last weekend henry let's hear you tell differently some say it's a bit rougher well how did the game come out faith in the united nations starts in school the tolerance of different ways within one world is taught one world within one factory men may speak different languages or the same words may mean various things to different men the finding of a common ground begins in school the tools for living a further temperate in chemistry lab of course learning how a basic oxide unite with an acid helps future chemists here to our future homemakers and lawyers yes and farmers and real industrialists and craftsman and senators they are learning to check and prove the balance and evaluate none are born with those skills they all have to be taught them here a boy may learn how to drain an orchard or put his arithmetic to work on a neighborhood problem fred gorman was taught the way to find the air today his problem in school he will not forget today john latin and andrew malay may not come to a meeting of minds but they know how to effect a working compromise democratically the method is the important thing sen aims will do its level best to leave and his constituents still has an unmarked ballot in his pocket powell today's children function in a dangerous world what means will  to car of the future will they be equipped to find the answers to tomorrow's problem will they be able to buy a house or run a farm are the people who tolerate such schools as these really concerned about democracy its future can schools like these be trusted to clarify the minds of democracies children there's a reasonable doubt that youngsters can find clarity in schools like th a teacher can hammer out america's future with nothing but his bare hands and overworked teacher has too much work to do that the obvious and then underpaid teacher the eventual lose her eagerness her courage her self esteem or is america too busy to care are the need greater than the most resorts for nation in the world can meet this classroom is a challenge to democracy this teacher cannot be asked to meet that challenge alone school like this holds more promise for america's future ellard parents see to it that the school provides a chance for the youngsters to fulfill their potential regimentation is considered primitive in good american schools the children have an opportunity to stretch the muscles of their own initiative they can fly in fancy any place they please the air age it's not easy to learn the meaning of freedom are learning responsibility gaining that all too necessary innate sense of right and wrong in this nation that the right according to the law of every child that right must be extended to more and more children every day right the right of access to information the right to think and to speak without fear the right to work toward chos school children yes but in school they learn the ways of liberty which they must practice tomorrow to keep america free as congressman businessmen housewives farmers labor leaders as americans their decisions and the way they make them will determine the nature of our democracy today in our schools we can secure blessings of liberty to ourselves and our po