The Prescott daily news., 1915-07-14
EVERY CHILD A CITIZEN


 children for the responsibilities of cit ;zenship is described in bulletin just issued by the U. s. Bureau of Educa- t;on on "Civic Education in Elemen- +orv Schools as Illustrated in Indian apolis."
 "The practice in the Indianapolis schools" says Arthur w. Dunn, au- thor of the bulletin, lis to help the pu- nil to understand the nature of his own community life, his dependence upon it, and his responsibility for it; to develop a right attitude toward government as the means by which all ,nembers of the community may CO., onerate for the common interest; and to cultivate habits of right action as a member of the community"
 The bulletin emphasizes the fact "civics is not aught as a separate sub feet until the eighth grade, but that civic education is a phase of all the work of the school The aim seems to he to make of education, not pro- cess of instruction in variety of sub- iects. but a process of growth, during which the various relations of life are unfoded.'
 Incidentally it is pointed out that there is no subject of ethics or nor al education in the Indianapolis schools, but the direct moral training afforded by the course here outlined is peculiarly virile. So, also, while there is no attempt to give direct vo- cation training in the strict sense of this term, nor even any organized form of vocational guidance never theless the fact is always taken into account that the citizen must ne worker and the worker a citizen
 Instruction through the course of study is, however, cnly a part of the training for citizenship given in these schools. An understanding of com munity life and of government" de- clares MT. Dunn, lis fruitless without the cultivation of qualities and habits of good citizenship. Instruction and training must go hand in hand. The latter is largely a matter of practice. y Pupil participation in school manage ment is very real thing in Indiana polis and m some schools it is car ried to a high degree of effectiveness. It manifests itself in the method of preparing and conducting recitations; protecting the rights of younger child ren; in maintaining the sanitary con ditions of the building and grounds; in beautifyiac school grounds; in the making of repairs and equipment for "our school" in fact, in every as pect of the school life.
 In Indianapolis pupil participation Tn the government of the school leads naturally into pupil participation in the larger civic life of the community of which the school itself is a part. Malntmlng order on the playground naturally extends to maintaining or der on the streets in the vicinity of the school. It is common for committees of older boys to ook after the safety ot younger children in crossing streets near the school. Splicitude Tor the cleanliness and beauty of school grounds develops equal solici- tuoe Tor the cleanliness and beauty of adlolnlng streets, alleys, and vacant iots' School gardening quickly stim- uiates home gardening, and whole helghborhoods have been transformed through the influence of the schools. Whether the children who are now undergoing this training for citizen shlp will in reality be efficient citizens lo or 70 years hence can not be fore 'oid' according to MT. Dunn. But he "oas: There is apparently ample e'iuehce that they are better citizens now; and, moreover, that the presnt s'Vlc He of the city is appreciably af- lected by it.. Where immediate re- sui'S are so apparent and so far-reach- 'ns' the effect upon future citizenship %pould certainly be appreciable." '"epartment of the Interior, Bureau of Education)