The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-10-05
TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP,
Qualities Must Be Cultivated by Prao.
tice and Becomes Fixed Habits.


education.l
"TralniDg for Citizenship" has n
meaning comparable TO that of train
ing for atMctics.' 1t suggests being
I'm training" with the activity largely
on the part of the learner, while the
teacher takes the part of Il "coach.'
Training for citizenship. like train.
ing for athletics, includes learning "the
rules of the game" a certain amount
of necessary information. A problem
of the teacher is TO determine how
much and what information is neces-
Sary. There is no fixed rule for this,
but. broadly speaking, that information
3 most valuable which can be embod-
;ed in the present life and experience
OF the learner. and not that acquired
merely because IL may be useful some
day"
Mere information is not enough 10
qualify TN athlete There are other
qualifications, the cultivation of which
Is IA part OF his training. The same
holds true in citizenship. and the quail
tics for which an athlete trains are IN
a measure those demanded by good
citizenship.
One Of these is an interest in the
game, supplying an impelling motive.
Tic apathetic participant cannot be eff.
fectiye, either III sports or in citizen.
ship. The athlete differs from the citi
zen, however, in that the athlete is ono
from choice, while the citizen is one
from necessity. If a boy has no In.
terest in athletics he simply does not
become an athlete. If he has no inter-
est in his citizenship lie is still citi-
zen, but an ineffective one 1t is a part
of the citizens training to discover
why his citizenship is matter of vital
moment to him. The right kind Of in.
formation, the kind he can embody In
his present life and experience, viii
help him to make this discovery.
Most of the qualities Of good citizen
ship, as of good athletics, cannot be
acquired merely through instruction.
They must be cultivated by practice
and become fixed as habits Some OF
the qualities best cultivated In this
way are a spirit and habit of team
work Cooperation, sense of per-
sonal responsibility for the success of
the group. good Judgment and loyalty
to the group Even much of the best
Information comes through doing rath-
er than through formal instruction.
A group of boys was studying the
community in which they lived from
the standpoint of cleanliness and beau
II. They observed" the condition OF
the streets and alleys and of their own
front and back yards and discussed"
the reasons why their community
should be clean, wholesome md beau
tiful, the arrangements for remorin,
rubbish, the effectiveness with which
1t was done and the responsibility OF
each citizen for the commmity's APP
pearance.
50 far 1t was a good lesson in COM \
munity civics, The boys We're acqulr-
Ing valuable knowledge, much Of which
could be put TO immediate use. But
they needed to edo" something about
IL not so much to clean the city as
to cultivate habits OF good citizenship
by practice. At this point their traia-
Ing went wrong. 4 well meaning or
desiring to cooperate Of
fered prize to the boy who should
bring in the largest number of old tin
,ans. There was great competition,
md some of the boys actually carted |
into" the city loads of cans from the |
,itys dump heaps.
The fundamental error in judgment |
was in cultivating a wrong motive. 1t |
resulted in substituting selfish compe |
.ition for community cooperation, In |
the sense of personal re. |
and in developing disIoy- |
lily to the community for personal |
ends.
1t shows the need Of standards Ivy |
which TO test the valne of methods Of |
'ivic training and OF particular cases
II children's participation In civic life |
Fully Explained.
In these days Of initiative, referen-
iums and recalls it is interesting to
note the explanation given by well
politician to an out OF town
friend the other day in hotel lobby
MIR Man goes home and announces
hat he is. going downtown after sup
Der to meet q friend. That's the jnitia- |
i've. The wife of the house says, Are |
you?" in that ascending voice which
seems to walk over the roof of her
nerves. That's the referendum. Then
Mr.. Man sits down and reads his pa
Der. That's the recall. And that's all
here is to it. Understand it now,
lont you? Just as easy and simple
Is two and two are four."-Columbus