The New York herald., 1922-08-13
EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP

Democracy and citizenship are two
things that merit topmost place in the
mind of every American teacher in
parish. private or public school. What
a wealth of energy, OF thought. OF
achievement those twin ideas suggest
What a call is made upon us to face
them fairly and squarely without blink
ing facts and avoiding efforts, though
they appear to make for the very Pisgah
height. Democracy and citizenship,
these two things inseparably yoked, be-
long to every truly American dispose
ton. They run in our blood, throb in
our hearts and strive to express them
selves In our intelligence they dictate
themselves to our ceaseless considera-
tion and urge upon us the task of max
ing them more close knit In our aims.
in our efforts and in our daily lives,
above all, in our enterprise OF educa-
ton.
We observe then. first of all. how the
Catholic school is admirably adapted to
bring up citizens and enable them to face
the most acute situations. tomorrow or
any time. Her age old traditions. the
heaped-up heritage Of centuries. provide
her with extraordinary equipment for
educating youth in true democracy. Let
US never forget that the Catholic Church
was the cradle IN which Christian de-
mocracy was nursed from the beginning.
There Is no more brazen travesty of his
tory than that which boasts that democ-
racytwas introduced by the Reformation.
IL can easily be proved that the theory
of government by consent underiay the
Gothic rule in Spain, as well as the Car
lcvingian and Merovingian monarchies
Centuries before the democratic theory
was tried out far and wide in Christen-
dom, applications of ii were made that
were both practical and workable The
Middle Ages Montelambert asserts,
were an epoch Of faith, but also period
of strife, of discussion, of dignity and,
above all, OF freedom. Humanity was
rever more fertile, more manful, more
potent" Monks Of the West, l. PIP. 204-
205.)
Looking back over the space of a
thousand years which We call the Middle
Ages to get an estimate of the work they
had done, IL not toward perfection in
these institutions, at least toward at
tanning the knowledge of political truth
this is what we find says Lord Acton
Representative government, which was
unknown to the ancients. was almost
universal. The methods of election were
crude but the principle that no tax was
lawful that was not granted by the class
that paid 1T. e., that taxation was in
ognized. not as the privilege of certain
countries, but as the right of all. Not
prince in the world, said Philip de
Confines, can levy a penny without the
consent of the people. Slavery was al
most everywhere extinct; and absolute
power was deemed more intolerable and
more criminal than slavery. The right
of insurrection was not only admitted
hut defined as a duty sanctioned by re-
crfn Exrnn f1NA ri M
habeas corpus act and the method of
income tax were already known. And"
he adds, these results, one and all,
would have been impossible II the
Papacy had not struggled with the En-
pire."
I'm the later middle ages admits
Sdwick. from the end of the thirteenth
century onward, 1t was the most ac-
cepted doctrine that secular govern
ment rests upon the consent OF the peo-
pie. who have an original right to
choose their own form of government"
Resting secure In the certainty of our
historical background, our work here is
TO survey the field and visualize some
actualties of present-day citizenship in
order to indicate the ways and means
educators should use to secure strength
and endurance for those institutions
which imply our liberty and freedom
Education for citizenship demands
squarcly that we face the living needs
and realities here in our land and shape
the course of our education according
ly. Lest we attempt to educate for
Utopia and not for the United States"
there is need to stake the ground and
know where we stand. Nothing should
disgust us more than empty talk about
civic duty in the absence of all prn-
ciples and directions. There must be
path and goal that all who run may
see.
Citizenship as we understand II i'm
plies life, outward action. social rela-
tions. The cultivation of those things
Is of immense Importance nowadays :
their perfection the goal of every truly
democratically educational enterprise.
No school can afford to neglect the task
unless it would be derelct In it's duty.
Nor can we be too painstaking in pre-
pairing lines of advance in the essentials
of citizenship. The education we essay
WIN be seen to consist I'm equipping our
youth with such qualities of mind, heart
and Will as will serve as a bulwark FOR
the security of the State and fend off
the foes that threaten It's life for enc
mics there are. alert to SOW cookie amid
the wheat the moment that men sleep.
and IL takes but half an eye 20 see that
eternal vigilance and persistent pre-
paredness are the price OF safety. At
once. then, let us be wide awake 10 the