Milford chronicle., 1949-07-08
Apathesic Citizens

hpdIneItC I1tlZenS
T HAD A BIT Of an argument. or
4 at least conversation, with a
retired school superintendent on the
subject Of teaching American
government, its concept, practice
and operation in the American
schools. beginning in the grades
and continuing through to high
school graduation.
That argument. or conversation,
aroused my curiosity. / wanted
some idea as to what portion Of
Americans = youngsters and old
sters were, or were not familiar
with the operation Of government
''of the people. for the people. and
BY the people" In small way
attempted to satisfy that curiosity.
As opportunity offered, talked
informally with a dozen people. I
FORMULATED no set of questions to
ask, but whenever l could would
turn conversation around to the
subject of government. and inject
some questions, as if for my own
enlightenment. In age, my IL
people ranged from late teens to
those on the down hill OF life.
In all Of the run-Of-the-miil
IL 1 found only one who could
tell me, in an intelligent way,
the fundamentals Of our gov
ernment's operations, local,
county, state and national. As
for the teen-agers, boys from
good families, / found their
knowledge or interest in gov
ernment began and stopped
with the cops. To them the pO-
liceman was government, and
they were against him.
A prominent doctor asked me
who determined the amount Of
taxes he was to pay to the city.
county and state. When / told him
that insofar as the country is con-
cerned, the board Of supervisors
determined how much money they
would need and the assessor made
tax levy to produce that amount.
He did not know what the board Of
supervisors was, or what its job
was. He knew nothing Of his local,
county, state or national govern
ments.
A young woman, a state uni
versity graduate working as a
newspaper reporter, knew some
thing about congress, but she did
not know that it consisted Of two
parts. The only senators she knew
of were those connected with the
state government.
A young man, Of some % years,
thought the man in the White
House was all there was to govern
ment. He was high school gradu-
ate. OF the two school teachers the
woman was, l think, the best in
formed, but she knew nothing Of
the details of the governmental op-
erations. The man, Of pronounced
| leftiSh tendencies, said frankly that
he knew nothing of its operations,
and would not be interested until
it became, a government Of the pro-
letariat. Neither the man or the
woman would have been competent
to teach the subject Of government.
There was the condition. Out
of a dozen run-Of-the-miII, sup
| pOsedly self-gOverning Ameri-
cans, had found but one, less
than 10 per cent, who had any
real idea what government is
all about, that In the freest,
most prosperous, country on
earth, whose government Is "Of,
for and BY the people,"
Over the years cur government
has grown into a stupendous and
complex institution. We are the
owners of that institution. We are
responsible for its operation, and
we hire the workmen who keep its
wheels turning. My little investiga.
ton would indicate that by far the
greater number of US know little
or nothing about that which is ours,
and for which we are responsible.
Why should we know, or how can
we?
To the three RS Of our public
school education we have added
many items to the curriculum, but
no one Of those additions touches
that most important of all SUBJ
jects for all Of us-government
If our free government By
the people is to continue the
people must know the funda-
mentals and the details Of that
government. The place they
should learn Of It is in the
schools.
To teach the concept. the prac-
tice. the purpose and the details Of
operations of government to the
youth Of the land will mean, for
them, greater respect for law,
more appreciation of the response
bilities and obligations as citizens,
and should do much to reduce the
youthful delinquency that worries
all parents and law officials.
The only thing that will effective
ly stop the wild, extravagant and
excessive spending by congress is
the weight Of public opinion force
) fully expressed by those whose
votes send senators and congress
men to Washington. Congress- Is