Education Association, the American Historical Association, the
National Municipal League, the American Political Science Association,
which are working steadily to make the study of civics an essential
feature of every part of the educational system. Their prime purposes
are summarised as follows:
(1) To awaken a knowledge of the fact that the citizen is in a
social environment whose laws bind him for his own good;
(2) To acquaint the citizen with the forms of organisation and
methods of administration of government in its several
departments[2].
They claim that this can best be done by means of bringing the young
citizen into direct contact with the significant facts of the life of
his own local community and of the national community. To indicate
this more clearly they have applied to the study the name of
"Community Civics."
The argument that a sense of unreality may arise as a result of the
apparent completeness of knowledge gained in the school is met by the
close contact maintained all the time with the community outside.
There is unanimity of opinion that civics shall be taught from the
elementary school onwards:
"We believe," runs the report of the Committee of Eight of the
American Historical Association, "that elementary civics should
permeate the entire school life of the child. In the early grades
the most effective features of this instruction will be directly
connected with the teaching of regular subjects in the course of
study. Through story, poem and song there is the quickening of
those emotions which influence civic life. The works and
biographies of great men furnish many opportunities for incidental
instruction in civics. The elements of geography serve to emphasise
the interdependence of men--the very earliest lesson in civic
instruction. A study of pictures and architecture arouses the
desire for civic beauty and orderliness[3]."
A recent inquiry by a Committee of the American Political Science
Association makes it quite clear that the subject is actually taught
in the bulk of the elementary and secondary schools of the various
States and that generally the results are satisfactory, or indicate
clearly necessary reforms. The difficulty of providing suitable
text-books is partly met by the addition of supplementary local
information.
There are very few colleges and universities which do not provide
courses in political science.
No claim is made that the teaching of civics makes of necessity good
citizens, but merely that it makes the good citizen into a better
one. The justification of the subject lies in its own content.
It is a study of an important phase of human society and, for this
reason the same value as elementary science or history[4].
There is, moreover, throughout the various American reports, an
insistence on the power of the community ideal in the school and the
necessity for discipline in the performance of school duties and a due
appreciation of the importance of individual action in relation to the
class and to the school.
In England there has been much general and uncoordinated advocacy of
the direct teaching of citizenship, but, for various reasons, it does
not appear to have been introduced generally into the schools, nor
does there appear to be any immediate likelihood of development in the
existing schools.
The Civic and Moral Education League made definite inquiry, in 1915,
of teachers and schools. They pronounced the results to be
disappointing, though they comforted themselves with the
incontrovertible dictum that "the people who are doing most have least
time to talk about it." As the result of their inquiry, they drew up a
statement of the aims of civics which in general and in detail
differed little from the ideas accepted in America.
If compulsory continued education is introduced, for boys and girls
who now have no school education after the elementary school, it is of
the utmost importance that the direct study should be included in
some form or other before the age of eighteen is reached, and it is
in connection with this type of school rather than in connection with
the elementary or secondary school that constructive efforts should be
made.
It must be remembered that Mr. Acland, when Minister for Education,
introduced the subject into the Elementary Code of 1895 and provided a
detailed syllabus. This was generally approved not only as the action
of a progressive administrator but as an evidence of the new spirit of
freedom beginning to reveal itself in the educational system.
There are some education authorities, like the County of Chester,
which enact that the study of citizenship shall proceed side by side
with religious education, but the majority leave it to the teachers to
do all that is necessary by the adaptation of other subjects and the
development of school spirit.
The elaborate nature of Mr. Acland's syllabus tended to defeat its
object, and some held it to be psychologically unsound, but there has
also been lack of suitable text-books. In general, however, the whole
subject depends peculiarly upon the personality of the teacher who
feels no lack of text-books if he is alive to the interest of his
lesson.
In _Studies in Board Schools_[5], there is a delightful study of a
lesson on "Rates" to young citizens with the altruistic text, "All for
Each, Each for All." "Citizen Carrots," a tired newspaper boy up every
morning at five, is revealed as responding with great enthusiasm to
this interesting lesson which commences with a drawing on a
blackboard of a "regulation workhouse, a board school, a free library,
a lamp post, a water-cart, a dustman, a policeman, a steam roller, a
navvy or two, and a long-handled shovel stuck in a heap of soil." A
hypothetical payer of rates, "Mrs Smith," is revealed as getting a
great deal for her rates:
She is protected from any harm; her property is safe; she can walk
about the streets with comfort by day or night; her drains are seen
to; her rubbish is taken away for her; she has books and newspapers
to read; if she has ten children, she can have them well taught for
nothing--so that if they are willing to learn, and attend school
regularly, they can very easily make their own living when they
grow up; if she is ill, she can go to the infirmary for medicine;
and if, when she grows old, she is unable to pay rent or buy food
or clothes, these things are provided for her.
"And please, sir, the Parks," interjected the eager Carrots.
If the definition of a good citizen propounded by Professor Masterman
is true--that he is one who pays his rates without grumbling--"Citizen
Carrots," whatever his disadvantages, is intellectually anyhow on the
way to become such a citizen, and certainly in the sketch, "Citizen
Carrots" is determined that the rates shall be expended properly
because he himself will have a vote in later days.
It is probable that lessons such as these are more frequent than the
time-tables would indicate. There are few head masters of elementary
schools who would disclaim the adequate teaching of citizenship in
their schools. They would explain that the treatment of history and
geography proceeding from local standpoints was effective in this
direction, and it is the rule rather than otherwise for visits to be
paid to places of historic interest within reach of the schools.
Advantage is also taken of such days as Empire Day to stimulate
interest in the State, as well as to impart knowledge concerning its
organisation. All this is reinforced by the use of appropriate reading
books which are instruments of indirect, but not necessarily less
effective, instruction.
The larger opportunities which secondary schools offer have not been
taken advantage of to induce the specific study of civics to any
greater extent that in the elementary schools, although many schools
are able to devote at least a period each week to the consideration of
current events, and, naturally, the teaching of history and geography
includes much more completely the consideration of institutions both
at home and abroad.
The idea of the regional or local survey is gaining ground and in some
respects it will prove to serve the same purpose as the "Community
Civics" of the American high school.
There have been attempts to introduce economics into the secondary
school curriculum, but they have not persisted to any extent. In the
_Memorandum of Curricula of Secondary Schools_ issued by the Board of
Education in 1913, it is suggested that "it will sometimes be
desirable to provide, for those who propose on leaving school to enter
business, a special commercial course with special study of the more
technical side of economic theory and some study of political and
constitutional history." For the rest there is no mention of the
subjects intimately connected with government. It is clear that the
Board expects that out of the subjects of the ordinary curriculum,
with such special efforts suggested by public interest as may from
time to time occur, the student will gain a general knowledge of the
affairs of the community round about, some knowledge of the principles
of politics, clear ideas concerning movements for social reform, and
some acquaintance with international problems. If he does so, he will
have secured a useful introduction to the studies associated with
adult life.
An intelligent study of languages will help materially in this
direction and, whilst this is specially true in the cases of Greek and
Latin, there is no reason why modern languages should not serve the
same purpose. It is, however, often the case that the study of the
history and institutions of modern countries is not associated
sufficiently with the study of their language.
The public and grammar schools of England, as contrasted with the
newer secondary schools, are more especially the homes of classical
studies, and it is through the working of these schools that the
knowledge of institutions in ancient Greece and Rome will have its
greatest effect on citizenship.
The study of political science as a specific subject is gaining ground
in universities, whilst the study of the Empire and its institutions
has naturally made rapid progress during the last few years. There may
also be noted distinct tendencies, arising out of the experience of
the war, towards the foundation of schools destined to deal with the
institutions and the thought of foreign countries. In the schools of
economics and history there is fulness of attempt to study all that
can be included under the generic title of civics which, after all,
may be defined as political and social science interpreted in
immediate and practical ways.
[Footnote 1: Peabody, _The Religion of an Educated Man_.]
[Footnote 2: Haines, _The Teaching of Government_.]
[Footnote 3: Haines, _The Teaching of Government._]
[Footnote 4: Bourne, _The Teaching of History and Civics in the
Elementary and the Secondary School_.]
[Footnote 5: Charles Morley, 1897.]
II
INDIRECT TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP
After all is said and done the ideal training for citizenship in the
schools depends more upon the wisdom engendered in the pupil than upon
the direct study of civics. If the spirits of men and women are set in
a right direction they will reach out for knowledge as for hid
treasure. "Wisdom is more moving than any motion; she passeth and
goeth through all things by reason of her pureness[1]."
It happens also in natural sequence that the spirit developed in a
school will lead to the construction of institutions in connection
with school life calculated to secure its adequate expression.
Elementary schools, however, are much handicapped in this way. If it
comes about that work other than educational or recreative is
forbidden to children during the years of attendance at school, and
also that the period of school life is lengthened, there will be
opportunity for the development of games on a self-governing basis.
Elementary school children have a large measure of initiative; all
they need is a real chance to exercise it. They would willingly make
their schools real centres of child life. Many children at present
have little else than narrow tenements and the streets, out of which
influences arise which war continually against the social influences
of the school.
The opportunity afforded by well-ordered leisure would be accentuated
by the more complete operation of movements such as boys' brigades,
boy scouts, girl guides, and Church lads' brigades, which are in their
several ways doing much to develop citizenship. Such bodies are now in
effect educational authorities, and classes are organised by them in
connection with the Board of Education.
There have been many attempts to introduce self-governing experiments
into elementary schools and, whilst they have often been defeated by
reason of the immaturity of the children, yet some of them have met
with great success. The election of monitors on the lines of a general
election is an instance of success in this direction. The ideas which
have arisen from the advocacy of the Montessori system have induced
methods of greater freedom in connection with many aspects of
elementary school life. The Caldecott Community, dealing with
working-class children in the neighbourhood of St. Pancras, has tried
many interesting experiments. That, however, of the introduction of
children's courts of justice had to be abandoned, but not until many
valuable lessons in child psychology had been learnt.
Side by side with the elementary school, there are rising in England
experiments similar to those undertaken by such organisations as the
School City and the George Junior Republics of America. The most
notable among them is the Little Commonwealth, Dorchester, which has
achieved astonishing results through the process of taking delinquent
children and allowing them self-government. But, hopeful as the
prospects are, their ultimate effect will be best estimated when their
pupils, restored in youth to the honourable service of the community,
are taking their full share in life as adult citizens, and naturally
every care is taken in the organisation of these institutions to
ensure that the transition from their sheltered citizenship to the
outside world shall not be of so abrupt a nature as to tend to render
unreal and remote the life in which the children have taken part.
Nearly all of the more recent experiments in regard to the school and
its kindred institutions are co-operative in principle and in method,
but it is probably Utopian to conceive an educational method which
shall achieve the highest success without having included within it
the element of competition. If competition is a method obtaining
outside the school it is bound to reproduce itself within it. The only
possible thing for the school to do is to restrict the influence of
competition to the channels where it can be beneficial.
The method by which elementary school children pass to the secondary
school is by means of competitive scholarships. In common with the
Consultative Committee of the Board of Education it is necessary to
accept the fact that at present "the scholarship system is too firmly
rooted in the manner, habits and character of this country to be
dislodged, even if it were thrice condemned by theory[2]." But, in the
interests of citizenship, scholarships should be awarded as the result
of non-competitive tests, if only to secure that every child shall
receive the education for which he or she is fitted.
The stress and strain imposed upon many who climb the ladder of
education, often occasioned by the inadequacy of the scholarship for
the purposes to which it is to be applied, tend to develop
characteristics which are so strongly individual as to be distinctly
anti-social.
It is unfortunate that in many subjects of the curriculum it is not
merely bad form to help one's neighbour but distinctly a school sin,
and this makes it necessary for a balance to be struck by the
introduction of subjects at which all can work for the good of the
class or the school. Manual work and local surveys are subjects of
this nature and should be encouraged side by side with games of which
there are three essential aspects:--the individual achievement, the
winning of the match or race, and "playing the game." In reference to
citizenship the last of these is the only one which ultimately
matters.
It is generally admitted that the great public schools are those which
are most characteristic of English boy life at its best. Glorying as
they do in a splendid tradition, they have always had in addition the
opportunity of adapting themselves to new needs. Their reform is
always under discussion and perchance they are waiting even now for
some Arnold or Thring to lead them in a new England, for new it will
inevitably be. Even so, the sense of responsibility they have
developed has been translated into the terms of English government
over half the world.
The objective of the public school boy anxious to take a part in
government at home has always been parliament, or such local
institutions as demand his service in accordance with the tradition of
his family. The tendency to despise the homely duties of a city
councillor or poor law guardian is, however, passing. There are few
schools which do not welcome visitors to speak to the boys who have
first-hand acquaintance with the life of the poor or who are indeed of
that life themselves. In this way boys get to realise, as far as it is
possible through sympathy, what it means to be out of work, what it
means to be hungry for unattainable learning, what children have to
suffer, and, in addition to the practical interest which many boys
immediately develop, it cannot be doubted that many ideals for the
conduct of social life in the future are conceived, even if dimly, for
the first time. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of large-minded head
masters, public school boys more and more realise that they are
beneficiaries of the spirit of a past day, not only in the sense of
the creation of a noble tradition but actually in regard to the
material provision of buildings and the financial support of
teaching.
There is likely to be an extension of university education in the near
future. The ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge with their
great college system will be strengthened, as will be the universities
which were established at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning
of the twentieth centuries. The demand for the better training of
teachers will result inevitably in the creation of more universities.
The inadequate sum which this country has spent upon university
education up to the present will be greatly increased.
As a direct result of the opportunity which university life gives to
undergraduates for the development of self-governing institutions,
there can be little doubt that the university must be regarded above
all other schools and most institutions as powerful in the development
of good citizenship. The public school tradition will be carried
directly into the older universities and in increasing measure into
the new universities as the best spirit of the public schools
gradually permeates the whole system of our education even down to the
elementary schools themselves. When these opportunities so lavishly
provided for the development of student life in its self-governing
aspects are realised and when above it all there stand great teachers
in the lineage of those described by Cardinal Newman in his eulogy of
Athens--"the very presence of Plato" to the student, "a stay for his
mind to rest on, a burning thought in his heart, a bond of union with
men like himself, ever afterwards"--little else can be desired. In
every university there must be such teachers, or universities will
tend to fall to the level of the life about them. "You can infuse,"
said Lord Rosebery at the Congress of the Universities of the Empire,
"character, and morals and energy and patriotism by the tone and
atmosphere of your university and your professors."
From one point of view, all the old universities of Europe--Bologna,
Paris, Prague, Oxford, Cambridge, etc.--must be regarded as definite
and conscious protests against the dividing and isolating--the
anti-civic--forces of the periods of their institution. They represent
historically the development of communities for common interest and
protection in the great and holy cause of the pursuit of learning, and
above all things their story is the story of the growth of European
unity and citizenship.
The feudal and ecclesiastical order of the old mediaeval world were
both alike threatened by the power that had so strangely sprung up
in the midst of them. Feudalism rested on local isolation, on the
severance of kingdom from kingdom and barony from barony, on the
distinction of blood and race, on the supremacy of material or
brute force, on an allegiance determined by accidents of place and
social position. The University, on the other hand, was a protest
against this isolation of man from man. The smallest school was
European and not local[3].
The spirit which is characteristic of a university in its best
aspects, linked with the spirit which is inherent in the ranks of
working people, has on more occasions than one set on foot movements
for the education of the people. One of the most notable instances of
this unity found expression at the Oxford Co-operative Congress of
1882, when Arnold Toynbee urged co-operators to undertake the
education of the citizen. By this he meant: "the education of each
member of the community as regards the relation in which he stands to
other individual citizens and to the community as a whole." "We have
abandoned," he said further, "and rightly abandoned the attempt to
realise citizenship by separating ourselves from society. We will
never abandon the belief that it has yet to be won amid the stress and
confusion of the ordinary world in which we move." From that day to
this co-operators have always had before them an ideal of education in
citizenship and have organised definite teaching year by year.