Elements of Civil Government / A Text-Book for Use in Public Schools, High Schools and Normal Schools and a Manual of Reference for Teachers

by Alexander L. Peterman

A FEW WORDS TO TEACHERS.

1. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.--Every school should teach, and every child should study, the principles of our government, in order:

1. That by knowing his country better he may learn to love it more. The first duty of the school is to teach its pupils to love "God, home, and native land."

2. That the child may learn that there is such a thing as just authority; that obedience to it is right and manly; that we must learn to govern by first learning to obey.

3. That he may know his rights as a citizen, and, "knowing, dare maintain;" that he may also know his duties as a citizen, and, knowing, may perform them intelligently and honestly.

4. That he may understand the sacredness of the right of suffrage, and aid in securing honest elections and honest discharge of official duties.

5. That he may better understand the history of his country, for the history of the United States is largely the history of our political institutions.

2. ORAL INSTRUCTION.--There is no child in your school too young to learn something of geography, of history, and of civil government.

These three subjects are so closely related that it is easier and better to teach them together. All pupils not prepared for the text-book should, at least on alternate days, be instructed by the teacher in a series of familiar talks, beginning with "The Family," and proceeding slowly to "The School," "The Civil District or Township," "The County," "The State," and "The United States." In this system of oral instruction, which is the best possible preparation for the formal study of civil government, the plan and outlines of this book may be used by the teacher with both profit and pleasure.

3. PROPER AGE FOR STUDY OF THE TEXT-BOOK.--The plan and the style of this book are so simple that the subject will be readily understood by pupils reading in the "Fourth Reader." Even in our ungraded country schools the average pupil of twelve years is well prepared to begin the study of the text-book in civil government. It is a serious mistake to postpone this much neglected subject until a later age. Let it be introduced early, that the child's knowledge of his government may "grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength."

4. TWO PARTS.--It will be observed that the book is divided into two parts: the former treating the subject concretely, the latter treating it abstractly.

Beginners should deal with things, not theories; hence, the abstract treatment of civil government is deferred until the pupil's mind is able to grasp it.

For the same reason, definitions in the first part of the book are few and simple, the design of the author being to illustrate rather than to define; to lead the child to see, rather than to burden his mind with fine-spun statements that serve only to confuse. In an elaborate work for advanced students the method of treatment would, of course, be quite different.

5. TOPICAL METHOD.--The subject of each paragraph is printed in bold-faced type, thus specially adapting the book to the topical method of recitation. This feature also serves as a guide to the pupil in the preparation of his lesson.

6. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.--In deference to the best professional thought, the author has omitted all questions upon the text, knowing that every live teacher prefers to frame his own questions. The space usually allotted to questions upon the text is devoted to suggestive questions, intended to lead the pupil to think and to investigate for himself.

The author sincerely hopes that the teacher will not permit the pupil to memorize the language of the book, but encourage him to express the thought in his own words.