“Here the heart
May give an useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without his books.”
—William Cowper
Youthful feet that wander through the classic halls of the old Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) pause longest before reminders of the first republic’s first president. To the children of Liberty, the name of Washington, “Freedom’s first and favorite son,” “the ideal type of civic virtue to succeeding generations,” sums up all the elements of patriotism. “Washington is the mightiest name on earth,” declared Abraham Lincoln, “long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation.” Hear Daniel Webster: “The name of Washington is intimately blended with whatever belongs most essentially to the prosperity, the liberty, the free institutions, and the renown of our country.”
To the youth of the land this lustrous name is synonymous with Freedom, whose lessons they begin to learn in their primers. In the classroom, scholars receive instruction in loyalty to country, and initial training for their future obligations as citizens. The schools shelter the reserve forces of the nation, just as tender saplings are nurtured until the time when they will be uprooted and set in the open, to brave the winds that smite the forest. “Thy safeguard, Liberty, the school shall ever be.”
The inspirational sources of the country’s power, the mighty principles of its Constitution, are part of the teaching prescribed in American educational institutions. In recent years state legislatures have enacted laws providing for the display of the flag during school hours, for ceremonies that include a salute to Old Glory at the opening of each school day, for the observance of national holidays by special exercises, and for military instruction of public school pupils.
The promotion of patriotic study in the schools has, very appropriately, been fostered by bodies of Civil War veterans and allied organizations. Recognizing that “the training of citizens in the common knowledge and in the common duties of citizenship belongs irrevocably to the State,” wise leaders have consistently impressed upon the students under their care that a share in the safety of American freedom rests upon them. Programs comprising military drills, camp life, first aid, nursing, and the conservation of food supplies are in force, or contemplated, in many schools throughout the United States, such instruction frequently being under control of the Federal Government.
That patriotism is something more than a sentiment is the principle that modern school children are learning. In the United States there is a marked revival of interest in history, civics, and national traditions, and an accelerated curiosity among both native and foreign-born youth as to the circumstances that led to the founding of the Republic, and the patriots that sponsored its creation.