Our town and civic duty

by Jane Eayre Fryer

This reader is not intended to be exhaustive in any sense, but rather suggestive, so that the teacher may use any original ideas which add to the interest of the lessons.

In his introduction to the previous volume, Doctor J. Lynn Barnard emphasizes this point when he says: “Like all texts or other helps in education, these civic readers cannot teach themselves or take the place of a live teacher. But it is believed that they can be of great assistance to sympathetic, civically minded instructors of youth who feel that the training of our children in the ideals and practices of good citizenship is the most imperative duty and, at the same time, the highest privilege that can come to any teacher.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks are due to Doctor J. Lynn Barnard of the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, for valuable suggestions and helpful criticism in the making of this reader; also to Miss Isabel Jean Galbraith, a demonstration teacher of the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, for assistance in preparing the questions on the lessons.

For kind permission to use copyrighted and other material acknowledgments are due to the following: Cassell & Co. for “Better Not, Bob!” from Little Folks; The Bobbs-Merrill Company for “The Knights of the Silver Shield,” from Why the Chimes Rang, by Raymond M. Alden, Copyright 1908; The American Humane Education Society for “The Story of Barry,” selections by George T. Angell, and other material; Wilmer Atkinson Company for the story of “Nellie’s Dog;” Miss H. H. Jacobs for two selections; The Animal Rescue League of Boston and The Ohio Humane Society for selections; and to The Macmillan Company for “How the Mail is Delivered,” from How We Travel, by James F. Chamberlain; to The Red Cross Magazine for several photographs; to the F. A. Owen Publishing Company for the “Red Cross Emblem,” “Plain Buttons,” “The American Flag,” and other material from Normal Instructor and Primary Plans.

A bird’s-eye view of the plan of the young american readers

It may be said that a child’s life and experience move forward in ever widening circles, beginning with the closest intimate home relations, and broadening out into knowledge of community, of city, and finally of national life.

A glance at the above diagram will show the working plan of the Young American Readers. This plan follows the natural growth and development of the child’s mind, and aims by teaching the civic virtues and simplest community relations to lay the foundations of good citizenship. See Outline of Work.