civics 329 



SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES 



Texts are used either in the class or as supplementary 

 reading; in the eighth grade a recitation period in civics 

 should be arranged for on the daily program, 

 G vernmcnt either once or twice in the week throughout 



a definite portion of the year, or for a few 

 consecutive weeks. In both grades the work concerns itself 

 less with details of the machinery of government than with 

 what is being done for the people by the government; the 

 meaning of government ; its defects and sources of strength ; 

 the reasons why, in a democracy, the people should under- 

 stand the government. As, for instance, a study is made of 

 the care of the poor on a county poor farm, the hospitals or 

 asylums for the insane, reform schools for incorrigible chil- 

 dren ; of what this care consists, why it is given, by whom, 

 who pays for it, effects to the public if it were not given. 

 There are many topics that can be followed out in this man- 

 ner, arousing lasting interest in actual social conditions. 

 Details of government must also be studied, but they should 

 not exclude what is being done by putting in its place how 

 it is done. 



Some of the topics for guidance of the teacher are : 

 Government : necessity ; the family, school, societies, city ; 

 various forms, democracy, kingdom, absolutism; abuses 

 and perils; good citizenship; personal character in its rela- 

 tion to government ; public spirit, knowledge of state affairs, 

 industries, relations to one another. 



The city : guided by the preceding outline, selecting those 

 points about which the pupils show least knowledge. 



The county: geographical importance; board of supervi- 

 sors and their duties ; relation to the city government ; county 



