At the same time there is
in America a greater disposition than in England to adapt abstract
study to practical ends, to link the class-room to the factory, to the
city hall, and to the Capitol itself. As one of her scholars says:
Both the inspiration and the romance of the scholar's life lie in
the perfect assurance that any truth, however remote or isolated,
has its part in the unity of the world of truth and its undreamed
of applicability to service[1].
There are in America numerous societies, among them the National
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.
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