A 1944 Prescription for Teaching Students the Principles of Good Citizenship

Here’s how to turn students into responsible citizens.

When the school system fails to teach the basics of citizenship to students, it is up to parents to do so themselves. George Rudy/Shutterstock

While digging through a folder of items belonging to my grandmother during her high school years, I came across several copies of Weekly News Review, a periodical full of news items and current events apparently geared toward young students. Flipping to the back page of the Jan. 3, 1944 edition, the following cartoon caught my eye:

Courtesy of the author

“There is more to citizenship than voting,” the caption reads, while the image labels a handful of items necessary to building a good citizen, including “wide reading,” “discussion,” and “opinions based on fact.” Voting—what we often view as the most important and sometimes the only aspect of being a good citizen—only comes after climbing up all the other steps.

So, just what are these other steps on the ladder to citizenship? The article accompanying the cartoon gives us some hints.

Read Purposefully

“It is very well to scan the papers, stopping at the articles and stories which are of real interest,” the article says, further exhorting us to read with purpose, “select[ing] certain problems with which you wish to become particularly well acquainted and look actively for material on those problems.” The article also encourages students to “read widely” and “read critically.” In this age of internet skimming, never were words more fitly spoken—for both young and old!

Have Convictions

Another point explains cautions that “open-mindedness,” while a virtue, “can be carried too far.” Instead, the good citizen will gather information and make informed decisions based upon those facts. “After forming your convictions, act on them,” this point concludes.

Engage in Discussion

A third point urges that good discussion involves both speaking and listening. “Let your object be not to overcome your associates in the discussion but to acquire as much truth as possible.” In other words, the purpose of dialogue is not just to divide and conquer the opposing viewpoints; it is to learn and grow from them both mentally and emotionally, and in so doing, help others do the same.

Know Your Government

“Make a study of your local and national governments. Find out who the officers are that decide on public policies,” the article says. Once you know who your representatives are, “Exert all possible influence upon these officials when questions upon which you have convictions come up.” The reason is that your opinion, expressed to your representatives in written form or otherwise, has far more effect than you could ever imagine.

Obey the Law

“Lawlessness is one of the dangers of American life,” the fifth point explains, going on to exhort readers to make “obedience to law and respect for law an inflexible rule of life.” Doing so, however, does not preclude seeking changes to laws or lobbying to change injustices, the point cautions.

Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Citizens

The question is, how well are today’s schools doing in training young people in these facets of good citizenship? Are we teaching them to read and to read well so that they can gather information and discern between fact and opinion? Given that only 37 percent of the nation’s 12th-grade students read proficiently enough for college coursework—while roughly half of them never or very rarely read stories or novels outside of school—it seems unlikely.

Or how about the area of convictions? Do today’s students get the sound, moral instruction they need in schools in order to form convictions? Or are they simply treated to a relativistic smorgasbord that only confuses them and raises wishy-washy adults who don’t believe anything?

If so, perhaps that’s why we’re seeing such lawlessness in today’s schools. Indeed, reports indicate that many teachers believe misbehavior in school has been on the rise since COVID-19. Today, teachers’ hands seem to be tied regarding discipline and the ability to enforce rules in their own classrooms. If students are conditioned to have such little respect for their teachers and the rules they put forth in the microcosm of the local school, then how can we expect them to become law-abiding citizens one day?

And then consider government. Civics instruction seems to be a low priority in the nation. The last national test of 12th graders in the subject area happened 14 years ago and showed that only 25 percent of students were proficient in the subject. If students are not introduced to the basic workings of their government—a government that they are supposed to eventually run—then how likely is it that they will be interested in voting, lobbying their legislators, or even participating in the community around them?

The American Right to Civics Education

Unfortunately, it seems today’s schools don’t take their responsibility to prepare the next generation for citizenship as seriously as they did in my grandma’s day.

But why does it matter? Why should we even bother pointing this out?

The reason is because schools that fail to teach students to climb the ladder of citizenship may be violating their state constitutions. Take the one from my home state, Minnesota, for example. Article XIII, Section 1 states, “The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it is the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools.”

Other state constitutions read similarly, including Indiana’s (“Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; it shall be the duty of the General Assembly ... to provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools”) and Florida’s (“The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders”).

Raising the Standard

But when evidence shows that the nation’s public schools are not providing that uniform education system essential to the preservation of a free government, what are the people to do?

Two things come to mind.

The first is to teach these basic elements of citizenship to your children yourself. Help them to become strong readers. Explain your convictions to them and why you hold them, encouraging them to develop convictions of their own. Help them to appreciate the system of representative government we’ve been given in this nation, teaching them to be respectful of those in charge while also striving to uphold justice and righteousness.

Secondly, if the public school system is not upholding the duties extended to it in various state constitutions, then perhaps it’s time for all of us as American citizens to seek alternatives for our children. One easy way to do this is to support and spread the word about various forms of school choice, such as Education Savings Accounts, which allow education dollars to follow students to schools that best fit their individual needs—including the need to be instilled with principles of good citizenship.

Our students may be at the bottom of the good citizenship ladder currently, but that doesn’t mean they have to stay there forever.