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To Declare Independence is J\[ot Enough
r-p-iHE MEN WHO SIGNED tKe immortal “Declaration” in 1776 did not suddenly arrive at tlie conclusions there set forth as a foreword to the free way of life.
For years they had been rcaihiig and tluii Icing about human needs and wants, and the ideals of independence proclaimed at Philadelphia were the blended product of their best mental efforts.
In their day we had no free education system, opening wide the doors to useful knowledge and moral guidance. Now, in every part of our land, even to the remotest hamlet, every American child is given an equal chance to learn; to become acquainted with the material facts on which men and women base their individual and group actions, and to cultivate habits of sound thought.
“One of the chief responsibilities of our public schools,” says Burgin E. Dossett, State Commissioner of Education in Tennessee, “is to tram the youth of America in independence of thinking, so that they will be able, both now and in later years, to sieve out the false from the true facts in all of their social, moral and spiritual relationships. When our boys and girls are so trained, and when they have accepted their personal responsibilities of citizenship, they will be better prepared to render service and to provide leadership in the maintenance of peace and security for America and the world.
“Those courses of study which will provide the type of training and instruction to prepare the youth of America to think independently, and to assume the responsibilities of citizenship, should be included in the curriculum of every school throughout the land.
“As an auxiliary aid to classroom instruction in the building of bedrock Americanism, the value of The Reader’s Digest is very high. It serves as an excellent guide in leading young minds to understand and appreciate the principles, the benefits, and the responsibilities of our form of democracy.”