Excerpt from Government and People: An Introduction to the Study of Citizenship
In recent years the increasing scope of State activity, the urgent problems connected with the war, and the extension of the franchise to millions of new voters, have led to a growth of interest in training for citizenship. It is coming to be recognized that if the vote is to be used to the best purpose, if the most enlightened policy is to gain popular support, a deliberate effort must be made to prepare the mass of the people for the work of self-government.
The training includes two different activities: firstly, experience of community life, with a view to promoting a wide social, as distinct from a sectional, consciousness; and secondly, a study of society in general, and the facts and principles of government in particular. In the former line a great amount of experiment and organization has already taken place. Some experiments, such as the scouting movement, have met with remarkable success, and certain of them - e. g. the Junior George Republic and the Little Commonwealth - have disclosed almost startling possibilities.
In this volume we are concerned with the second branch of activity, the study of government, and this branch is almost as important as the other. The mere stimulation of interest in public affairs may even be dangerous unless it is under proper guidance. Uninformed public spirit may, in Harrington"s phrase, "spit fire and blow up castles;" whereas the same impulse based on adequate knowledge is more likely to lead to constructive reform.
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