Id /^^/ / Rhode Island Education Circulars THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STATE OF RHODE ISLAND 1911 STATE OF RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. The children of the school are the children of the home' and the children of city and town. The school is not a separate and inde- pendent institution, but is a civic agency organized and directed, in cooperation with other social and political institutions, to subserve the public weal. The power and honor of the school reside in its pecuHar function of training children and youth for efficient citizen- ship. School education is within, not apart from, the common life of our people. The successful teacher is always one who knows how to relate his school to home and social order. To educate a child in civic intelhgence, loyalty, and efficiency is not only to teach him to think and feel public good but also to form habits of doing practical things for civic improvement, especially things in which his parents and neighbors are concerned. To share in pubhc endeavor for better things is an important lesson for the school citizen. There is danger in the attempt to lay too large responsibility upon youth, but even the children of the schools should be taught to respect the rights of the public and to do their part for civic improvement. It is the legal duty of the teacher to instruct his pupils in moral conduct, and to no other instruction are they more responsive. As a practical example of such training, children may well be taught to help guard the trees and flowers of park and street, and keep places clean, for the sake of public health and beauty. It is in such service that the school may be accounted a civic guard. In all activities of the school it should be remembered that the school is already organized for pubHc service. Each school is a unit 2 THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. of a town or city system and a part of a civic institution. It cannot be made a subordinate part of any private organization, however beneficent. It owes its first allegiance to city, state, and nation. As every resident is a citizen of his town or city, so every pupil, as citizen of his school, is entitled to an equality of opportunity in the life of the school. For these reasons, the formation of clubs and societies among pupils, not directed by the school and tending to disorganize the school itself, seems unnecessary. Let the school as a whole assume its civic duties, cooperate with other public agencies, and let every pupil share in its civic aims. For special ends, the school will properly have its groups or committees of pupils, but they will serve in the name of the school. These groups may be organized as the following papers suggest. The suggestions, offered by Mr. Aronovici in this circular, by no means indicate all the opportunities of the school as a civic guard. They have the value of definiteness and direct the attention of teach- ers to a service that the school may render to itself and its community. To help keep clean their own streets and parks is an object not unworthy the efforts of citizens, young or old. WALTER E. RANGER, Commissioner of Public Schools. the school as a civic guard. 3 ''The Civic Guard." by carol aronovici, Director Bureau of Social Research of Rhode Island. The warm weather has come and with it there is a general awaken- ing to the things of the out of doors, to the many pleasures and duties that the sky and the fields and the brooks and little gardens offer to the men and women, to the boys and girls of the city and country. The birds are aware of it, and are coming in flocks; the insects are awakening from their winter sleep, and even the children are begin- ning to feel the call of the fields and to count the days that bring them near the vacation season with its many promises of play and freedom from the regular school duties. All these are things of joy and promise, but we should not accept them without assuming at least a small share of the responsibilities and duties of making our season yield its fullest blessing by lending our hand. Boys and girls can aid greatly in making the work of nature more successful and more widespread, and to protect our city and State against the careless and injurious acts of persons who do not appreciate the value of having a beautiful city. The boys and girls in the schools of Rhode Island must realize their power for doing good and for helping the older people keep the city clean, orderly, and healthy. To do this they should organize in little groups called " Civic Guards," which after proper preparation of by-laws, electing president, sec- retary, treasurer, and other officers, would take it upon themselves to carry out certain plans for the protection of their city or town. They should see to it that the city streets are kept free from dirt^ papers, rubbish, and other unsightly material; that the trees are not injured by destructive boys; that the song-birds are not attacked, but encouraged to make their homes in the trees and shrubs in our gardens and along the wayside, and that the parks and play-grounds are kept in an orderly and cleanly condition. They should protect the hedges and shrubbery along the roadway, assist neighbors in doing the spring cleaning in their yards, help the principal and 4 THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. teachers of the school to keep the school yards clean, and when possible, to plant trees and shrubs and flowers about the school building, so as to make the premises beautiful and shady, and in this manner give the whole community an air of orderliness and beauty such as has never been seen before. These things can be done by boys and girls with much pleasure and great profit to all concerned. School children in other cities and towns outside of the State of Rhode Island have done it, and the children in Cumberland, a town in this State, have carried to a suc- cessful end such a plan as is here suggested. They have learned many things about being useful citizens, and have taught the older people how they also can learn from the example of the younger generation. As time goes fast and the day for good ''Civic Guard" work is here, we must all get busy organizing, and the principals and teachers of the schools will stand ready to help you if you are willing to become guards of the city or town in which you live. Clean Up and Beautify Your Schools and Their Surroundings. by carol aronovici. The school, like the home and the church, is a place which should reflect the sense of duty, cleanliness, taste and reverence for what is good and true. The streets about the school house, about the home and about the church are the frames in which these sacred places find their settings. If the streets are of such close relationship to the school, the home and the church, they should be kept as clean, as beautiful, and as well cared for, as we keep our schools and our home. A dirty dress or coat, dirty shoes, and torn stockings, spoil the looks of the best looking boy or girl. A dirty street or yard will spoil the beauty of the prettiest school house and the nicest home. We judge the boy by the care he takes of his clothing, and we judge the school by the care it takes of its yards, and the streets about the building. THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. 5 The boys and girls in the schools, which are paid for by their parents, should give as much care to the outside of the school build- ing, the yard, the street, and the neighboring open lot, as they are expected to give to their books, their desks, the floors, the walls, and the other things in the building. The boys and girls in our schools are not always careful about the school yard, nor are they careful about the streets which lead from their homes to school. I am sure that they would not be so careless if they realized that the street is the hallway which connects the school and the home, and that the careless throwing of papers and rubbish into the street means dirty streets, papers flying all about, and dust that gets into the eyes and noses and throats of people, which often causes sickness, and even death in the community. When big people see something in the community which is bad, and which must be done away with, they form leagues and societies for the purpose of fighting the evil. Boys and girls in our public schools, when they find that the streets which lead to the school and about the school are dirty, and not at all beautiful, they should also form leagues to fight the carelessness of their own school mates and of other careless persons. Children can teach older people how to keep the city clean and wholesome and beautiful by doing their own share in keeping it clean and wholesome and beautiful. In keeping our streets beautiful the boys and girls must also re- member that it is not enough to avoid throwing papers and apples and banana peelings and other rubbish on the street. They must look after the trees and shrubbery that border the street with the same tender care that they or their parents or their neighbors care for the trees and shrubs about their homes. In New York city scores of thousands of school children have organized in leagues and are helping to keep their great city clean. You live in a smaller city and can more easily do your share towards this work. The principals and teachers in your school, I am sure, will always be willing to help you keep the school yard and the streets clean, and 6 THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. will always be ready to show you how to do it in the quickest, most courteous, and easiest way. Get together and form a league which will help your teacher, your parents, and the city government to make your community the cleanest and best cared for in the State. To the Teachers and Principals of Elementary Schools.— One of the main factors in the life of our school children should be their civic education. The city streets are the most intimate elements in the life of the child outside of the range of parent or school supervision. This State, and particularly the cities of this State, could be easily made the field of practical lessons in civic cooperation by giving the children of the pubhc schools the opportunity to interest themselves, and in so far as possible care for the cleanliness and beauty of a con- siderable part of our civic work. In New York city, and in Brookline, Massachusetts, school chil- dren 's leagues organized for the purpose of keeping the city streets clean proved a success. This work could very effectively be done in Rhode Island. The principals and teachers of the schools could well organize the children in their schools into "Civic Guards" for the pur- pose of protecting trees and exercising such self-control and vigilance over the cleanliness of the city streets as would be a practical and useful lesson to the children themselves and would be a saving to the community as a whole, both in the way of expenditure for cleaning streets and in the way of preserving trees and other elements that go towards the beautifying our thoroughfares. The writer will be glad to furnish any information and all the assistance possible to every school throughout the State which would undertake to organize its children into such leagues as are above suggested. Address the writer to 55 Eddy Street, Providence, R. I. the school as a civic guard. i The Cumberland Civic Guards. by william w. andrew, assistant commissioner of public schools. The Cumberland Civic Guards is an organization to promote clean- liness, beauty, and order in the town. It was organized October 14, 1910, in the Valley Falls school by the principal. Miss Etta V. Leigh- ton. It was formed of pupils of the fifth and sixth grades and such other persons as the society may from time to time elect. At present, there are about sixty members, forty-four from the grades mentioned, ten from the lower grades, and a few honorary members from other schools. They have a written constitution, which is as follows: — Article I. — This society shall be known as The Cumberland Civic Guard. Article II. — All members of Grades V-VI of Valley Falls School and such other persons as the society may from time to time elect, shall be eligible for membership in the society. Article III. — It shall be the object of the society to work for cleanliness, beauty and order in the town. Article IV. — ^The officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Director. Article V. — ^The teacher of the V-VI Grades is ex-officio the director of the society. Article VI. — Persons become members by signing the pledge and the con- stitution. Article VII. — Regular meetings shall be held once a month. Special meetings may be held at the call of the conductor or at the request of the officers. As indicated in the constitution, a pupil becomes a member by signing it and subscribing to this pledge: — "I promise to do all that I can to promote cleanliness, beauty and order in our town." The society aims to develop individual initiative, civic pride, and social cooperation. The colors of the Guard are blue and gold. Each member wears a round button with the letters, C. C. G. in' gold on a blue background. Their society yell, adopted unanimously and very popular is : 8 THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. "Who are we? The C. C. G., Working hard for O. B. C. That's our business C. C. G." The meetings are conducted by the children. Oftentimes they are allowed to experiment for themselves in the best way to accomplish some given activity. Each boy and girl gives an oral report of what he has done since the last meeting. Occasionally, at a public meeting the pupils recite selections which stimulate civil pride or contribute to the uplift of its members in the ideals which they have set for themselves. Each individual feels responsible for the beauty and cleanliness of his own yard, of the streets of his town, and his school yard. This duty expresses itself in endeavors to keep these properties free from refuse of all kinds. He enlists the sympathy and cooperation of his parents, teachers and officers of the law in carrying out this purpose. Valley Falls and the adjacent territory offer a promising field for civic improvements. The school is situated near the railroad tracks which are a constant menace to the safety of the pupils. With this in mind the Guard passed the following resolution: " Resolved, that the Cumberland Civic Guard forbids its members to play about the freight yards." To promote individual safety and public cleanliness, the Guard had printed and distributed among all the pupils in the village the follow- ing directions: PLEASE TAKE WARNING. Do not go on thin ice. Do not chase your hat across the street. Do not chase a ball across the street. Do not run out from behind a car or wagon. Do not throw paper or other refuse in the streets. THE SCHOOL AS A CIVIC GUARD. 9 Blackbird Pond, situated not far from the school, had been used as a general repository for waste materials. In winter, it was used for skating, but the pleasure of this sport was greatly hampered by the refuse which had gathered there. The Guards cleaned it out, and added not only to the general beauty, but the general comfort as well. Another example of their industry is to be found in the preserva- tion of an oak tree which had been injured and generally neglected. They cleaned and filled up the ground at the foot of the tree, put up a sign of warning to those who might be careless of its life and beauty, and generally took it under their protection. Miss Leighton has taken the Guards on excursions to show them examples of civic activity. They have visited Brown University and the John Hay Library; the Union Station, City Hall, the Provi- dence Public Library, and the press room of the Providence Journal. In these excursions, they become acquainted with cities and towns and are better able to discuss questions of public interest. They are planning to visit historic spots in Cumberland and Lincoln. In their meetings, they study the ordinances of the town of Cumber- land in their bearing upon some question which may have come up for discussion. At a recent meeting of the society, one small boy brought in the following quotation which well illustrates the ideals of the Guard: — ■ "Clean homes, clean children, clean school houses and clean yards will help on the movement toward scientific sanitation. In fact these are absolutely essential to proper health conditions. We believe that the element of beauty is also an important factor toward this end. Well painted buildings, well kept lawns, and flower gardens, a few pictures of real merit in the living room and the school will lift to higher ideas, better morals, better health, and better character." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 596 229 7