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Show - EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY In these days when the very foundation stone of our nation, which is democracy, is under attack from many sides it is more important than it ever has been that the young people now going through high school and on their way to becoming citizens should have a clear understanding of the differences between the conflicting ideals and principles of government which are struggling for a foothold in a sorely troubled world. "It's not enough," said Dr. J. W. Studebaker, U. S. commissioner of education, recently, "merely "mere-ly to propagandize democracy. People must be taught to understand democracy by understanding understand-ing the other ideologies which are striving to displace democracy." The best possible education for democracy is one which demonstrates how, throughout the course of history all other forms of government have been tried and have failed. Only a government such as Lincoln called "of the people1, by the people, for the people," has ever survived for long. It was clearly seen by the founders of our nation na-tion that the system of free institutions and intelligent in-telligent self-government could not work if the people did not have sufficient education to think for themselves. We have succeeded in maintaining maintain-ing a democracy in proportion as we have been able to maintain the standards of education at a point where even high school children are able to discriminate and to recognize democracy as the only form of government under which human rights and human liberties can be or ever have been assured. That is the essence of Americanism : That is what makes us different from any other people in the world. Democracy is our most precious national possession, pos-session, which no foreign propaganda must be permitted per-mitted to impair. |