THE HOME A SCHOOL OF CITIZENSHIP

One of the most important services performed for the community by the home is that of training its members for citizenship.  The family has been called “a school of all the virtues” that go to make good citizenship.  It is a school in which not only the children, but also the parents, not only the boys and men, but also the girls and women, receive training by practice.  In the home are developed thoughtfulness for others, a spirit of self-sacrifice for the common good, loyalty to the group of which the individual is a member, respect for the opinions of others of long experience, a spirit of teamwork, obedience to rules which exist for the welfare of all.  If these and other qualities of good citizenship are not cultivated in the home, it is not in a healthy condition nor performing its proper service to the community.

Moreover, the exercise of these virtues in the home is not only training for good citizenship; it is good citizenship.  If the home is as important a factor in our national life as this chapter has indicated, then one of the greatest opportunities for good citizenship, and one of the greatest duties of good citizenship, is that of making the home what it should be; and in this each member of the family has his or her share.

Make a study of farm tenancy in your locality (neighborhood, township, or county).

How many of the farms of the locality are occupied and operated by their owners? how many by tenants?  What is the percentage of tenancy?

To what extent are the tenants men who were formerly farm laborers, but who by renting farms are making a start on their own account?  Is this a sign of progress?

What percentage of the tenants are white? negro?

To what extent are the tenants foreigners who have recently come to the locality?

Are the tenant farms usually rented for long periods or for short periods?

What is the system of tenancy in your locality (i.e. cash rental, working on shares, partnership with the owner, etc.)?  If more than one exists, which seems to work best?  Why?

Is tenancy increasing or decreasing in your locality?  What reasons are given for this?

Does experience in your locality support the statement that tenant farmers are less likely than others to interest themselves in community progress?

If you live or go to school in town, make a study of home ownership in the town. (If a small community, the class may study the entire area; if large, different sections may be studied by different groups of pupils.) How many homes are occupied by their owners? how many by tenants?  What is the percentage of tenancy?  Is tenancy increasing or decreasing?  For what reasons?

Is there some section of the community where most of the people own their homes, and another section where most of the people rent?  If so, do you notice any difference in the general appearance of the two sections?  Do you think that the difference, if any exists, is due in any part to the fact that some own and others rent their homes?