“Legion Offers School Course” from the November 3, 1953 Door County Advocate
Legion Offers School Course
Special Program for Upper Grade Students
A special course of instruction in the United States Constitution will be made available to upper grade students in elementary schools in Wisconsin through sponsorship of The American Legion, State Cmdr. Gordon W. Roseleip, Darlington, has announced.
The course, called “The Children’s American Heritage program,” consists of a textbook, “You and the Constitution,” written by Prof. Paul Witty, of Northwestern University, nationally-known educator and authority on elementary school teaching. It also includes two plaques to be hung in classrooms, one depicting the Declaration of Independence and the other the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Legion has had no part in the preparation of the textbook, nor will it have any voice in the manner of presentation Roseleip said.
Aimed at Un-Americans
The course is aimed at combatting un-American activities by stressing the positive approach to the freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, rather than attacking other systems of government. The textbook contains a history of the discussion leading up to its adoption and an explanation of the principles that lie behind the various articles. It is written in language readily understood by the average upper grade student, and is augmented with scores of cartoon illustrations.
In a telegram to Pres. Eisenhower Saturday telling him of the program, Roseleip referred to the president’s recent statement that “Americans are taught so little of their duty to the nation that I sometimes wonder why more prisoners in Korea did not fall for Red propaganda.” The American Legion, he said, is “seriously and heartily” in accord with this thought.
“The purpose of the program is to develop emphasis in the teaching of the meaning and the background of the Constitution of the United States and to have this subject occupy an important position in this curriculum of the upper elementary grades,” Roseleip said. “We believe that while expedient measures have been and are important, we firmly believe that a basic move must be made without delay to combat the godless ideology of communism, and that it is of vital importance to the nation that we build a bulwark at the school and community level by presenting to our boys and girls in their formative years a crystal-clear understanding of the term, ‘American Heritage,’ its meaning and value.”
Response Enthusiastic
Prior to agreeing to sponsor the program, the Wisconsin Legion contacted public and parochial school authorities through-out the state in an effort to ascertain their willingness and need for such a course in their curriculum. Without exception, the response was enthusiastic, according to Roseleip, with the result that, to date the superintendent of schools in every Wisconsin county has made requests for the material. Individual superintendents will determine in what grade the course will be used.
In addition to the almost 39,000 students in 3,500 public schools to whom the course will be taught, more than 17,000 other children in Catholic and Lutheran elementary schools will also come under the program.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[“You and the Constitution of the United States” can be read for free, but it is necessary to create an account and log in: https://archive.org/details/youconstitutiono00witt/mode/2up
The American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary currently offer multiple educational programs:
https://www.amlegionauxwi.org/americanism ]
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