relates to matters that lie beyond immediate experience must
nevertheless be interpreted in terms of that experience if it is
really to have meaning. At least half of the young citizens of
America live in an environment that is essentially rural. Hence
their need for civics instruction that takes its point of
departure in, and refers back to, a body of experience that
differs in many ways from that of the urban citizen.

This does not imply that urban conditions should be ignored in the
civic education of the rural citizen. On the contrary, one of the
things that every citizen should be led to appreciate is the
interdependence of country and city in a unified national life. In
the present volume emphasis is given to this interdependence. For
this reason, and because of the fundamental principles which have
controlled the development of the text, it is believed that the
book may perform a distinct service even in city schools.

The second purpose in undertaking the present book has been to
make as obvious as possible the elements which, in the author's
judgment, characterize "community civics" and give it vitality.
The Community and the Citizen was a pioneer among texts that have
sought to vitalize the study of government and citizenship. The
term "community civics" became current only at a later time to
designate the "new civics" which that book represented. It seems
to the author, however, that many teachers and others have seized
upon some of the more incidental, even though important, features
of the "new civics" without apparently recognizing its really
vital characteristics.

For example, the "new civics" performed a real service in giving