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Georgia students given pocket-sized Constitutions

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia fourth-graders are getting a pocket-sized reminder of what it means to be an American.

Veterans passed out pocket Constitutions to the children at Midway Elementary in Forsyth County Thursday morning. It’s something that will soon be done across the state. Each fourth-grader in Georgia will get the tiny book, which also includes the preamble to the Decleration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.

“I was pretty excited because I had never read the Constitution before,” said one student.

State Superintendent Richard Woods, a former history teacher, told Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer schools focused on tests may have been rushing through basic civics.

“Talking about what it means to be an American, the greatness of our history, perhaps got pushed aside,” he said.

He asked businesses and groups, including the American Legion in Cumming, to donate the money for the books. No tax dollars were used.

“Hopefully as we begin to roll this out they will become informed citizens, but also engaged citizens take every opportunity to vote and speak,” Woods said. “I think it says we really want our 4th graders to understand U.S. history and understand the freedoms we have and where they come from so they can be good American citizens.”

Thousands more books will go out to Georgia elementary schools in the next few weeks.