Etiquette’s Importance in a Democracy

For hundreds of years, books of etiquette have been big sellers. This is especially true during “etiquette eras” — periods in time when etiquette lessons and books become fashionable. 

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“Not long ago a prominent American writer suggested that etiquette should be taught in the public schools, with some authentic work on the subject for a text book. Apparently her suggestion fell in with the public mind. And why not? There is nothing which sets the individual at ease in any society like training in the ordinary social usages.”

“ETIQUETTE”

The most called-for book at present in a great city library is a volume on “etiquette,” recently put on the market by a woman honestly conversant with the subject in its application to modern life. It is an interesting situation. Not long ago a prominent American writer suggested that etiquette should be taught in the public schools, with some authentic work on the subject for a text book. Apparently her suggestion fell in with the public mind. And why not? There is nothing which sets the individual at ease in any society like training in the ordinary social usages. 

Most social distinctions are made not upon the merit of the individual but upon his manners. Nothing fans class bitterness more fiercely than the unfortunate comparison between the unconscious ease of one who has had the advantage of training in the ordinary etiquette of polite society and another who has been denied it. If America is a true democracy, why should not this difference be wiped out by training in the public schools, just as other differences are, by daily study and practice? — Stockton Independent, 1923

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia