Teach Henry James for Civic Formation

The Princess Casamassima can be taught not only as literature but as an explicit counterargument to revolutionary zeal, helping students cultivate reverence for civic inheritance and skepticism toward destructive political romanticism. Integrating such canonical novels into civics curricula reframes literary study as direct preparation for citizenship, not mere cultural literacy. — If schools adopt this framing, curricular choices become vectors for shaping political temperament and moderating revolutionary or radical tendencies among future citizens.