"The high school faculty spent time and effort on effective personnel work among the students during the past year. It is felt that the time and effort have been well spent and that they account for the large percentage of passing grades issued at the end of the year. In this work attention and work profiles have been kept of poor workers. These have been made the basis of many conferences." Very detailed reports on poor workers were sent to the parents at the middle of each semester. Several faculty meetings and conferences, were devoted to this work."

of the report, is very likely to secure the attention and command the respect of patrons of the school and the public in general. Moreover, it constitutes a direct invitation to the community as a whole (for the whole community must be and is interested in proper returns upon its investment) to pool its resources with the schools for greater efficiency and, it follows, better schools.

G

OOD English is practical. The basis of the successful advertisement, the effective business letter, the skillful sales talk, the convincing speech, is good English. It is plain, simple, direct. It is nothing big, or fantastic, or high-sounding. It is rarely technical; it need not be literary. It is the right word expressing exactly the right thought. It is honest, genuine, straightforward. Not everyone may be an author or an orator, but all may learn to speak and write well. The American diplomats who made the Hay Pauncefote Treaty with Great Britain agreed that the vessels of all nations might pass through the Panama Canal on terms of equality. Did they mean just what they said? Or did they mean "the vessels of all nations except the United States?" Whatever they intended to say, misunderstanding and dispute were the result. Poor English in a legal document sometimes costs enormous sums. Good English often means money.

Good English is democratic. It comes from the heart. It should be the language of plain men and women as well as of the educated and cultured-the language of the street, the home, the shop, the office, the club, the church. You do not have to be a highbrow, or a college professor, or a scientist to use it. It is not the privilege of genius alone. Everyone can speak it who is willing to try. Great orators are not the only ones who have spoken it. Great poets and authors are not the only ones who have written it. It is a fact that more good, clear-cut English is written today by

more people than ever before.

The finest English, that of the King James Bible, is also the simplest. Our greatest democrat was born in a log cabin. His father was poor and illiterate. He attended school less than a year. Yet Abraham Lincoln wrote perhaps the finest English ever penned by an American; the Gettysburg Address, now written in bronze in countless public buildings throughout the land.

Good English improves the mind, develops sound thinking. Slovenly English develops slovenly thinking. "Sound thought in sound English" should be our slogan.

Good English improves character. A clean thought is the basis of clean words, and a command of clean words stimulates clean thinking. One slang word of every hundred lives, because it has something vital in it. The ninety-nine die, because they are not needed. Give one the vocabulary of good writers and speakers, and he should become a better man. Profanity is the worst brand of bad English. It has no respectable place in one's vocabulary.

Good English, as we speak it and write it, is American. The language of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural, the language of Washington, Lincoln, Mark Twain, Roosevelt, and Wilson, is rooted deep in the character of America. Let us learn it, use it, believe in it, teach it, protect it. Let us keep it vibrant with the life, the genius, the ideals, the high destiny of America.

PROPAGANDA ADVERTISING

The teachers of Wisconsin, like teachers everywhere, have been following with interest recent publicity about efforts to introduce propaganda into our schools and attempts to use them for advertising purposes.

Fighting schemes of one kind or another is no new experience for school administrators and teachers. There's the essay and similar contests. They may have some educational value, but the chances are that a school that goes into an essay or spelling contest goes in to win the race, and, like other races where a good prize and the reputation that goes with winning are at stake, the best material available is selected and groomed for the fray; possibly to the neglect, in case of school contests, of other students who are more in need of attention. Then, there's the effort to distribute favors to children through the schools and their teachers. A fly swatter, a blotter, tooth paste, a free theater ticket. Some of these have value because of their usefulness and some have value because they may be made the basis for effective lessons. Then, of course, there is the informational pamphlet which often contains valuable educational helps not otherwise obtainable. Instances of attempts to introduce religious and political propaganda are probably less numerous, detected more quickly, and headed off more promptly.

Religious and political propaganda have no place in our schools and the policy and efforts of any agency to use them for that purpose should be and is condemned. Our schools are not advertising mediums and they cannot and must not be used for that purpose.

On the other hand, the teachers in our schools are men and women of intelligence and integrity. For the board of education, or any group of laymen to say to them that informational pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, and other educational helps, will not be allowed in our school buildings and must not be used because pamphlets often bear the names of companies manufacturing or distributing the product described, because newspapers are partisan and do not express views in accordance with those of the group, because magazines print controversial articles, and because periodicals and other educational helps cover materials not in selected textbooks, which decree what shall be taught to our chil

dren, would constitute a policy which the American public could not and would not and should not tolerate.

Those administering our schools must not allow themselves or their schools to be used for propaganda or advertising purposes. They should and do resent such attempts.

But it is equally important that in their efforts to assist boys and girls to develop into self-thinking, discriminating, intelligent, independent men and women citizens, our teachers must not be hampered or hindered by cut and dried method or limited by prescribed source material. Freedom of both are essential for freedom of schools and freedom of citizenship.

SCHOOL PUBLICITY

Much of the criticism of our schools is due, we believe, to failure on the part of educational leaders and workers to keep their patrons and their community informed. Great strides have been made in educational procedure and it's a case of getting too far ahead.

Last spring the Wisconsin Teachers Association addressed letters to superintendents, principals, and teachers, asking them for information about methods employed in informing patrons about objectives, methods used in achieving them, and results obtained. A number of replies were received. But if the large percentage of failure to reply may be accepted as an indication of the lack of activity, there is much to be accomplished in many communities in Wisconsin.

The replies indicate that a considerable number of leaders and workers in education appreciate the value of the student body, alumni groups, the parent-teacher associations, women's clubs, civic organizations, and the press as mediums for the disseminating of information about the schools. It is evident, also, that there is a direct relationship between a well posted community and community interest in and support of the schools.

In this issue of the JOURNAL appear a few concrete illustrations of effective publicity methods employed in two cities in the state. Others will be published from time to time. It is hoped that they may offer suggestions to those who have neglected the all important matter of direct and intimate contact between school and community. Contact will allay

criticism. But it will do more than that. It will establish public confidence and quicken parental interest. Most important of all, it will improve student achievement and increase school efficiency. And it is a part of the responsibility of the present day educator to keep the public informed about what the schools are trying to do.

THE WORTH

WHILE AND

*

THE WORTHLESS

of

The opening of school brings in salesmen books, maps, school furniture, and school supplies. As a rule they are high class men and women, many of whom have had school experience, know school problems, and are in a position to render service to teachers, principals, superintendents, and school boards. Without their books, supplies, and equipment our efforts would be less efficient and our schools handicapped. We can learn much about new methods, procedures, and techniques from them, and their encyclopaedias, reference and textbooks are valuable aids in our work.

On the other hand, some who will approach teachers will offer material that is out of date and of little use.

We have on our desk a communication from the promoters of a new encyclopedia. We have not seen the work, have never heard of it before, and it may be all right. But we are a little suspicious because the letter purports to be confidential, salves us a bit by intimating that we are among a selected few, and ends up by offering us a set free for an endorsement.

Another encyclopedia, bearing a 1928 copyright mark, is, we understand, being offered to teachers in combination with magazines, sets of books, a research bureau, and a loose leaf service at a special introductory price. This office secured a copy of the encyclopedia. We quote a few statements from it:

d. "La Crosse city has many important manufactures and very large shipments of lumber and is the seat of an Asylum for

the Chronic Insane, United States Marine and St. Francis Hospitals."

Once upon a time there were extensive forests in much of northern Wisconsin and it is possible that the statement concerning Milwaukee's of beer was once true. Madioutput son may have had valuable mineral springs sometime in the past, and some of the older residents remember the Soldiers' Orphan's Home. A tablet marks the place where it once stood. A considerable number of years ago the Monona Lake Assembly did attract people to Madison (there appear to be conflicting opinions among older residents as to the date of its demise). The writer lived in La Crosse for sixteen years, and as far as he knows there is no hospital for the chronic insane in that city and he never saw or heard of the United States Marine Hospital, although it may have existed there at one time. The lumber mills had "gone out" before he went there some eighteen years ago.

Statistics quoted in the encyclopedia are quite consistently ten or fifteen years old. For example, school population statistics for Wisconsin are from the census of 1914. Evidently the work, with the exception of the copyright date, is not up to date and is quite worthless as a modern reference book.

Just how to discriminate is a problem for the individual. You can rely upon the advertising pages of the WISCONSIN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION or upon the directory of advertisers which is published by this office at the end of each year, for JOURNAL advertisers and their propositions are thoroughly investigated before they are accepted. If that does not solve your problem, your association office will, upon request, investigate the proposition and give you advice to the best of its ability. In case references are given it's pretty good policy to get information directly from them. You will be doing them justice and you may be doing yourself a favor.

We would not like to have this comment create prejudice against all new material which will be brought out during the year. Much of it will be eminently worth while; some of it may be worthless. The problem is to discriminate between the worth while and the worthless.

WELCOME C. J.

For many years Charles J. Anderson has been recognized for educational leadership in Wisconsin. As rural and city teacher, as principal of the schools at Cashton and Galesville, as superintendent of schools at Stoughton, and as assistant state superintendent, he has proved himself a thorough student, a progressive educator, and an aggressive administrator. These qualities, coupled with an intimate knowledge of schools and school conditions in Wisconsin, constitute unusual equipment for the very responsible work to which he has been called by the president and regents of the University. As head of the department of education there will be opportunity to round out a notable career of educational service to the state by the initiation of policies and practices in teacher training, based on first hand information of the needs of the schools in the state. In his efforts he will have the sympathetic and hearty cooperation of the school men and women of Wisconsin who welcome him to his opportunity for further leadership.

RUA MEMBER?

More than sixteen thousand teachers responded last year to the call for members in their professional organization, the Wisconsin Teachers Association. That was more than ever enrolled before. Yet it was not one hundred percent, for there are more than 20,000 teachers in the state. The N. E. A. lists us 26th among states in professional enrollment in our association; not an enviable ranking, and one which is within our power to change.

This is the month of enrollment. A live teacher hardly needs to be argued into joining an association which maintains that the most important function of the state is to educate her children properly; which believes in equality of educational opportunity and school costs, in adequate school buildings and standards, in protection of schools against partisan and personal politics and commercialism, in a well trained teacher for every schoolroom, in salary standards commensurate with service standards; in safeguarded tenure, in satisfactory living conditions, in adequate provision for retired teachers, and in a spirit of democracy throughout school service.

Membership in the Wisconsin Teachers Association has increased gradually but slowly. This is a legislative year. Matters of vital concern to teachers and schools will surely

come before the legislature. We are looking forward to the time when the teachers of Wisconsin will be able to present a hundred percent front on matters that pertain to them and their profession. With your co-operation we can approach that point, if not actually reach it, this year.

"SQUARE SHOOTING" BOTH WAYS

One day this summer while we were in Chicago securing advertising for the JOURNAL, one of the publishers who is most friendly to the teachers and their magazine got out eight or nine or ten cards and explained that they contained the records of sales made to Wisconsin teachers, but that those teachers, for one reason or another, and sometimes for no reason at all, had refused to pay for the books purchased. The publisher said that in some cases he had written as many as ten letters without getting even the courtesy of a reply.

Readers of the JOURNAL know that because we exercise such rigid censorship over our advertising, we have felt justified in saying that if teachers got into difficulty with any of our advertisers that is, if goods had been misrepresented, if the teachers felt that they had not been justly treated-we stood ready to help them. We are still ready to do that. We do think, however, that since we accept advertisements from none but high grade individuals and concerns who do business in an open and aboveboard manner, those advertisers are entitled to the same consideration on the part of teachers which teachers expect from them. What has been purchased should be paid for. Advertisers, as the JOURNAL indicates, will spend their money to secure business from Wisconsin school people, but if, in addition to the cost of advertising, they must lose money because teachers do not pay for what they buy, then we can hardly expect them to go on buying space from us.

No magazine can prove a profitable venture without a certain amount of paid advertising. It therefore behooves those in charge of a magazine not only to be careful about the kind of advertising they accept but also to promote the friendliest and most satisfactory relations between advertisers and readers. That we have tried to do; and have

in large measure succeeded. But if we are to

continue to do so our readers must conduct their business affairs in such a manner that the experience outlined above will not be repeated.