Weeks, Days, Names, Slogans

Last year the Federal Bureau of Education caused seven November days to be signalized by presidential proclamation and known as American Educational Week (TIME, Nov. 24). Each day was given a name -- Constitution Day, Patriotism Day, School and Teacher Day, etc. -- and to each name were appended such phrases as "Ballots, not bullets," "One Constitution, one Union, one Flag, one History," "The red flag -- danger," "The Dictionary is the beacon light to understanding."

And yet so pregnant with prejudice is the mind of a man, not every U. S. citizen was enthusiastic about that first American Education Week in history. The National League of Women Voters, for example, refrained last year from participating in the festivities of Constitution and Patriotism Days, declaring that they found distasteful some of the anti-radical slogans coined for those days and that they felt the Bureau had committed an impropriety in sharing the Week's authorship and conduct with the American Legion. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom felt the same way about it. Also the American Civil Liberties Union. Also the Y. W. C. A. Last week the American Federation of Teachers sought to forestall a repetition of last year's Week by submitting to U. S. Commissioner of Education John J. Tigert a program for Nov. 15-22, the title of which remained as before but was cleared of anti-social stigma by the super-slogan: "America First in Freedom and Democracy." The days were rechristened in the names of Peaceful Progress, American Institutions, Political, Liberty, Social Justice, Public Health, and Moral Development. Elaborate sub-slogans enlivened extensive programs for each Day. It was to be inferred that the Federation of Teachers stood ready to supply speakers and to place its name beside that of the Bureau of Education in bringing the Week to pass.

Meantime schoolchildren continued their vacation rompings. Parents pruned their bread and butter tree. Ordinary days went by, adding into everyday weeks, which became commonplace months in a prosaic year.