Every Monday a bulk order of 36 copies of TIME'S Atlantic edition arrives in Teheran via Air France. The next morning they are distributed to students taking the world history course at the American Community School in Iran's capital. There TIME is used as a text for the study of current events.

Recently, Correspondent John Donovan, on special assignment for TIME, dropped by the American Community School and sent us the following report:

"The day I was there the class in world history was using TIME for a panel discussion (see cut). I joined in and we had a fine time. A 14-year-old Iraqi girl named Clare Bakash said that she and her family depended on TIME for a complete report on world news--especially because she could not count on receiving foreign news broadcasts clearly at home. Amik Zaharkian, 13, an Armenian, told me that he admired TIME'S style very much, but he thought that you had to be 'very well educated to understand it.' Steven Bochner, a 15-year-old Czechoslovakian, asked me to tell the editors to please put more foreign news in the overseas edition.

"This school was founded in 1936 by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., which has been operating in Persia (now Iran) since 1870, when it took over the work that the American Congregationalist Church's mission had begun there in 1834. It has U.S. textbooks, curriculum and, mostly, American teachers. The student body is made up of 51 Americans and 245 nationals from 27 other countries. They are the children of businessmen, diplomats, and refugees who have found a home in Iran. In order to enroll they have to pay tuition and have an adequate command of the English language.

"Their world history teacher, William Hopper, of Danville, Ky. explained: 'We're in a remote and inaccessible part of the world here, and we have to have dependable material for our current events discussions. Most of our students read TIME from cover to cover and, thanks to my Kentucky upbringing, they even follow TIME'S coverage of the Kentucky Derby.'

"Later, C. B. Fisher, of Nashville, Tenn., principal of the Community School, told me: 'We think that TIME is especially important for our school because our student body is composed of 28 nationalities and eight religions. Naturally, these boys and girls from all over the world are intensely interested in events occurring in and around the homes of their heritage. We have found that TIME tells the story of what is going on in the world better than any other magazine.'

"When classes were over, I went with Mr. Fisher to the sunny school yard, where the Iranian, United Nations and American flags flew. The student body was assembled there and, at a signal, recited the following pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my own country, and to the United Nations, of which it is a part. One world brotherhood of peaceful nations, with freedom and justice for all.' Then, two by two, the students, including the young son of a Soviet citizen, stepped forward to repeat the pledge in their native languages. They were: American, Armenian, British, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian, Italian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Lebanese, Nicaraguan, Pakistan, Polish, Rumanian, Russian, Swedish, Swiss, Syrian, Turkish and Yugoslav.

"At the end of my visit I walked with Mr. Fisher to Stalin Avenue, which fronts the school, and he thanked me for stopping by. Then, looking up the street at the Russian embassy, he said: 'We like to think that we are teaching our students to be good citizens of their own countries, and at the same time letting them learn how good the American way is. TIME is helping us do that job.'"

Cordially yours,

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