IS THE PROGRESSIVE TO HIGHBROW?
Is The Progressive Too Highbrow? Several months ago we received a letter from Miss Grace D. Miller, Sun City, Arizona, who complained that "The Progressive is a bit too learned for me," although...
...The average reader will not do this...
...For my part, I would rather struggle and attain meaningful thought than relax and find empty platitudes...
...Paul, Minnesota, agreed: "I am a printer's apprentice and my wife is a nurse...
...William Bell, an undergraduate at Bridge-water State College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, expressed the view of a number of other students when he wrote: "While par-' ticipating this past summer in an undergraduate research program at the University of Connecticut, I found that nearly everyone was reading, understanding, and enjoying The Progressive...
...In fact, The Progressive is used effectively in many high, schools by students at that level...
...Such people will never read The Progressive...
...The populace is reached through the emotions, not the intellect...
...Several months ago we received a letter from Miss Grace D. Miller, Sun City, Arizona, who complained that "The Progressive is a bit too learned for me," although she has several degrees and travels abroad...
...For those who crave more abstract analysis than The Progressive provides, there is Max Ascoli's The Reporter which, I confess, has now and then lulled me to sleep over a cup of coffee...
...I feel that I get a great deal of information from The Progressive, but there is much that is over my head...
...ate not too egghead for me...
...printer and I 'dig.'" Reynolds Moody, a re' tired marine lieutenant colonel, reported that he felt neither "talked down to" nor-"do I find the articles 'over my head.' " E. S. Kennedy, of the history and mathematics department at Brown University, Providence...
...I am just a lowly...
...Frank P, Schwartz, St...
...We have now received about 200 letters from subscribers around the world who range in occupation from plumber to professor and in education from grade-school graduate of a country school to Ph.D.'s from Harvard...
...James Heath, Chicago, a student at Loyola University, put it this way: "Please keep aiming your discussion 'over our heads,' for only in this way will your magazine both illuminate and enlarge the minds of your readers...
...You don't need to talk down to your readers...
...Rhode Island, concurred: "The level of The Progressive is, just about right...
...However, I do not recall any of your fine articles that went over my head...
...You are not too learned for me or any of the other students who hound me for their turn at reading it...
...Whether the solution is to modify The Progressive, start a new and simpler magazine, or to write Progressive articles gentle enough to get into popular magazines —that is the question...
...You are too deep for the average reader...
...The result: some ninety-five per cent of those responding, regardless of education or position, reported that they found The Progressive readily intelligible and meaningful, although a few in this group conceded that an occasional article or review eluded them...
...I also absorb The New Republic with no appreciable distress...
...Jean Quittner, Cleveland Heights, Ohio: "I find the level of writing in the magazine is just right to keep my mind functioning as I read it...
...How about making your magazine a little more responsive to popular appeal...
...Representative of the minority group were these comments: Alice C. Hardy, Borford, Massachusetts, wrote: "Your articles would get across to more of us if they were a little simpler...
...Fanny Caroline Newman, Los Angeles, said she found "the language in The Pro-gressive lucid and forceful...
...I do not know enough to appreciate some of the articles you feature,"' Miss Miller wrote...
...Furthermore, a magazine that is searching for the truth cannot have popular appeal...
...I would like to see The Progressive widen its scope by giving more attention to the fine arts, philosophy, science, education, and general literature...
...Typical of the ninety-five per cent who said they liked The Progressive as it is was this comment by Mrs...
...Mary T. Reed, Seattle, Washington, who wrote: "I am only moderately educated and I have scarcely been out of my home state, but The Progressive is not over my head...
...P. H. Waldraff, La Mesa, California, observed that the subjects discussed in The Progressive "are excellent, but the discussions are much too verbose...
...In much the same vein, V. P. Mock, Philadelphia, urged us to "tell the truth in more simple language...
...Claude C. Blanchard, Corry, Pennsylvania, wrote that he is "statistically nearer your average reader than Miss Miller for my formal education terminated in a Vermont high school...
...I believe we need a liberal magazine pitched to the average person's understanding...
...We both enjoy The Progressive and have little difficulty understanding the editorials and articles...
...The other five per cent found The Progressive too "highbrow," "stuffy," "abstract," and, said a few, "verbose...
...john c. Morgan, Los Angeles, wrote: "You...
...Another theme that recurred in a number of letters was expressed by Mrs...
...I would not like to see a condescending Progressive...
...It is essential fo point out in language that is readily understandable that the ordinary citizen will benefit from progressive legislation...
...Dan Shannon, Easton, Pennsylvania, agreed: "I would prefer much shorter articles...
...We brooded over Miss Miller's letter for a while, then secured her permission to publish it—along with an invitation to other subscribers to comment on her reflections regarding The Progressive...
...I have noted in reading long, complicated sentences that I get lost in a labyrinth of phrases and clauses and have to pick up and read them over again to get the meaning...
...Conner Reed, Seattle, Washington, expressed a view that turned up in several other letters when he wrote: "I would no more wish to see The Progressive's articles popularized, that is, debased, than the speeches of Adlai Stevenson...
...George Hetisman, Tucson, Arizona, said that he "shared Miss Miller's views" and added: "We have now enough progressive literature and leadership but not enough understanding and support from the mass of voters...
...But let The Progressive maintain its high tone which is really only the tone of adults...
Vol. 26 • November 1962 • No. 11
