Paper presented at the Third Congress on General Semantics, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, July 1949. Copyright 1949, Institute of General Semantics, Lakeville, Connecticut. Reprinted here with permission of the Institute (www.general-semantics.org).

I teach a one-semester course called General Semantics in Journalism to juniors, seniors, and graduate students in the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. I have varied the subject matter and the emphasis placed upon the different aspects of it during each of the four semesters the course has been taught. This paper is intended to be a brief recounting of some of my experiences and an evaluation of the course in a journalism teaching program.

The premises, theories and 'facts' which serve as bases for successful journalism practices today are set forth in the literature and textbooks in the field. Each of the media - newspapers, radio, magazine, etc. - has its own peculiar problems and working techniques. However, it is safe to say that nearly everything done in the name of journalism education is for the purpose of improving our ability to communicate information to a particular group of individuals at one time. Of course the mere act of communicating effectively is not all that is involved in the foregoing generalization. An important part of communicating is the recognition and assumption of a certain social-moral responsibility on the part of the communicator.

Apparently, we have a rather long way to go before our knowledge of mass communication techniques will be developed sufficiently to yield the degree of predictability generally associated with a field of science. So far our delving into public opinion polling, readership measurements, readability tests, psychogalvanic skin responses, circulation indices, sales barometers, coincidental ratings, etc., have shown us, it nothing more, how vast and intricate are the relationships which must be accounted for before we can have a science of communications.

The formulations of general semantics, it seems to me, can serve as the basic structure for understanding and synthesizing the vast amount of communications data which we already have and which will become increasingly complex as more and more information is derived.

One of the most interesting developments in the opening lecture in this course has been the natural insistence of students to ask, 'What is this course all about anyway? Is it logic, philosophy, psychology, word-study, or what? Tell us just what it is so that we can get on with it!'

My experience indicates that for best results we should first consider the empirical premises of structure, order and relations, followed by a thorough examination of the Structural Differential.[For an explanation of Korzybski's Structural Differential modle, click here.] This consideration of the process of abstracting early in the work makes it easier to explain material that comes later and helps also to analyze the many interesting questions which naturally arise.

I have developed a reading list of books pertaining directly to the subject matter and generously supplemented with works of fairly obvious semantic implications. The books themselves are available on an open bookshelf in the journalism library. Best results ensue, it seems, when arbitrary book report assignments are not required. Instead, each student is asked to keep a notebook containing observations of his experiences which seem to be related to the principles set forth in the class lectures. The notebooks, however, frequently include abstracts, quotations, and comments based on books on the reading list.

The project provides a problem in the beginning. The question arises, 'Just what do you want in these notebooks?' I tell them Korzybski's story about the art students, each of whom was given a block of wood and told to carve! Many sat for days, the story goes, unable to begin without exact instructions.

I note that if I suggest specifically a few items which might be included in the notebook, rather than the lone general request for observations which seem to illustrate some of the principles I have been developing, I get exactly those specific items and nothing more. On the other hand the rather indefinite assignment eventually produces a wide range of pertinent observations, although this is a kind of exasperating critical point in the espirit of the class and a few students drop out as a result.

The notebooks are turned in to me for evaluating and grading three times during the term. Grades affixed at this time are merely projected ones, not cumulative, the notebook in its completed form being the only basis for a final grade. This seems to lead to greater freedom of experimentation with what is acceptable, and permits the compiler to rectify mistaken applications of principle without penalty.

These notebooks are considered confidential, although I am tempted occasionally to present some of their very interesting contents to the class as a whole. Inasmuch as these students are involved in publishing a daily newspaper for the city of Columbia, many of the notebook passages have to do with the evaluation of journalistic experiences in terms of general semantic principles.

Toward the end of the course we come to another interesting assignment. This is the observation of a 'continuing event' over a period of several days. Up until this time the observations in the notebook may have been of a reminiscent nature, a natural result of our emphasis in education on themes and reports of a 'what happened to me' nature. This assignment requires a commitment to a program of observations based on happenings to come. In other words I ask students to conduct a planned on-the-spot evaluation of a 'continuing event.' If the semantic formulations actually have become meaningful by this time, this exercise provides opportunity for practical application.

These reports, with no suggestion as to subject from me, cover a wide variety of undertakings: a local trial, the daily columns of a political writer, a quest for a job after graduation, a newspaper's day-by-day treatment of a particular news event. The semantic principles imposed upon these observations tend to produce an observable improvement in the quality of a student's writing. Some of this may be due to the fact that by this time the observers are thoroughly aware of levels of abstracting. They can approach the task of evaluating, for example, the day-by-day out-put of a columnist on a certain subject with a realistic awareness of 'writing about writing.'

Under these conditions students have been known to produce some very readable reports. One Chinese student, while evaluating the daily filings of correspondents in his native land, observed in his notebook, 'I wish I could write my term paper this way!' He was referring to his choice of a term paper on the subject of Chinese-American relations prepared for another class. His term paper, written 'this way,' later won the John B. Powell prize for the best essay on Chinese-American affairs.

Psycho-somatic considerations are not intentionally developed in this course. Of course, students quickly discover the deeper implications involved in the semantic teachings, and frequently report their simple personal adjustments as an integral part of their writing projects.

At the risk of conveying the notion that only Chinese students benefit from my course, I wish to tell the story of the Chinese student who kept referring in his notebook to his roommate - an ardent follower of his homeland's Nationalist party. His roommate, he constantly repeated, should be taking this course. His roommate, he said, could not evaluate an issue on a continuum, nor admit the slightest concession to the enemy's point of view. The appearance of a newspaper story about the war set him off in emotional outbursts which, he pointed out, had little effect in stopping the Communists. One day his notebook included the simple notation that his roommate had taken to making impassioned speeches alone in his room and that the university clinic doctors had taken him away to an institution. 'But I have learned a lot about purposeful activity,' he penned, 'and, while I guess I hate the Communists as much as he, I can find better uses for my energy than in emotional oratory. At least, I am still free to fight!'

I believe the extensional methods of general semantics should be applied to the teaching of advertising and news photography, too. In the case of advertising there is already evidence that these methods reduce the danger of harmful effects upon the reader, or listener, and often actually increase the sales of a product because of the obvious improvement in the saneness of the appeal.

Another interesting benefit derived from the course is a new-found appreciation by some students for the fields of science and mathematics. It is gratifying to find journalism students, who almost traditionally 'hate mathematics,' returning to see just where they were frightened away from this amazingly effective language of numbers.

That the methods of science may be utilized in everyday affairs, as well as in the professional activity of a journalist is strangely new to some. They like the idea of a system of evaluation that seems to work in both their personal and professional problems.

No final examination is required in this course. Their grades, I repeat, are based on their notebooks. But the examination period is devoted to writing a letter to a puzzled prospective student who is considering enrolling in the course. The subject? 'What is this course all about anyway? Is it logic, philosophy … or what?' The letters are retained. by a member of the class until grades have been recorded before they are turned over to me. The frankness of criticism in some of them helps me improve my teaching, but most of all, they help to convince me that there is probably a great deal of benefit to be derived from General Semantics in Journalism.

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