APGA. as a political organization.

The article focuses on the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) as a political organization. APGA needs to develop an effective political arm on behalf of the professional interests of its 27,000 members and the hundreds of thousands of school children and other clients and institutions whom they serve. Poorly defined or hasty action is all too often counterproductive. The concern is that APGA take the care to work out a vehicle for influencing legislative results and executive office action that will advance the educational and scientific interests of APGA members and their clientele. Some attempt at political action was made by the APGA Senate at last year's Atlantic City convention. The Senate passed a motion that not only indicated that APGA would not go back to Atlantic City until social conditions changed, but instructed the executive staff to encourage other associations, to do the same. Actively working to persuade others to act is clearly political. It may be argued that the Senate went beyond its mandate on a number of grounds in undertaking the instruction to the executive staff. The Senate membership was presumably elected on their educational and scientific merits; not on the basis of any expressed political beliefs.