What both principals understood was that their pupils, above all else, had to be convinced of the truth of the cultural messages around them. Both principals realized that their pupil intakes were below average academically that the vast majority had not made the schools their first choice;that their parents were in the main poorly educated and in the lower income bracket and that many already perceived themselves to be school failures. Not only did they need to be convinced of their academic worth many also did not have a place to study and did not know how to study. To address these problems, as the vice principal of Queensway put it, it was necessary to win the pupi over." In both schools the drafting of a mission and mottoes an early step in constructing what the statement was Xinmin principal described as a "culture of effort." It reads, "Our mission is