One would like to know the definite view adopted by the Commissioners as regards educational films and the benefits derived therefrom. Many authorities are still stumbling along in the dark, unwilling to make a beginning, but they cannot maintain this attitude for long, because the forward march of the utility of the cinema in the school is becoming apparent, and all education authorities who are apostles of progress will have to toe the line.
The Film as Teacher.
When it is remembered that the moving picture camera may be used in connection with the microscope, that it has an unlimited field in geography, in the recording of social life, and in natural history—it seems difficult to account for the fact that universities and colleges have passed it by. The value is not so much to be sought in the classroom, for there are, of course, objections to its use there, but the founding of this new type of library would possess an interest for future generations which can scarcely be over-estimated.
There is no doubt that the decision of the London County Council upon the question of using the film as a part of the educational curriculum, will, in the main, be governed by the nature of the Report issued by the Special Committee appointed by the National Council of Public Morals to consider the part the cinematograph is destined to play in public education.
The Education Committee was instructed to report as to the provision by the Council of the facilities on an educational basis to enable all London school children to see cinematograph films. These were placed under the following heads:—
(a) Purely instructional or educational; travel, science, and natural history.
(b) Suitable in other respects for exhibition to a juvenile audience.
Certain objections were raised. One fundamental difficulty was eyestrain, and another, ill-ventilated rooms. The whole problem is being viewed by experts from a technical, psychological, and physiological standpoint.
They had exhibited before them a film showing the power to teach history and geography. This was demonstrated in a remarkable way by an exhibition film relating to Christopher Columbus. The scenario was in Spain, for the most part in the actual surroundings associated with Columbus. There could be no better way of demonstrating to the scholar the trials and difficulties encountered by Columbus before and after he realized his life’s ambition.
It was contended that it would be better to arrange a series of lectures beforehand, explaining at some length the persecution endured by Columbus. By this means an oral and visional teaching would be enacted, leaving a more lasting impression than would be attainable otherwise.