EDUCATION BY PICTURE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1640, 6 January 1913, Page 3

EDUCATION BY PICTURE

NEW MOVEMENT IN LONDON. KINEMATOGRAPH IN THE SCHOOLS. The London County Council has steadfastly set its faoe against interfering with the kinematograph, writes Mr. Walter Reynolds, of the London City Council, in tlio "Daily Mail/' When, in February of last year, he writes, the Home Secretary in refusing the invitation of tho trade to appoint a censor suggested that it might ho possible and desirable for the London County Council to act in the matter, the London County Council decided that it was not necessary. It was folt that the power of withholding a license was sufficient check upon any extravaganco of the film manufacturer. Some members of tho London County Council had a deeper reason. After hearing the evidence and taking part in the thirteen inspections of so-called unwholesome films, in no case of which action had to be taken, they saw tho possibilities of the kinema not only for evil but for good. They decided to let tho kinema grow until'the harvest; I-u the meantime, an active policy -has boon pursued instead of the negative one proposed. To-day it is ready to ripen into action. The children aro. to reap the benefit. The kinematograph is likely to have'a place almost at once in the ordinary/- school curriculum'. What that means to the child, to the teacher, and to education a very brief glance will reveal. To the child, it will be like tho oponing of a watch ito see • how "the wlieels go round" in comparison with mystifying oral instruction on the matter. School will be like "going to see the pictures," and the little. ones will probably wait until the doors open. There will be no more empty evening schools or continuation classes; the youth of England will be attacked by tho thirst for learning. To see the history of their country acted before their eyes from the Ancient Britons downwards, to watch the intermixture of race—Scandinavian, Teuton, Saxon, Norman, and so on—will not be a "lesson" as previous!',- oonceived. To seo the "Panama. Canal'' film Tevenling the whole of the work and 'construction of . forty-five miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore will bo a draught of geography wholly sweet. The birth of flowers, a drop of _ water under the microscope, the examination of-the body b.v 'X-rays, the life.of ants, the, part played, by air in respiration—no child will consider a picture of one, of theso a'lesson. Easier Life for tho-Teacher. For the teacher life will, be infinitely easier. The effort to attract and. keep the attention will no longer havo to go in harness with the necessity of imparting knowledge. Tho children will be all Oliver Twists and ask for more. The hopelessness of doing anything satisfactory with a class, of seventy ivill be removed once and for,all. With the aid of the: kinematograph: tho teaoher will not be hampered even by, £000 children. By the latest. development 'of kinematography, an invention by which the picture can be stopped at any point desired, the teachers are enabled to make sure that their classes have absorbed the significance of the lesson. The -_advent of tho kinema will make odncation much faster , and fuller and broader. The child will see in an hour what often _ a whole year of teaching might not impart, and the picture of 'things as they are will be absolutely im. printed on the young and'..susceptible mind. Tho idea that the impression will pass'-because fleeting is without foundation in my opinion; on impression never passe 9, it is hung in tho picture gallery of the mind ready for uso when' wanted. The dull,child who cannot be-.reached. in the ordinary class of 40, 60, or; ; 70, pupils is immediately arrested by picture teach'n?, flis attention is riveted without'any effort'on <his part and without tired horsewhipping from the teacher, which leaves him unmoved. Thousands of backward children in tho schools will bo benefited, by the kinema. To tho'deaf and dumb and to tho mentally defective .education by picture, means.the removal of one of life's'heaviest handicaps. In many districts of France educational iilms are-distributed-..f0r., uso. in technical institutes and national schools,,and machines are loaned out at a very small cost to educational establishments; ■ The Sociery for Diffusing EducationaMCnowledgo in Germany.,lends to its members a'series ■of pictures which lust nn hour, for fivo marks. In addition lecturers or© provided with,.a small.portable apparatus for use S'PaN rooms m villages, Aid this is only a beginning.' A school in Berlin has turned its attention to the spread of education by kiuomatograph. One of the. United States of America has pone a step further. Nine centres in the public schools of Chicago have a, film educational exhibition on two owning of every week co which parents and . children 'are invited. Again, the 'educational alliances' see*to' it that, in New York City .every' scientific ' and industrial Elm can be"obtained.; Connscticut has gone the length of funding picture halls to all elementary schools. Pictures in the Playground. Even, in Italy,, in many of the big cities, there, is, given wwkly . a purely educational exhibition at the lowest possible price.' The London County Council will probably not follow the example of Connecticut in adding picture halls to tho elementary schools. The present school halls should unswer tho purpose admirably. There the question of safety would scarcely arise, for by placing the operator's box outside the window on an outer wall-of the school hall the lest effects can be produced: without dimecr to thoso inside. Moreover, the Council will no doubt make use of theU:.test wonder of kinemitography—the daylight machine.' By this means the* children can be trught in tho open' air, and there will b© no difficulty at all in giving tho f.rao lc-sson to 1000 children at once in,the playground.. The pictures seen under: the influence of fresh air and sunshine will make tho lesson all the more real and healthy to the children. . Fortunately, tho cost is not such as to hold tho council back from the immediate instalment of the'einema in tho schools. Some of the largest firms in the country, havo made offers to give,\ under the loaning system, three lesson films a day, or fifteen per week, indoors. to about 1000 children at a time and out of doors to as many as 2000 for a few shillings per lesson. In spite of the desire not to be compelled to act as censor for picture films in London, the London County Council will perforco have to constitute, a censor, o mmitteo of educational-films for the schools. In tho future the private theatres p..ssessW by 'all big' film producers will doubtless be open .to, the education committee for-the consideration of pictures suitable for children. Last week work was commenced at the Scala Theatre by a special display of educational films.before the London County Council. At the present time three or four hundred educational films ore available. Tho subjects it is suggested/to teach by cinema includo hygienepby this vivid illustration each child may be mado a veritable sanitary inspector-in the-, home—agriculture, botany, geography, zoology,'religion, travel, and kindergarten lessons. The Education Committee is unanimous as to the desirability of introducing the kinematograph into the scliols; it only'remains to agree upon the methods.. ;