FILMS AND EDUCATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1939, Page 10

FILMS AND EDUCATION

ESSENTIAL IN CERTAIN SUBJECTS LONDON, August 27. The Psychology Section of. the British Association had. a session on films which began with films in schools. Mr. Alexander Mackay, headmaster of the Roskvilla School, Glasgow, suggested that the film should be-used chiefly in presenting information having to do with action, because motion and activity were the keynotes of child life. Comparative experiments in the last 10 years showed that children in film-taught classes learned mere and remembered more than others who were taught the same lessons in the same way but. without the aid of the film. In geography, biology, and general science, it was indispensable; it reinforced the teacher’s efforts in history and civics, in physical education and hygiene, and in arts and crafts; it enriched the experience of children in unfortunate circumstances: it stimulated in pupils hitherto inarticulate a desire to express themselves in speech and in writing. Sound films raised practical difficulties. They were sometimes distracting in tone and accent, and often brought into the classroom an expert whose teaching- was beyond the assimilative powers of the pupil. In (lie speaker's view the silent film must hold its place as the teacher’s regular classroom aid.

Dr. W. B. Inglis, of Glasgow University, discussed children and the entertainment film and denied that it was an important factor in juvenile delinquency. The root causes, he said, must., be sought in the thwarting of natural urges in a depraved social environment; in parental vice and folly. The entertainment Him satislied strong emotional needs among young people, and if cinemas were closed to children the result would be not a decrease but an increase in antisocial conduct. Nor did terror films often do serious damage. Some children were disturbed by (hem. but they were children suffering from some more generalised mal-adjustmeni. On (lie subject of a. child’s ability Ito distinguish between reality and 1 the fantasy of the film. Dr. Inglis gave his answer in the parallel that an intelligent girl of three would smile at the suggestion that she should really share her cup of milk with her doll. How much of children’s literature. or indeed of literature as a whole, would remain if fantasy were excluded? Mr. Oliver Beil. Director of (be. British Film Institute, speaking on public, tastes, pointed out that in 40 years the film had developed into a major industry entertaining 220,000,000 people in the world each week. Yet the producers knew little of the public taste, as was shown by the way each financially successful film was followed by a spate of imitations. A market research board was needed.