The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-28
DRAMATIzING SCHOOL
 INSTRUCTION

4S0V40A VI AONuI C- 0OO1
 Teaching Geography
 and History By Moving
 Pictures-New Aids for
 the Teacher.
 John Collier Educational Secretary, National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures.
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 Motion pictures have made us a nation of theatre-goers They carry the beauties of the stage into the mil lions of lives hitherto untouched by dramatic art. They have such a vast repertory that they appeal to practi- cally all social classes and to old and young alike. There are about 10000 motion picture shows in the United States, with a daily attendance of not less than 4,000. 900 of whom prob ably 100000 are school children. The estimated audience at all American theatres, other than moving picture houses, is 750.O00 a day, and the pro- portion of children is small.
 Motion pictures will be used for many purposes in the schools From the beginning, educational films have been displayed in the commercial thea tres. The National Board of Censor ship, in twelve months inspected 5000 reels, ia reel provides a fifteen min ute show.) Of these 400 were cato- logued as Educational" There exists great range of geographical. indus trial and historical reels, already avail able. The anti-tuberculos;s crusade, the pure milk and anti-typhoid cam paigns and similar public reforms, have been dramatized in the motion pictures. These have been exhibited in the regular picture theatres of the country and 10.000.0o0 people have seen them.
 The school will use the motion pie ture because it is graphic and drama tic. The textbook illustration and the stereopticon now provides graph ic element in the curriculum, but the moving picture improves on the stere- opticon in every way, even in artistic color effect. The growth of a plant from seed to harvest is shown in a ten-minute space on the screen, not with gaps and halts, but in a contin- uous process amazing to behold. The almost infinitely swift motion of an insects wing has been dissected by pictures taken at the rate of ,2000 a second. These can be thrown on the screen at any desired speed. Actual color photography is now a commer- cial reality in motion pictures.
 But the motion pictures are not only graphic, they are dramatic. Too much passive instruction weakens the will of child. The motion picture, when it presents a dramatic theme. impels the child away from a merely receptive attitude and into an active mood. Of course, the school must provide an outlet for the active state awakened. Otherwise the excitement might mere ly result in nervousness and mis- chief making. Education through do- ing the thing, not merely studying about it,'' is a watchword of pedagog- ical reform, and the school which be- lieves this will find a great use for motion pictures. Eye strain from the ercome by any skilful operator and by a careful selection of the pictures displayed.
 Motion pictures can help to make the school useful to the family of the child and to the community. The school must no longer be a mere child-teaching machine but center for the family and the community. Mo tion pictures appeal to the whole fam fly and combine amusement with ed- ucation. They attract people who do not go to the evening lecture centers, the church, or the social settlement. These people pay for admission; they ly' and far more broadly during the motion picture hour than during any other part of their day.
 Commerce has gotten the better of philanthropy and of municipal good will in helping the wage-earning mill lions to use their leisure constructive ly and pleaSureably. Has not the time come when the school, endowed with a conscious public ideal, should be expected to equip itself with that powerful magnet, the motion picture, which has given to the commercial show-house it's great advantage?
 As yet, in America neither the de- mand nor the supply for educational motion pictures has been effectively organized. One of two measures are necessary, before motion pictures can be widely used in the schools. A film exchange might be established, deal- ing exclusively with educational in- stitutions and fitting itself to meet their peculiar needs. Such a circu- would be success on purely business lines. Also a sufficiently large system of schools could afford to purchase it's films outright and to use them in TO- tation, thus gradually building up a permanent library.
  ped schools will soon use motion pie lures does not threaten the life of the commercial theatre. The great public patronizes drama for enjoyment rath- CT than instruction. The school will always be limited in the purely anus ing element 1t can provide, and here the theatre will retain it's place. The school center which will combine mo- tion pictures with other attractions such as the dance, the gymnasium. the amateur theatrical, will menace the prosperity of the commercial show house, just as it will menace the pros- perity of the questionable dance hall or pool-room. The development of the school on such lines as these will force all places of commercial amuse- ment to improve enormously or to go out of bus ness. The extensive use of motion pictures by the school will elevate the character of films shown in the theatres. If the school meets the responsibility here described. the places of cheap entertainment will all be vastly different, morally and artis- tically, ten years from now. It is by constructive competition, much more than by restrictive legal measures, that the amusements of the people are going to be improved.