The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-01-18
THE MOVIES" AS a GREAT FORGE IN EDUCATION
The Pictures Projected on the Screen Not Only
A1nuse, But Are instructive AS Well
Paper Before Prison Chautauqua Circle, by F.

word movies mentioned, a pic
ture of love, tragedy or comedy
usually flashes before our mental
vision; but we seldom think of the
movies as being educators. This
is not very strange, for the idea
of using moving pictures to gain
knowledge is still in it's infancy;
but will develop rapidly. Knowl-
edge is thing most people are
always striving to obtain; and the
idea seems to be to obtain as much
as they can in a short period of
time. In the past, books have
been the chief source of knowledge;
and it must be admitted that the
past has turned out many brilliant
men and women who were edu-
Gated in this manner.
At the present time new meth
cd is being tried, with the hopes of
faster and better results; this is
called visual education. This does
not do away with the books, for
books are indispensable, and the
TWO are combined. In the schools,
(for they are being used in many
schools throughout the country,
including those of Stillwater) the
stationary slide is mostly used. A
slide is put into the machine and
the picture projected on a screen.
This is left there fifteen or twenty
minutes for the pupils to study, It
is then removed and the pupils are
put to work to write an essay on
what they have seen. This teaches
the eyes to grasp all that appears
before them and store it away in
the brain to be used later, or in
other words, to memorize. If books
were used on the same subject. the
pupils would have to pore over
pages, use their own imagination
and form their own mental picture.
The slide is also used in laboratory
work. The subject under discus
sion is projected on the screen
greatly enlarged, and the points
that are then being studied are
pointed out by the teacher. The
pupil then uses a microscope Oh
the actual subject, and knows
where to look for the particular
object of his search.
We all know how valuable the
movies are in history, geography
and travel pictures. We have
seen moving pictures of cities from
all over the world, perhaps show
ing their main streets, important
buildings and factories. These
pictures give US not only an idea,
but are very interesting to people
who never get a chance to travel.
At the present time with the
great war going on, the movies
again come into their own. After
the war is over, there will be many
reels to show how this or that
battle was fought; or how this or
that fort fell. They will be able
to show how the maps we're before
the war and how they will be
changed after the war. They can
show what nerve. racking, severe
strain the soldiers of both sides
had to undergo. This will teach
the public that war is horrible
thing and that little diplomacy is
not to be underrated. 1t also con.
firms the old saying: The pen is
mightier than the sword"
We can see a good fve-reel pic
ture now in about an hour. If we
we're to read a book of the same
picture, it would take us many
hours. Things that the eyes see
seem to leave more lasting pic
ture on the mind than columns of
reading. Imagine. then, small
boy few years from now study
ing foreign history. If he had
moving pictures to help him,
wouldn't he get far greater i'm
preston of what he was trying to
learn, and get it in a shorter times