Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1921-02-04
FILMS IN SCHOOLS
Writer Sees Vast Possibilities for
Moving Pictures.
VlsuaIized Geography and History
Among Subjects Which Would
Claim the Eager Attention Of
Pupils Of All Grades.

Visualized geography, 1t Is believed,
will beat the maps a good deal fur
Their than q live bird beats a stuffed
one.
Likewise, visualized history, 1t is ex-
pected, will beat the narratives of the
books, which we sometimes say, when
they are written by a graphic writer.
make the dead past live again. But 1t
Is visuallzed history that will indeed
resurrect the past, so far as a moving
picture can make a scene that Is past
and gone real again. For these terms.
visualized geography and visuallzed
history, are used with reference to the
possibilities and the development Of
the moving picture.
The president of one Of the big NOV
Ing picture companies has been talk
Ing very eloquently about the use Of
the film In the schools and surely he
brings before our Imagination a thou
sand school rooms full, not of languid
but Of eager pupils. Educators are
thinking about the same thing, and we
may be thankful that they are, for
more Of fact, information and instruc-
ton In the film service to this age,
and less Of hysteria, emotionalism,
cheap farce and thrill is desideratum,
asserts Omaha World-Herald.
The classes In geography will see
the mountains. the plains, the rivers,
animated by such life as is peculiar
to them. They will see the natural
products Of various countries being
cultivated or gathered. Before them
will appear companies Of the inhabit-
ants of each. In front of the eyes will
troop the wild animals Of which they
see only the fiat prints in the books.
They will see exports moving out and
imports moving in, the work at the
whsrves, the carrying to the seaboard,
the laden ships blowing the ocean. II
will be like taking them travelling over
the earth to learn what 1t looks like,
and they will get the vivid impression
that is made on the eye, and their
memory will be associated as by
personal recollection.
AS for history, millions have been
able to see on the screen the momen-
tOus history that has been In the
making during the last few years-the
camps and cantonments, the marching
columns, the moving ocean transports.
the busy shlpyards. the construction
and factory work of the war, the bat
teries in action, the destroyed cities,
the flight of refugees, the command
ing figures whether on the field or in
the government cabinet-all the scenes
Of war. Of war-swept countries,
gimpses Of wretchedness and the min
istrations of comfort and mercy. Here
after a film record of the more nota.
BILE historical events will be kept for
what will be both the entertainment
and the instruction Of after genera
tons.
1t is going to be big work to get
the moving picture installed as a com
mon equipment for educational work
In the schools. Schools will have to
have the films and the machines, and
they will require men, teachers or not,
to operate them. This signifies that n
great development of moving picture
facility will have to be made In all
the appliances and technique connect
ed with the exhibition of the pictures.
The moving picture will overflow from
the theater into the schools, for 1t
would be impossible for the theaters
alone to do the work. 1t VIII also be
necessary to improve the production
OF the pictures on the screen so that
there will be no problem Of vision and
no over-straining of the eyes of Chill
dren-a difficulty not yet overcome
save when equipment and operation
are the very best.