Evening star., 1925-10-01
MOVIE EDUCATION
SURVEY ORDERED
New York School Head Asks
Full Probe of Ideas
Possibilities.
BY the Consolidated Press.

NEW YORK, October 1.-Wide-
teaching grade school children by the
use of motion pictures as predicted
by educators for many years at last
seemed nearing reality today. Supt.
O'Shea of the New York nublic school
system ordered an exhaustive in
vestigation into the possiDnIlles, meth
DDS and cost of the latest develop
ments in the principle of visual in
struction.
Full adoption of the movie for class
room purposes in New York, which
is almost certain to result from the
survey to be conducted here, is eX-
pected to start the ball rolling in
smaller school systems, where Of
ficials have held back waiting to see
what the larger cities would do with
the idea.
Experimenting With Idea.
The New York schools have been
experimenting with the movie for
several years. and, under the direc-
ton DR.. Ernest L. Crandall, di-
rector # visual instruction, have
built up Il series of movie courses
in biology, civicS, current events. do
mestic science, English, nature study,
geography, physical training, voca-
tional guidance and domestic art. SO
far the courses have been tried out
in only few schools. but with
formal survey of the subject ordered,
Director Crandall is confident he Will
be able to convince the New York
authorities of the value of the school
room movie and obtain enough funds
to tackle the work on a city-wide
scale.
Development in the last few
months of at least two home mo-
ton picture making and projecting
outfits which sell for less than Sloo
has given considerable impetus to the
school movie idea. The great eN-
pense of providing suitable films and
projecting apparatus. according TO
DIR. Crandall, has been only little
less potent factor in preventing
school movies than the objections of
old ia ashioned teachers. AS to the
latter, says DR.. Crandall, "a trag1caliy
great proportion of the existing
teaching body is far too obstinately
welded to the old, conventional
loose by anything short of dynamite
or death"
Winning Over "Old Guard"
But hard as has been the fight. DR..
Crandall and other exponents of the
member after member of the old
guard"
THE Importance of bringing the
world of fact, as far as practicable
within the range of the child $
vision" Dr. Crandall said, rests
upon the child's inevitable paucity OF
sense experiences. Even those chill
dren most favorably situated IN life
possess meager experimental back
ha ca of
item of observation, as compared
with the average adult The motion
picture is in many respects the near
est approach to and the most nearly
perfect substitute for immediate OBJ
seryation."
DIR. Crandall emphasized that the
movie could never supplant entirely
the work of the teacher-that 1t must
always be regarded merely as an
auxiliary and its use carefully planned
Recent experiments in the New York
schools showed that pupils instructed
with the aid of movies learned almost
twice as fast and twice as thoroughly
as those instructed by the spoken and
written word alone.
Film Scarcity.
One of the greatest drawbacks met
by me New York visual instruction
lists has been the scarcity of suitable
films. Few of those turned out by
commercial houses were found to
have educational value in the class
room, and DR.. Crandalls department
has produced several films of its own
planning.
Creation of one national or several
regional clearing houses for the pro-
duction and distribution of suitable
school films Is a goal toward which
The visual inStructioniStS here are
struggling. Germany, several laps
ahead of the United States in movie
instruction, already has such a bureau.
Copyright. 1929
According to Sir John Findlay, not