The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-12
YOUR CHILDREN
ex Olive Roberts Bsstoe
3ls5S M MEA essX!Sf lslSa

The death of Dr Thomas p. Fin neean, one-time Commissioner of Education in the State of New York, is sad news to those like myself who have been interested in steady progress of "Eastman Teaching Films" in the city of Rochester.
 pr Finnegan was a decided pro- gressive, endowed with a vision far ahead of his contemporaries of the old days. When he became Superintendent of Public Instruc- ton in the State of Pennsylvania' he was criticized for summarily iismissing some of the moss grown methods then in use and instituting ideas and programs that have since proved to be more than justified.
 When he became interested in the production of pictures as 8 fac tor in teaching certain subjects in the school room, and out of 1t, he again showed the same vision. He saw what was coming, the revolu. ton of old-fashioned pedagogy and a new system commensurate with the times, and adapted to the uecO4 OI LHo CHliuEGn VA q hSW OSS'
 It is too bad we cannot live long enough to see our dreams mate rialize. Where is that man work ing alone for years with a new idea who has lived to see his life work consummated? Occasi0fl- ally 1t so happens, but not in any, thing so tremendous or so thor oughly intrenched as our public uo11 N.e svatet nv1r nc fAAAv
 pr Frinnegan has not lived to see 1t and those who have worked with him and will take up his work where he left off may not live to see 1t either. It js a gigantic url- dertaking.
 win Come Some Day
 But some day 1t will cou1e--thls latest vision of his. Then 1t will not be q dream but g reality. We will be teaching children twice as fast with less expense eventually because moving pictures through sheer interest and the resulting clinch of memory will in a great part supplant the all-book method of today.
 Eighteen years ago, an educator said recently, he walked into a pub lie school in German city known all over the world for it's superb educational system, and what did he see? The children studying geography by means of moving
 England is having success with educational films, but there, as here, 1t has not quite passed the experimental stage.
 Japan has been using them, al- though 1t was the Chinese who coined the phrase, "A picture Is worth ten thousand words" Buildings Don't Make Schools There is @ certain expense corl- nected with the production of pie lures, but we must not forget that once a picture is< produced 1t can be used over and over again and passed on from one city to another. Moreover the time and instruction hours saved would make 1t about even.
 Somehow or other we have got. ten the idea that building for the children of the future means five -or ten - million dollar school houses. They are constructed to last a thousand years. In thou- sand years who knows what kind of buildings will be needed for ed- ucation, if any? We may have outdoor schools, radio schools, any one of number of things not yet invented. There is such a thing as building too well and too expen- sively for who-knows-w what may come?
 Of course, text books cannot be discarded, but certainly something is needed to supplement the dead wood of the read-and-recite sys- tenn in which so much valuable knowledge goes over the .child's head.