The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

THE EDUCATIONAL SCREEN Editorial Section FOR Vol. I FEBRUARY, 1922 No. CONSIDER the laboratory, how it grew. How difficult it was tc convince our educational forefathers that such an "extravagance' was a pedagogical necessity! Today laboratories are part of the architect's problem as a matter of course. Physics and Chemistry require textbook and notebook equipment, as do other school subjects, and the laboratory in addition. Its initial cost is enormous, its upkeep high, and it is of direct use to one single subject in the whole curriculum! Projection equipment is far less expensive and installation cost rela- tively slight. If it could perform a service for a single subject—such as tru laboratory does for Physics or for Chemistry—its adoption would be more than equally justified. Yet such equipment can be employed in many sub< jects and is so employed already in many a school, college, and university. in spite of the present scarcity of suitable slides and films. The laboratory is immensely valuable, very limited in its range of use. and costly to a degree that bars it permanently from a large number of ouf humbler schools. Projection equipment is valuable to a degree still unde- termined, usable by almost all subjects and departments, and relatively so moderate in cost as to be possible of attainment by practically every school These simple facts are highly significant for the development of the visual idea in these coming years. The idea of visual education should receive the close and immediate attention of every educator in the country. For, if it is a mere fad, it is too costly to be allowed to grow any further; if it is a thing of value, its cost is negligible and American education cannot afford to be without it.