The annals of the American academy of political and social science (Nov 1926)

Motion Pictures in the Classroom 125 altered form. But they greatly need expert editing, cutting, re-titling, with recombination of parts from different reels, to yield organ zed material that will harmonize with school work. This work, too, is costly, and no largescale attempt at it has yet succeeded. Industrial films constitute a large group of still greater educational value. These are produced in considerable quantity by many firms in the general commercial field, fundamentally as propaganda for their own products and processes. At first these films were direct advertising and hence more or less offensive in classrooms. But this advertising soon became extremely indirect, leaving practically nothing but an informational content which can be made truly educational by proper handling by the teacher. Certain departments of the United States Government produce many films of a similar nature which already enjoy and deserve wide use in schools. In the field of science (geography, botany, biology, zoology, geology, and to some extent chemistry and physics) there is available a very large amount of material of genuine value to schools. In general, this material is probably rather near to what future educational films will be. Most of these productions are by professional firms in the picture field which have also put forth real effort to meet school needs. Often the need is still evident for a more comprehensive and scholarly treatment of the subject matter, but on the whole this group represents an excellent achievement in the progress toward educational films. Some scientific films have been produced by real authorities w^ho are at the same time experts in picture-making or financially able to enlist such experts in the work. As time goes on this tendency will increase. Scholars will be in charge; and the technical skill needed for good pictures will be subordinated under their direction, rather than the other way around. The author of a textbook is the prime factor in the value of the work to the educational field, not the publisher who prints it skillfully. Logically textfilms should prove a parallel case. The most significant single achievement in educational films to date is the famous series of the Chronicles of America, produced by the Yale University Press. These splend d pictures of American History meet the two fundamental requirements for true educational films — sound scholarship and fine technique. This is but the first of many achievements in the field that the future will bring. To summarize, there are at the present time several thousands of films available which deserve to be called "educational," and worthy of use by schools, colleges and universities.^ Hundreds of these films may justly be called excellent for educational purposes. With such a supply already available, why has not the business of school films reached larger proportions? Attendant Difficulties There are two supreme difficulties hampering the development of visual education in the schools, and especially of the motion picture side of the work. First, the cost of equipment is considerable, it must be frankly admitted. ^ The only comprehensive source of information, so far as we know, on films available for the educational field is the annual publication by The Educational Screen, Chicago, known as One Thousand and One Films. This booklet of 128 pages lists over two thousand films, classified by subjects, with a brief review of each film and name and address of the distributor or distributors who handle it. Over 250 producers are represented by the best of their productions. The booklet costs seventy-five cents to the general public, twenty-five cents to subscribers of The Educational Screen.