Educational film magazine; (19-)

PEDAGOGICAL RESEARCH IN VISUAL EDUCATION Edited by Maximilian P. E. Groszmann, Ph. D. Educational Director of the National Association for the Study and Education of Exceptional Children INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE THOSE who take a sincere interest in the wholesome and sane development of children—parents, teach- ers, psychologists, sociologists—will readily ap- preciate the efforts of the editor of Educational Film Magazine to follow a policy of earnest study and research in the matter of understanding the underlying facts of the problem of visual education. In spite of all the clamor for truly educational films, we really know very little of the inwardness of the problem. We have been theorizing and speculating, mostly from more or less preconceived premises without actual knowledge of what has been going on in the children's minds. There is a general feeling that we need the motion pic- ture in the education of our young, and that we should militate against the evil influences which present oppor- tunities are supposed to exert upon the juvenile mind. Cases of delinquency, waywardness, and crime have been thought to be the direct result of the indiscriminate atten- dance of children at the commercialized movies. The Chief of Police of Chicago has issued an order forbidding the presentation of any films which illustrate crime, even though the development of the story would lead to its punishment. A similar step has been taken in Newark, N. J. Director of Public Safety William J. Brennan has notified the motion picture exhibitors of that city that here- after no films depicting crime or criminals at work would be permitted. "During the past few months a most care- ful investigation has been made into causes of the crime wave, especially concerning crimes of a spectacular na- ture," he says, "and my deduction has been that photo- plays and stage productions have in a measure been a source of inspiration to those criminally inclined. Per- sonal interviews with criminals have positively borne out these facts." It is interesting to note that Commissioner Brennan in- cludes stage productions in his condemnation, so that movies do not bear the brunt of the accusation. Again, that he does not speak specifically of children attending motion pictures and play houses, but of all those who are "criminally inclined," in a general way. Whether the police, or any other public agency of like character, has the opportunity of scientific investigation and deducation remains to be seen. The New York Times does not seem to be quite ready to concede such powers and opportuni- ties. We read: "Out in Chicago, it seems, the chief of police has taken [ the rather large responsibility incidental to forbidding the f exhibition of any film that shows the commission of a criminal act, even though the swift following of punish- ment is also shown. Another thoroughgoing condemnation ' of moving pictures was made by the president of Ford- ham University who sees them 'as a dangerous menace to [ the future moral welfare of the nation.'" ' If a university president expresses such an opinion, it deserves earnest consideration. Yet, it is merely an opinion, we venture to say, and opinions differ. We have no exact data, one way or another, such as can form a basis for truly scientific deducations. • • As against these condemnations, the Times, in the same editorial says: "Evidently realizing that the moving pictures have come to stay and hopeless of abolishing them, all of their critics content themselves with demanding the banishment from the screen of what each considers immorality, vulgarity or futility, and the substitution therefor of the uplifting, the enlightening, the re- formative. To none of these advocates of change and betterment, apparently, has it occurred that, no matter how 'good' the pictures may be made, they always will, and must, have one influence on the young that is perhaps the worst they do or can exert. "It is sometimes asserted—with far more plausibility than truth, probably—that this or that crime was committed in emulation or imitation of a vicious achievement shown on the screen. What is not asserted, but should be, is that more than often—somewhere near to usually—the influence exerted is the reverse of this and even more deplorable, especially on l)oys. These, if normal, all have a thirst for adventure—for getting out into the world and doing and seeing things for tliemselves. This most commendable 'urge,' upon tlie natural and actual cultivation and satisfaction of which the welfare of tlie world and its inhabitants very largely depends, the movies divert and distort into complete sterility. The boy that spends nmch of his leisure time in the movie theaters contents himself with the adventures he sees on the screen, instead of finding adventures for himself and taking part in them, as he should. He watches the game instead of playing it. "This is depravity of a most terrible kind, and not one of the professional moralists has said a word about it!" • • So there! This is precisely where the trouble lies: we adult mor- alists are trying to figure out things from the standpoint of our own sophisticated self-consciousness, and forget to realize that the child is a growing thing, which may need all kinds of food in the building up of its mental and moral tissues. We are only beginning to understand that chil- dren are not small grown-ups, but quite different beings whose nature we must study, and while studying them we must lay aside all our adult notions and prejudices, and be quite observant in an impartial way. The adult frog needs neither the gills nor the tail the tadpole is endowed with. But if you surmise that you can hasten the development of the tadpole into a frog by cut- ting off its tail, you are quite mistaken. The tailless tad- pole will grow, yes, but into a bigger tadpole only; it will never be a frog. The fact is: we do not really know what the actual effect of motion pictures as now presented is upon the child. The purpose of this new department of Educa- tional Film Magazine is to make an impartial and truly scientific examination of the factors entering into the psy- chological reaction of the child to the motion pictures he sees, and of the pedagogical demands in regard to what the motion picture should really mean in child education. We are endeavoring to enlist the co-operation of lead- 11