The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 136 The Educational Screen The Film and International Understanding Yale Pioneers in Visual Educalion for Foreign Areas C. L. V. MEEKS Asst. Professor of History of Art School of Fine Arts, Yale University FILM programs on a large scale are new at Yale, although visual material has been important here for years in literary and historical as well as art studies. Slides, photographs, and clipping files have long played a major educational role in these fields, supplemented by the original material in the Yale mu- seums. Through these means, the student establishes direct visual and tactile contact with cultures remote in time or place. With this tradition so deeply rooted in Yale, it was natural that visual education should be an important feature of the Foreign Area Studies Program. It was readily agreed that language, history, and literature would not be a complete enough curriculum even though there was so little time available. There were several reasons why visual education was especially important to this program. These students had to have an under- standing of the area they were studying as a whole; furthermore, they were not preparing to write a thesis Entrance to the library on Yale University campus. Edited by DR. JOHN E. DUGAN Haddon Heights, New Jersey, Schools EDITOR'S NOTE: Professor Meeks' article, although it describes the conception and implementation of the Visual Interpretation Courses in Yale University's recently established program in Foreign Area Studies, has implica- tions which are much more far-reaching. It touches upon problems which are fundamental to the consideration of any practical program for the use of the film in the field of international understanding, either in the war situation or in postwar planning. The article approaches these problems without preconceived prejudices, and handles them in a frankly pragmatic manner. As a result, a number of the observations and conclusions have a quality of freshness which is challenging and stimulating. in a library, they were going out to the area in question in a few months. The men should know what they were going to find; they should be made as familiar as pos- sible in advance with what they would see as soon as they walked ofT the plane. There were other reasons too. Ordinary courses only make use of some of the possibilities of human perception. If vision is added to these, another funnel to the brain is opened up. The brain may then be working at 60 per cent efficiency instead of 40 per cent. This is vitally important in an accelerated program. The chances are multiplied, furthermore, of the student retaining what he is taught; a fact presented three times in three dififerent ways— by lecture, in print, and in pictures—is more likely to stick than if it is presented once. Once the visual program was approved, it soon ap- peared that the program had three aspects: (1) lectures illustrated by slides, (2) exhibitions of photographs, posters, objects and (3) moving pictures. The first and second parts presented few difficulties ; the materials and techniques were familiar. The film program was more challenging; it had to be started from scratch. N'o such comprehensive film program had been attempted at Yale. Both pedagogical and mechanical questions had to be answered. Some of the pedagogical questions were: Should the film be given by itself ? Should there be a commentary before or after? Should we stick to documentary films alone or use narrative films in some proportion ? How long should these programs be and how often should they come ? Mechanical problems arose too: How woidd we locate and identify the best films available? What could be done about the propaganda element of most films? How might we secure a pro- jector in the face of priorities? How get screening accomplished without too much expense and delay? How coordinate the visual course with the other courses in each of the five areas ? These are familiar headaches to every school official, but they are raised to a higher power of complexity through the added factor of the intricate booking .schedules at the film exchanges. In endeavoring to solve these problems, we tried miost of the possible variants and now, at the end of the first six weeks, have a working plan. We schedule one