The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 296 The Educational Screen Boards of Education and other control bodies, to say, "Look, here is what has been done with visual aids in the winning of the war. We can do a comparable job if we get even one-huadredth the support that industry has had, to say nothing of what the armed forces have had. Just back us up ! The Chairman: This has been a lively and fruitful discussion, and we owe a vote of thanks not only to our vigorous panel members, and to our stimulating and co-operative audience, but also to the unseen author whose heckling has contributed no little to our program. Perhaps we can summarize our findings and come to general agreement on the following five points : 1 ) That the armed forces have done a a fine educational job ; 2) That they have made an intelligent and effective use of audio-visual materials and techniques on a scale and under conditions never before equalled ; 3) That Society as a whole will prefit, first, because this has helped shorten the road to victory, and second, that it has raised the educational level of a great mass of our citizen soldiery ; 4) That civilian education especially will profit, from the extensive material (and the better trained and experienced personnel) it will inherit, and from an unprecedented universal acceptance of the whole idea of visual education. 5) That the "G. I. way" presents a healthy challenge to which every educator worthy of the name will respond with vigor. Reagan: There is one question that bothers me. The visual instructionists have made an extraordinary effort under the urge of the war — but how can we find an equivalent stimulus to carry us over into peacetime? How can we accelerate the use of the present visual aids, and get the school boards to appropriate money with which to continue to do the job? The Chairman; Has anybody the answer, or perhaps part of the answer? Brooker: Perhaps you will have to go to your school boards through your civic organizations or your business interests. The story of visual education can be more strongly presented now by showing what our military services have done in this field. Many school administrators hesitate to ask their board for money. Maybe they need you to tell them how to do it, or perhaps you will have to go to John Q. Public himself to get your support. These teachers who have gone into the army (and many of them are coming back) can go to their superintendents and say, "Mr. Jones, we did so and so in the service with visual aids. What can we do here?" H the superintendent is not impressed, the teacher may have to keep his mouth closed, if I may use that expression, to retain his job. In sucli a situation the only solution is to go to the public, to the man on the street, to get him to understand what visual aids will do for him and his youngsters, he in turn can convey it to the school board, or the superintendent. L. C. Larson: I wonder if there are not three distinct points with respect to finances. One question tliat can be raised is whether we have resources to provide this aid to the schools. Another question is, do we have the personnel to do the job for the schools. H the answers are "yes", the third question we must ask is, "How about the postwar period, will we have closing down of factories and millions of men unemployed?" I think the answer there is "No." By virtue of this urgent need we face, to disseminate information, we will need to use all our resources. H organized education in this country doesn't do it, during the post-war period, we will have to do it on a government basis, along lines similar to the CCC and NYA. A question of this kind should provide a sharp stimulus as far as education is concerned, where we 'want to have local initiative with state supervision. Noel: I would like to know what American education can do to make this visual idea spark like it did in the armed forces. Naturally, we had to prove its value, but the thing somehow took holcl.and it really sparked. What can we do? What are the set of circumstances that perhaps the school people might help to develop which in the next few years would make this thing click intelligently and with proper direction on the part of educators? The Chairman: Perhaps part of the answer is to be found in Reagan's suggestion for a broad community discussion program based on motion pictures. This embodies also the thought that the school must build the social bridges of the community it serves. One of the best methods to do this is by free discussion meetings based on motion pictures that summarize the thing or action under discussion. Too many schools have fallen into the habit of looking upon the use of their plant and other facilities as sort of a business enterprise confined strictly to teacher, and pupil, whereas the school, historically, in this country is really a vital social center. As soon as it assumes or resumes that function its appeal for community funds will be greatly strengthened. Donald Bean: I would like to ask Lt.-Comdr. Noel how many men in the navy are engaged in training aid work. Noel: You would have to include most oi the instructors. I really don't know their number. Also the production people. In "utilization" alone we have a staff of over a hundred topnotch men and women most of whom have been connected with visual aids in American education in. years gone by. Bean: I am asking how we could use all this experience. I wonder if there is some way those men could be transferred to respo'nsible positions in education, after the war. Noel: We hope those men will be available for school jobs in years to come. Most of them are now on leave from educational jobs. If John Jones has been a Navy teacher actively using these visual aids, and he comes back to civilian school work and finds those aids aren't there, and funds aren't there, he will say, "Why can not we do that?" I think there are millions of service men who have been trained with these aids and who are going back into American life to say to the school board members and other leading citizens, "Look, in the armed forces we learned to do our job better and faster through the use of training aids such as motion pictures, and now we want the benefit of those films for our youngsters. We don't want them to sit through all this talking about history, we want them to see it." I have a feeling that some of the school people will find it necessary to anticipate the determination tlie returning service man will have for the use of advanced techniques in education. Audience Member: In trying to develop a visual aids program, I find it pretty general among the older teachers that they are scared to death of using motion pictures for fear their class will get away from them. They don't know how to use these aids and feel lost when confronted by them. I think we face a real job in training particularly the older teachers, who lack the mechanical skill and experience necessary to operate projectors and handle films. Secondly, I think there is a dearth of film in certain areas of our general education that has to be taken care of somehow. Elizabeth Goudy: What about the large number of teachers in our (Continued on page 308)