Education by Radio (1937)

The Contribution of School Broadcasting IT IS IMPORTANT that school broadcasting should not be viewed in isolation. On the one hand, it is a section of general broadcasting; on the other, it must be seen in its proper perspective as one of the elements in modern education. Education is passing thru a stage of rapid development; the boundaries of the school are receding, and as they recede the responsibilities of the teacher are increasing. It is the avowed object of the educator today to prepare children for life, both in work and play. In fact, the school is, or should be, part of life. The teacher has no longer to be content with instructing his pupils in classroom subjects; he is all the time seeking ways in which * he can link up classroom teaching with life outside the school. Broad¬ casting is an important outside influence on the development of the child. The teacher who brings it into the school is drawing into his service something which is part of the normal experience of home life today. And, furthermore, apart from what the child learns in the process, he has his first experience of listening under guidance. He is likely to spend many hours of his adolescent and adult life listening to the radio. The teacher has a chance of doing something to train his power of selection and, incidentally, his power to con¬ centrate on what is being spoken. Broadcasting is, therefore, something very much more than a con¬ venient classroom aid to teaching. It is something which for social considerations it is impossible for a modern educator to ignore. We have long been accustomed to accept the printed word as the teach¬ er’s principal aid in education. Broadcasting brings in the spoken word in a new form, but, tho it uses a mechanical device, it is some¬ thing more than a mechanical aid. In order to give its full service, it must be vitalized at both ends, at the microphone and in the class¬ room, by a human personality. No broadcast talk can replace the interplay of personality between teacher and pupil, but at the micro¬ phone men and women give their experiences in some form not avail¬ able to the school thru the usual medium of lesson or textbook, and the success of the broadcast will depend a good deal on how far the broadcaster can “get across” a sense of personality. At the other end, the teacher uses the material of the broadcast as one element in a scheme of work he has designed for his own purpose. The broad¬ cast by itself is not a lesson. It gives the teacher, who has skill to develop it, new and invigorating material to use with his class. The essential demand, therefore, which a teacher makes of a broadcast is that it should provide something he himself cannot give, and supplement the work of the school on the imaginative side. It may bring history to life in the form of dramatizations. It may bring the traveler with first-hand experience to tell his tales in the class¬ room. And it may record commentaries on actual happenings in the world such as the launching of a great liner. Even without the aid of sight, sound can often suggest a vivid picture, as when a recent speaker took the listeners into a spinning mill in Lancashire and recorded what was going on. At the least, the broadcast can help the teacher who lacks special knowledge of, say, music or gardening, to get fuller value from those subjects. Thruout, the broadcast, if it is successful, will enrich the curriculum and bring into the school a breath from the world outside. It is for the teacher to choose which particular broadcast, or combination of broadcasts, can make the best contribution to his particular needs. — Broadcasts to Schools, 1937-38. London: Central Council for School Broadcasting, 1937. p6-7. A^ALLACE H. white, JR.. Republican, ▼ ▼ Maine, on July 6 introduced into the Senate a resolution calling for the Committee on Interstate Commerce to make a thoro and com¬ plete investigation of the broadcasting industry in the United States and of the acts, rules, regula¬ tions, and policies of the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcasting. Senator White, a coauthor of the Radio Act of 1927, sums up as follows the reasons why he believes an investigation of broadcasting is necessary at this time: “It has been charged among other things and is believed by many persons that rights in frequencies beyond the terms of licenses are being asserted by the holders thereof and recognized by the Federal Communications Commission; that licenses, tho in form limited in time as provided by law, and the frequencies therein granted are being treated by the holders and the users thereof and by the Commission as tho granted for much longer terms than designated in the licenses; that the licensing authority has in effect recognized vested property rights of great value in licenses and in frequencies contrary to the tetter and spirit of the law; that by various devices and means control of licenses and of frequencies has passed to others than the original licensee with¬ out the written approval of the Commission or with Commission approval given in disregard of Congressional purpose; that persons and com¬ panies have been engaged in the acquisition and sale of broadcasting stations, licenses, and fre¬ quencies; that the licensing authority has per¬ mitted concentration of stations in some parts of the country and has failed to give equitable radio service to the people of the several states and the communities thereof ; that with the approval of the Commission there has come about a mo¬ nopolistic concentration of ownership or control of stations in the chain companies of the United States; that thru exclusive traffic arrangements and otherwise, monopolistic control of the facili¬ ties of foreign communication by radio is being accomplished, and that the acts and attitude of the Commission are aiding and encouraging such monopoly; that the Commission in its decision of causes disregards its own rules and standards: that in the determination of matters before it the Commission has been affected and controled by political and other influences not contemplated by statute and not entitled to consideration by a regulatory and quasi-judicial body; and that it has failed to observe and effectuate the purposes of the Congress and the laws enacted by it in the foregoing and other respects." • Radio— GOODWILL ambassador, an article appearing in the July 1937 issue of The School Executive, explains the role of radio in securing increased public support for educa¬ tion. The author, William B. Levenson, is direc¬ tor of radio activities at West Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Levenson not only sets forth the advantages of using the radio to promote goodwill for the schools, but also gives complete instructions for presenting a radio pro¬ gram and outlines a series of fifteen programs which may be easily adapted for use in almost every community. [.37 1