Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

50 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 9 Continuing the Battle of "Free" Films BY DENNIS R. WILLIAMS Field Supervisor, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc. All considerations of the problem we now discuss should be in the light of the origin, traditions, and purposes of the public school system. Up to the present time, the accepted pattern of educational materials has followed closely the basic philosophy of compulsory education in our democratic society of freedomloving people. Truth without any trace of prejudice or bias for special interest or group has always been the first requirement for a course of study, instructional materials, or the instructors. If any of these failed to meet this requirement, they have been discouraged from entering the door of American classrooms — where impressionable young minds and bodies are growing into citizens of tomorrow with power to vote. Those who founded and have maintained o u r public-school system have said “no” even to groups with as noble and unselfish motives as the churches when they offered to sponsor the educational system in a democracy. If we are considering at this time asking and encouraging our great industries and special interests to prepare our classroom films, textbooks, and other teaching materials, to sponsor our teachers and determine our curricula, then we’d better reexamine the purposes and objectives of our schools and what constitutes teaching as a pro Fram an address delivered at the Michigan Audio-Visual Conference, Detroit, Mich., April 4, 1946. Dennis R. Willioms, Field Supervisor of Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc. fession. It might be well to ask industries to donate $1,000 each in order to make a study of the type and kind of teachers we need in the schools. If we follow such a course, we may soon pass up and down the halls of American school buildings and hear this announcement coming from the classrooms: “Now we will leave the American Revolution for a few moments while I read a message from my sponsor.” If we are to seek the sponsor to pay for our films, our textbooks, and other instructional materials, let us not overlook this same formula in solving the problem of better teachers and better paid teachers. In some recent meetings I have heard a few educators explain their use of advertising materials in the classroom by saying that newspapers, magazines, and radio programs have advertising in them. This is true, but there is certainly a great difference as to how we use these media and the natui’e of their contents and effects. In Time magazine there are no ads on the front page. The part that is advertising and the part that is pure unbiased news are definitely separated. Furthermore, Time publishes a school edition containing no advertising. This is not true of most sponsored films and it is often impossible for adults, let alone children, to differentiate between that part of the film which is advertising and that which is not. If you agree to depend upon the industries of our country to supply you with sponsored instructional materials, let me call your attention to some other implications and problems with which you will be faced. Recently there have been produced five films on the care of a tractor by various manufacturers. All of them have teaching values. In your community you have local citizens who are taxpayers supporting your school and representing these five tractor agencies. How will you decide which film to run for all the students in your school? You could not run one without being unfair to the four other dealers. If you run all five of them in order to be fair to all business men of your community, you will be overdoing the care-ofthe-tractor films. After you have run all five films, you still have been unfair to the blacksmith who makes ploughs with his own hands for the farmers of your community, but whose operation is so small that he cannot afford to spon.sor any films, (’an you afford to disregard his interests just because