International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1931)

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— 329 — is its campaign to enlist in its service parents, old boys, etc. — in fact, its effort to reach out beyond the confines of the school curriculum. If, after securing the needs of class-teaching by film, it could still remain possible by a series of parents' evenings to retain their active support — the whole work of the school would reap the benefit. These cinema evenings in schools, particularly in large towns, have often furnished parents and parents' committees, or parents and teachers an opportunity of discussing not only the film of the evening, but other more general topics, and these discussions have been especially profitable because they brought together the parents of boys of different schools, thus spreading the chain of links beyond the single school. Such opportunities should be preserved, even when questions of finance and organisation have long been settled. Parents, too, should feel themselves included among the vocationally interested. One of the best and most fruitful features of the Educational Decree of June 25th, 1924 is that which prescribes lantern-lectures and film-shows for parents as a school activity to be developed. The educational purpose, however, must be kept well in view. If entertainment is the only objective — even when the subject is a serious one — we are only competing with other undertakings which live by entertaining, and that is no job for the school. If it is the duty of the individual school, as an organism with a conscious mission, and through the co-operation of all concerned, to foster creative and vital effort, how much more is this the task of the school cinema association, whose influence frequently extends beyond the school itself. Care should be taken that it does not abandon this ultimate aim of promoting as a corporate body the welfare of all the schools within its radius. It is a fundamental error on the part of school cinemas and still more on the part of associations of school cinemas to forget that they are not ends in themselves but members of a corporate body. Even a strictly officially established educational cinema should always remember that. Important, however, as all this is and essential though it is that these corporate endeavours should be brought into harmony with the work of the school as a whole, it does not really touch the bedrock of the whole matter, which is teaching itself. To some the efforts to which we have been referring may seem outward forms, economic conditions unrelated to the ultimate purpose of our work. Some critics find fault with the present-day forms and manifestations of educational cinematography, many of which can be explained by external difficulties. Workers feel hurt, depressed and discouraged when they find existing methods quoted to prove the uselessness of film-teaching itself. We may as well frankly admit that nobody is content with these methods; none of us feels at home with them and we all — whether we are organisers or teachers — know that we are only doing pioneer work for the future. When we give a film-class to 400 or 500 children, including children of neighbouring schools quite unknown to us, we do vio