International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1932)

532 The object lesson conceived by Rousseau has a more explicit confirmation here, and also the educational necessity of cultivating and guiding childish curiosity in the direction of observation is likewise clearly shown : " The majority of young people know nothing of the world they live in, the earth that nourishes them, the men who labour to satisfy their needs, the animals that serve them, the workmen and artisans they employ . . . " No advantage is taken of their natural curiosity to increase it. And the consequence is that they do not understand or appreciate either the marvels of nature or the prodigies of art. " It is of supreme importance to show to children, first of all, the various objects as they appear to the sight ; the figure is sufficient, with an exact and precise description. " The figure with a precise description ? But here we have again Campanella's Civitas Solis, Comenius' Komenski's Orbis Pictus ; we have the talking film of the twentieth century, which gives us both figure and description in as precise and realistic a manner as can be conceived. J. H. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814), disciple of Rousseau, gave publicity to the latter s doctrines in his own writings : Etudes de la Nature and Paul et Virginie. Compayre states that in the new schools he called the " schools of the fatherland ", he decided to have pictures, because children, like the people, prefer painting to sculpture, and it would therefore be well to make widespread use of pictures of boy kings, religious images, etc. (1). Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) was another faithful follower of Rousseau, whose influence can be felt in every page of her pedagogic novel : Adele et Theodore. It is written on the lines of Emile, which had made this style of literature fashionable. Madame de Genlis, convinced of the efficacy of the visual system, created the environment in which the two children, Adele and Theodore, were educated on the lines required by the system. The rooms in the castle where they live are hung with historical and geographical pictures that attract the children's attention and, arousing their curiosity, succeed in teaching them, without tedium or effort, the subjects that often necessitate a mental effort beyond their years when taught to children by word of mouth alone. /. B. Basedow (1723-1790), a follower of Rousseau, put the theories set forth in Emile into practice, to some extent at any rate, when Herr von Qualen of Borghoest (Holstein) engaged him as tutor for his seven year old boy. Basedow taught the child entirely in an intuitive way, by means of walks and carefully stimulated conversations. When teaching him geography, he started with the boy's birthplace, and then enlarged his knowledge by means of figures and maps. Latin he taught him as a living language, making use of the Orbis Pictus, studying pictures with him at length, so that they became the source of new and exact forms of knowledge. In 1774, as he desired to extend the advantages of an intuitive and progressive education according to nature to a number of pupils, he founded a school at Dessau, which he called the Philanthropinum : here the precepts of the intuitive method were followed, and a large number of objects and pictures were used as visual didactic auxiliaries. In his Report to Philanthropists and Powers, he lays down a plan for the reform (1) ?