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UTILIZING THE CINEMA FOR TEACHING ABNORMAL CHILDREN
BY
Professor M. Prudhommeau
Before entering into the heart of our subject, it may be as well to observe that the law of 1909 which governs the teaching of abnormal children in France has given rise to two sorts of schools : one of « perfectioning » or improvement attached to the government schools and an « autonomous » system for in-boarders and collegians. The latter type gives greater opportunity for a lengthy study of the pupils, for they are instructed in an art or craft. The conditions of education in the two kinds of school differ somewhat. Our own experience was gained in a school of « improvement », which often contained more than the 20 pupils contemplated by law and comprised all types of mental deficients and backward children. This lack of homogeneity among the pupils tends to aggravate the social evil and renders the experiment difficult.
One of the first observations which may surprise some people is that the collective reactions of abnormal children which are full of interest and instruction are the same as those produced on normal children in the same conditions. This was discovered in the course of experiments made some years ago among pupils of the elementary and middle schools and, in our opinion, has its instructive value for the teacher of normal children.
a) Methodes to Be 1) It is an error to beEmployed in Film ^ ^ ± fijm . Teaching.
educational in itself. It
is the master who teaches and educates. 2) The film ought to be for the child a
continually fresh source of observation : a door that is opened for him on life and not on a stage.
The abnormal child's faculties of understanding and perception are very limited. The teacher must take care to avoid errors which might be unimportant for normal children who would themselves be capable of supplying the necessary correction, but against which abnormal students would have no proper defence.
On these children's psyche the motion picture produces a violent effect that is much stronger than that deriving from any other teaching means. We must take constant care to avoid errors of interpretation, which might lead to a continuous series of errors with possible grave results. These errors must be noticed and corrected in time. Once they are firmly impressed on the spirit of these children, it will prove difficult to eradicate them. In the case of children of this kind, a mistake which has exercised a prolonged influence can provoke voluntary acts which, through the effect of reaction, strengthen the mistake and implant it firmly in the mind.
Before every projection, then, we must assure ourselves that the children are in a state to understand — as far as it is possible for them — what they will see on the screen.
Here are two other not less important rules. The cinema which always has a great attraction for children, should form part of their scholastic life. The teacher's mastery over the film must, however, be assured.