A PREDICTION
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, inventor of the telephone, is said to have once predicted that some day in America, 200,000 telephones will be in daily use. In more than one city today there are alone greatly in excess of 200,000 telephonic connections. Yet Bell's auditors are declared to have viewed the prediction with smiling incredulity.
There are doubtless many educators in America at this time who will question the prophesy that within the next decade, visual education will be employed in practically every school and college in the United States, that subjects now taught with textbooks will be better taught with motion picture film, that many present-day methods of instruction will become obsolete, swept aside by the superiority of the projection machine.
Professor Goode's arguments in favor of visual education merely emphasize the indubitable fact that there must be a place in motion pictures for the educator. Who is better qualified to direct the making of educational pictures than the educator himself? Who is better equipped than the educator to write the scenarios necessary for the making of educational film? Visual education is a new art, and to those pioneer teachers of today who have the vision to foresee the future of the educational picture, the rewards of a later day will probably be beyond their fondest dreams.
~The Editor
Opportunities in the Motion Picture Industry, Photoplay Research Society, 1922
The Photoplay Research Society correctly foretold the future when they imagined that someday, "visual education will be employed in practically every school and college in the United States".
Educational films quickly became a ubiquitous mainstay in every American classroom. Perhaps in 1922, the researchers at Photoplay imagined the movies would be a hip, insightful, and relevant tool for educators. And yes, some educational films have been enlightening, beautiful, poignant and revelatory.
In the main, however, generations of school children have judged them stilted, laughable - and just plain bad. It seemed like real punishment on rainy days, having to miss recess and having to watch an educational film instead.
The author at Photoplay asked,
Who is better qualified to direct the making of educational pictures than the educator himself? Who is better equipped than the educator to write the scenarios necessary for the making of educational film?
....and I ask you to think back through your school career - maybe to your 7th grade math teacher, or the science teacher you had in your junior year - was anyone - ever - less qualified to make a relevant educational film?
But there are few windows into our culture that so accurately and poignantly reveal the true America of each era.
Educational films are historical treasures - but not in the way they were originally intended. They capture what was current at the moment the film was created - the fashion, mores, hopes, fears; our integrity and strength; - and, just as importantly, social bias, injustice, and exclusion. They are perhaps more relevant today than when they were made.
The educational film genre has improved through years - in quality and content. I wonder, though, when we look back at the current educational films, 50 years from now, what we will learn about ourselves? What are we revealing that we can't yet see?
In the end, I must concur, visual education is an art, "and the rewards of a later day will probably be beyond their fondest dreams."
Here are a few educational films for your viewing pleasure:
- Daylighting the Padres Trail (Scenes of California - including Santa Barbara - 1937)
- Are You Popular?
- Reefer Madness
- Dining Together
- Crisis in Levittown
- Dances of the Kwakiutl
- L'Entente Cordiale - Beginning French Conversation Series
- The Story of Taro
- Water Sports
- LSD
- Why Braceros?
The 26th Santa Barbara International Film Festival is underway, now through February 6, 2011. The Festival is an annual celebration of the world's films - the film industry, film makers - and those of us who watch movies. We have the opportunity to ponder how films havechanged the world. Visit their website to view the schedule, purchase tickets, or learn more about the Santa Barbara Film Festival special events.
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