The Children Must
Learn (1940)
This thirteen and a half minute, 1940 film was done as an experiment sponsored by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Inc. to find out what schools can do to raise the overall
standard of living in the communities they’re in. The main point of the film
was that different schools in different areas need to emphasize different parts
of a curriculum, or maybe even add or subtract parts of a curriculum to fit
each community’s way of living. Education shouldn't be a one size fits all
approach when the demographics within a state can be so diverse. The community
highlighted in this film was cut off from the rest of the state by being
located high in the mountains. The people who ran the school said the curriculum was about to change to
include more about soil health and food along with the basic units of reading
and writing. The state issued books included stories that seemed of a whole
different world when they mentioned things like buying candy or starting a
stamp collection. By changing what things are being taught, they can help
improve the community by teaching them a new way of living and taking care of
the land that is getting tired of the repetitious ways of farming and lumbering
as their older generations have done for so long.
This film can teach modern students about how even though
our culture is headed towards a more uniform education system, education will
still never work out best as a one size fits all. Times have changed with the
way information is shared between people, and while resources have become more
accessible to more of the population, there are still teeny tiny communities
way out there who might not benefit as much from a strict curriculum focused
around what would be best to know while living in a big urban area.
1 comment:
Hi Tiana,
I think you picked a pretty interesting video! I thought it was really cool that the video gave such in-depth information about their lives in 1940s in that specific mountain village. This really gave viewers a glimpse as to how their lifestyle creates the demand for certain information. When talking about the children’s education, they discussed that the books are “the same books in mining towns, mill towns, and industrial centers... they talk about another world.” They needed books that pertained more to their lives, such as about farming, plants, soil, etc.
I definitely agree with your statement “education shouldn't be a one size fits all approach when the demographics within a state can be so diverse.” When demographics within a state are so diverse, it might create a demand for different information as with the village in the video.
Madeleine
Post a Comment