Films in the School There seems to be good reason
for complaints of neglect of films as a means of education in this country. According to a report of the British Film Institute, there are 68o film projectors in use in the schools of Great Britain. This figure is only approximate, but, with every allowance for incomplete information, the contrast is striking with the figure of 11,357 in use in Germany and 9,460 in France, where, in 1935-36, 55,coo reels of film were distributed .free through the Ministry of Education. Films cannot be a substitute, any more than books can, for oral instruction by a teacher ; but they can be of the highest value in supple- menting it, by giving colour and liveliness to lessons that only too easily degenerate into the mere accumulation of facts. This is especially so when, as in some schools in this country, classes are too large for a teacher to give subjects the intimate and personal treatment which is necessary if they are to strike a child's imagination and interest, and there is every reason to make it easier.
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