Enquiry Sent!

Thanks for getting in touch. We’ll get back to you very soon.

Go Back to Homepage

The Children Must Learn (1941)

Reel Number: 220999-01

Color: Black and White

Sound: SD

Year / Date: 1941

Country: USA

Location:

TC Begins: 12:00:11

TC Ends: 12:13:34

Duration: 00:13:23

The Children Must Learn Film exploring life in poor mountain farming community w/ narration and folk / bluegrass-style music. Mother in kitchen prepares lunch bag for school. Little girl gets dressed in winter coat; ‘God Bless Our Home’ above window; girl leaves shack, walks to school in snow, mother watches from window. Schoolhouse - boys playing snowballs. Inside school w/ 24 pupils, children trying to get warm round stove. Children in class with books; narration explains how the usual lessons are unsuitable for children of poor farming communities; CU pages in books. 12:03:56 Little girl gets up to read aloud in Southern accent; shots of poor ripped clothing and shoes. 12:05:09 Pages of a book turn showing what children will learn next year - education will be customized for their community, teaching them farming as well as reading and writing. CUs children’s faces. 12:05:35 Old farmer and wife in rocking chair on veranda, farmer in dungarees feeding chicken. Children intercut with old farmers. 12:06:23 TITLES; roller explaining that the film was made using real people in their own environments and formed part of an experiment carried out by several Universities sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloane Foundation Inc. to discover what schools can do to raise the level of living in the communities they serve. 12:07:24 Young man cuts logs with axe. Farmer looks out over farmland covered in snow. Narr. tells of how the land is exhausted and how farming hasn’t changed since the times of the pioneers. Snowy grave site. Farmer gathering wood and going into cabin. Little girl asleep in bed, wall papered w/ magazine pages; sweeping cabin floor. Tired-looking mother gets youngest child out of bed to dress him. Two girls get themselves dressed pulling on stockings and boots. ‘We Are Thankful’ above doorframe. 12:11:32 Mother prepares breakfast; family sit round table eating, food consists of corn and pork, the staple diet of the area; lack of milk and vegetables. Empty plates - children still hungry. Ends abruptly Poor Nutrition. Poverty. Agriculture; 1940s; 1941;

Show more