How Quiet Helps at School (1953)
1953 · Ephemeral film · 10 min
- Short
Synopsis
The ideal classroom is still as a tomb according to this vintage Coronet Instructional short. First we see a mildly chaotic room of first graders who are then contrasted with Miss Bradley's little angels next door. Apparently opening their yaps wide only on the playground, they communicate sotto voce ("Whispering is the quiet way to talk when you have to talk!"), create only "work sounds" and even manage to move heavy wooden chairs around without making a peep. They're more productive and attentive that way, we're told, though seriously, there's something wrong with a class of six-year-olds so silent you can practically hear tumbleweeds rolling across their institutional tundra. - Dennis Harvey
Synopsis from TMDb
Details
- Studio
- Coronet Films
- Released
- 1953-01-01
- Running time
- 10 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Prelinger Archives
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Social guidance
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Common Sense · AynRandsPlumber · 2010-11-04
Everything in here is common sense. There is nothing cruel about keeping a classroom quiet. What is cruel however, is allowing a classroom to become a scene from Lord Of The Flies, where bullying is ignored and survival is left to the fittest or the biggest and most intimidating. And make no mistake; today's bullying epidemic is directly correlated to our permissive philosophy. We have traded a mean teacher; for a generation of mean spirited, self absorbed narcissists. How can we justify a room full of nonsense, chatting and foolishness? Anyone who has ever substituted or worked in a school…
★★★★ · the narrator = priceless · babe917 · 2009-12-28
the narrators in films like these are usually pretty boring...but not this guy lol! his reactions to things are priceless lol! the walking quietly like that & the chairs, not making a sound. kinda eerie
★★★ · Hyperbole To Make A Point · JSBejma · 2014-09-24
In those days, in lower grades especially, there actually were quiet rooms and noisy rooms - all depended on the teacher. But this film definitely exaggerates to some degree. The point is that some teachers (Miss Georgia Sammartino for example [bless her heart]) operated a noisy busy ass room, but that was her very characteristic way of taking time and energy to literally "customize" her teaching for each and every kid in that class (we're talking 35 kids or so, some very dysfunctional, some, like me, gifted). I spent afternoons sent outside to play, mornings reading 5th grade books, and was…
★★★ · RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! · Spuzz · 2003-07-31
This film shows us the difference between a noisy classroom and a more quiet classroom. How they are quiet is obviously shown here. Now the question of HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY is never dwelled upon. One wonders if Miss Bradley isn't a bitch on wheels when the cameras arent running. How else could she have so much conformity in this class? That. or Ritalin. Lots and lots of it.
