The March of Time: The Fight For Better Schools

Year Published: 1950

Creator: McGraw-Hill Films

Complete Record: Opens with shot of old-fashioned schoolhouse, elderly female teacher, and students with ragged books and old-fashioned clothes. Cut to a more modern classroom (mid 20th century). Mothers with children talking to each other. Shots of 1950s mothers, businessmen, home life, school children. Footage of a school board meeting. Shots of men in suits looking over newspapers. Men looking over maps, filling out ballots, attending meetings. Flyers show slogans for school board candidates. Shots of people going to vote, men gesturing at charts, more newspaper headlines. Footage of teachers employing all kinds of technological and artistic equipment in the classroom. School being built, desks being loaded off of trucks, children on playground, more men in meetings, people traveling to school by bus, bike, and foot. Shows how interested citizens like those of Arlington County, Virginia, are able by working together to effect legislation and revitalize the public schools. Also describes the struggles to improve education in Arkansas, in Delaware, and in Long Island.