Griffith's Impact On Education

David Wark Griffith was a director, writer and producer who is well known for “The Birth of a Nation”. He is also known as the father of film editing as his three hour silent film was the first ever historical feature film made. As a director he produced many other movies such as: Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, Orphans of the Storm, Abraham Lincoln, and many more as he was a successful film maker. He also once said, “Children in public schools will be taught practically everything by moving pictures. Certainly they will never be obliged to read history again." After careful consideration of this quote, one would agree that from the time that D. W. Griffith said that to today’s societal norms that we are going into the direction of teacher with

It has been said that since young adults these days have their lives revolving around technology that their attention span has decreased due to the increased amount of gratification and instant results (Richtel). There were two studies produced, one that focuses on technology related research, and another that advises parents on media use by children. These studies were conducted because teachers believed that the student’s attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks were being hampered (Richtel). Scholars have mounting indirect evidence that “constant use of technology can affect behavior, particularly in developing brains, because of heavy stimulation and rapid shifts in attention”, this could mean that in the future, teaching can change entirely based upon how students learning changes (Richtel). It also said in the article that “the education system must adjust to better accommodate the way students learn” which is where moving pictures would soon play a big role in how students learn (Richtel). This article is based entirely on studies conducted because of worried teachers who

If technology continues to go as far as it has become then the academic source, movies, should be accurate. Film makers have the freedom to “use the material of history selectively and partially in the goal of entertaining, creating a good dramatic product, even forging what is sometimes called the poetic truth” which they are never really held accountable when people really believe it happened (Bernstein). Movies and television are today’s most powerful media besides the internet, it has the power to give the allusion of reality. This can be difficult when movie makers are only seeking profit than actual truth. Another issue one would have to also look at is that if film does become the primary source of teaching, will someone make a movie on every single thing that happened in history? That is the biggest thing one would have to worry about if the way learning is starting to change from history books to historical movies that aren’t always completely accurate. Now one must realize that history these days isn’t always 100% true as there are always three points of view; One point from one side, the second point from the other, and then the third point is what actually happened which can be distorted when looked at closely. Many people would argue that history is often recorded by the winners. In many cases, this makes history