Education for Excellence (1964)

[Music] 600,000 children go to public elementary schools in New York City these children vary in their intellectual abilities New York City has its share of boys and girls who show great intellectual promise Vivian Velasquez winning essay was selected from among 70,000 entries in the annual United Nations essay contest the Bronx High School of Science has had 100 winners since 1958 in this annual social studies contest more than any High School in the country although New York City has less than 2% of the nation's High School population we account for 28% of the finalists in The National westing house Talent search some of these outstanding young men and women undoubtedly have been helped in their careers by a start in the intellectually gifted program in the elementary schools this program is for children who show great intellectual promise while it is not new not every elementary school has classes for gifted children when there are not enough pupils in the local school to form this special Class A Central School is provided at the end of the third grade some children are ready to be placed in these special classes Prince principles find it helpful to meet with parents to explain the program and the standards for the selection of children but let me tell you some of the other things that we do in school before we decide that it would be right to subject a child to the heavier program that he must carry in a group of very bright children oh well I thought you just judge by tests oh no there are many other things besides tests that we use of course we do consider a child General ability and the way he scores on standardized tests particularly in reading but that's not all the child must be physically fit and the child must be emotionally ready that is he must be able to adjust easily to new situations otherwise we may Place him in a group of this kind and find that he's extremely unhappy well is there any other special quality that you look for in these children well the teacher May notice that some children have a greater vocabulary that is a greater speaking vocabulary and a greater writing vocabulary some children have more originality some seem to have a better memory some show much more Independence in thinking and more imagination a project has been developed between classes at Public School 117 and public school 118 Queens the classes alternate visits and exchange ideas during each visit the hostess teacher presents the lesson while the visiting teacher assists in this mathematics lesson the hostess teacher is developing some basic concepts in geometry what is a circle phly hendler a circle is a Clos curve in which all end points on the circumference are equally distanced from the center point very good now he use the word circumference what is the circumference ja clim the edge of the circle which me measures the length of the CLE very nice if we want to represent one fourth of any Circle how shall we do it Denise we'd make square corners with a straight edge where would we make the square corners Denise from the center point good in the center of our Circle let's do it you do it at your seat and I'll do it you what then would these lines be called can you tell me David R why would they be called Rays David since you answered because a ray is a line with starting at one end point going in One Direction endlessly which figures in this set have angles larger than right angle phly I see lot I see greater than a right angle in the hexagon and the Octagon children I also want you to think about something think about why right angles are important will the chairman open and call the meetings to order helping a child think for himself to think critically is one of the most important tools he can carry with him for the rest of his life a child needs experience to gain this ability and a study of a newspaper can furnish that much needed experience this sixth grade class had provision for the regular study of a newspaper in their breakfast club where the children group themselves informally according to their interests the children Delight in exploring And discussing the day's events the news both home and abroad this also provides a great incentive for them to use television and radio programs intelligently let's take a glimpse at today's meeting of The Breakfast Club boys and girls this morning we're meeting again in our breakfast clubs I'd like to make sure do you know what we mean when we say mass media of communication Leonard a mass media communication is a means of communication which can get to millions of people such as radio television newspapers magazines and so on any other but also mass media drives to the people at all at one time and they find out at the same time of what's going on well this would only to be true certain certain mass media wouldn't it which one would it be true of for example a tele television and radio perhaps we should remember that mass media very often uses propaganda as a technique now just to make sure that we know what we are about to discuss what do you think is the meaning of propaganda propaganda is when one person or a group of people talk to another or give their ideas to another person and try to make that person think and do what they would like uh what would you say Ronnie propaganda is the art is the rather the act of educating one in another's beliefs and then making that person un try to make that person understand what you are trying to do and then he'll believe in what you're um doing anyone else would like to add Jean I'd like to add that propaganda is not necessarily truth and facts um it could be what you want them to think I think it would be fun and exciting to consider this problem of propaganda while these boys continue a perceptive discussion of the techniques and effects of propaganda let's listen in as this group moves on to a discussion of automation well now they've been talking about um robot teachers like they would have a teacher that would talk either on TV or with a computer that would help to teach children learn but since we are only there's one thing that worries me Leonard and that is the robot teacher I uh um would like you for a moment to say do you think that a robot teacher could take the place of teachers you have well I don't think it could take place of many teachers because a robot teacher couldn't teach a child to think for himself it could only give them facts and make them learn those facts you think glened that's a a high priority for a young American yes I think a robot teacher would be awful for children because right now when a child makes a mistake the teacher helps with him helps him and works with him trying to correct that mistake and maybe if the child was you might say turned in the wrong direction the teacher could actually work with him and teach him to think for himself and do the right things but a robot teacher in my opinion would just contradict the child and say this is fair there's no opinion and that would mean disaster for the whole school system oh uh are you just concerned about the school system people wouldn't be people they'd be robots going around on facts well I uh I think Leonard you have set me at ease I'm glad that I still have something to do to make both of you better people we've seen children given opportunities to develop oral skills similarly in this fourth grade class the the teacher gives her English class the experience of thinking and speaking for themselves through a discussion of books they have read and the characters they have met that Joey played the joke with the onion on Rufus and Jane Iris Lori that may be but I but I think that I think that Rachel would be a good friend because she plans for the future she wants to be an orthologist like her father and I think I might like to be an orthologist Michael never do you have that ambition I resp maybe you would be like to be an or theologist but I would also like to be Jerry because he likes rocks and sometimes I start a rock collection when I'm in the country and I just get all withdrew with rocks and I love them so much do these characters in the book really come alive does Ellen or essis make them come alive do they have fools do you have fools I think was humorous when people asked uncle benny who was in the family and he said Mom Papa and boo which was his pink blanket is that a fault Kenneth you may think that's a fault but I think that the fault of exasperating was worth because Maddie she was so exasperating because even though Peggy was her best friend she was the most popular girl in school she wouldn't tell Peggy that she was doing wrong by by UM playing the joke or wand about the 100 dresses and I think if Maddie wasn't a real best friend and she would have and that's really being nice to tell somebody what they're doing well so that they can improve it they say to have a friend is to be a friend the muffets and the pies let us be their friends today and now however we have to say goodbye to them for there's so much more to find out about friendship for your follow-up assignment I think it would be a good idea to go to the library and find out what other authors have written about friendship I think you'll probably find something of bacon which he he wrote the I believe a beautiful essay on friendship one of you brought it in Emerson's lovely essay on friendship plays by Shakespeare sonit and poems by Shakespeare and as John Mayfield said if would you bring that shart there children he said it beautifully in the last two lines of his great home Sea Fever when he said and all I ask is a merry yawn from laughing fellow Rover and quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long Trick's sober what do you ask of friendship and what are you ready to give children in these special classes participate in many science activities the principal of public school 169 Queens organized a Science Institute children I am Professor Lawrence of the Bronx Community College 14 College professors and other Specialists met in individual classrooms with selected groups it's the the light is dimmer uh now would you like to reverse that would you like to hold that and would you like to turn it in other words what we're doing here is we are turning a conductor and we're cutting lines of force as we turn this more rapidly we have a brighter light because we have a larger current as we turn it less rapidly we have a dimmer light when the experts completed their talks 35 minutes were allotted to permit a child in each classroom to collect questions from the children and to prepare a summary for use in the auditorium program which followed being that remote control is for TVs how does it work without batteries any other in electric motor how is the electricity generated between the magnet and the uh coil wire okay how many elements are there in the atmosphere how many elements are there in the atmosphere as a finale for The Institute all fourth fifth and sixth grade classes were invited to the auditorium by asking questions which were answered by the experts the children had the opportunity to assume leadership roles and share their knowledge with their classmates wonderful ladies and gentlemen that have come to us we want you to listen very attentively to this so that you can share in all of the panels not just the one that you listen to Mr Rosy would you like to take over and introduce everyone and now you enjoyed what you had upstairs it was not enough you want to find out more and this will be a little opportunity for you too and also an opportunity to see the scientists and teachers whom you did not have a chance to hear before I should like to start by calling the recorder and the man who spoke in his room first off we on the aviation committee would like to thank major Fred mcgown for a most worthwhile and educational lecture and some of the facts we arrived at this morning were that the general design of a plane must be smooth in order for the plane to travel swiftly another one is there are two kinds of engines a reciprocal engine this is a gas engine and a jet turbine engine and another one 34s of the power to lift an airplane comes from the top of the wing not the bottom and this is caused by the suction of the air um a propell is an air foil this causes the plane to move forward in order to for the air to act as a vacuum to lift the plane and a helicopter is actually a large uh air foil or blade and I have some questions I would like to ask the major uh what causes a sonic boom and what does that mean well a sonic boom is caused by an aircraft that's flying through the air at the speed of sound or greater and as it flies through the air it it splits the air again to go above and below the wing and as it splits the air this causes a a reaction in the air stream which creates a noise that we call the sonic boom it goes off both above and below the wing we hear the one that comes off on the bottom and it strikes the Earth and we hear it as an explosion thank you how do you know when a computer is broken and gives you the wrong answer how do computers help a weatherman what is the exact geological future of Long Island what kind of chemical experiment can we do at home what are the most outstanding recent leads and development in conquering cancer well that's a very difficult question to answer in a short statement however some of the most recent developments consist of the use of chemicals to affect the cancer cells so that the lives of the individuals in whom the chemicals are used will be prolonged how does penicillin notatum prevent the growth of bacteria is it possible for the National Bureau of stard to be wrong in their meas measuring well Amy I guess it's possible for just about anyone to be wrong but it's highly unlikely that the National Bureau of Standards is wrong what is fairly common is that they find a better way to establish national standards than what they have done before once more I'm sure that you share feelings of regret and the regret is that we cannot be 13 people I wished I could have been at all panels but at least being able to hear these ladies and gentlemen on the stage made up for that a little bit now you can go out and read and study and learn more about all of these fascinating sub subjects [Applause] let's the gift of child is given an early start in learning one of the foreign languages French Hebrew Italian or Spanish Let's listen in on a Spanish lesson going on at Public School 33 [Music] Manhattan [Music] for [Music] [Music] for [Music] and [Music] for for [Music] [Music] [Music] foree [Music] [Music] Pap Pap say bananas he say [Music] ban you've seen geometry in the fourth grade poetry and critical analysis in the fifth and a class in foreign language but Denise and Paul have special talents and there is room for these also participating in cultural activities that belong to every child [Music] our gifted children are encouraged to develop leadership qualities to devote their abilities to worthwhile activities to use their talents for the common good to become the moral as well as the intellectual leaders of the future [Music]