Public relations Pro and Con.pdf

Media

Part of Philippine Educator

extracted text: called "The Monarch Butterfly" tells in detailed action the story of a butterfly from parent to egg tu caterpillar to parent again. Willian A. Anderson, an American educator, made 14 trips within a period of 18 months to make the picture. It is not so much the thrill of seeing the picture on the screen as knowing how all the minute motions were recorded on iilm, considering that the butterfly squirts out an egg so fast that there is no time left to focus~ a camera. The BSEE curriculum in the Philippine Normal College includes audio-visual 'education which, aside from its other phases of study, gives training in thE> different methods of film projection, like opaque projection, micro-projection, and overhead projection. Students of Education 8 (Audio-Visual Education) believ!L_ that the knowledge and skills they get in their course is enough to land them a job as movie technicians. Their apparent deficiency in our modern movie technology, however, lies in the fact that they are not given instruction in how to operate the movie novelties such as the cinemascope, stereophonic sound, and vista-vision, which for financial reasons have not yet found their way into the classrooms. Among the new features that motion 'pictures in the schools may bring about to our educational system is the creation of what may be called a board of censors to process all films for use in the classrooms. Likewise, the system of our presPnt library management may be made to include classification and carding of films. Already some of the so-called progressive schools in the Philippines have remodeled their classrooms to show films. Currently, the Curriculum Division, Bureau of Public Schools, has as one of its services the showing of educational films to tea~hers and pupils who make arrangement with Dr. Oseas :lei Rosario, in charge of the Audio-Visual Center. With the end in vie.w of propagating the use of motion pictures for instruction, the Bureau's Audio-Visual Center also lends educational films for showing in the public schools on condition that no fees should be charged from pupils seeing them. It may be mentioned that the Center is one of the most essential facilities of the Bureau of Public Schools notwithstanding the short space of time it has been existing. The benefit it has been giving the schools which is evaluated in terms of improved instruction cannot be gainsaid. Financing the school movie program in the Philippines is a big problem which the school administrators should approach with ingenuity and resourcefulness. Comparatively, the production of school movies is expensive, not to mention the fact that, unlike Hollywood movies, school-produced films are not for commercial purposes. In the United States, according to a school movie catalog, a reel of educational film is listed at from $50 to $100 depending on color effects. One sound projector costs $300, which means that movie as a means of teaching children in the classroom is a large investment. Lack of technicians and experts in the making of educational films is another roadblock in the school movie program. In line with the policies and objectives of the community school program, improvement of Philippine rural life should be outstanding among the themes and features of Philippine school movies which Filipino experts could very well accomplish with maximum effects. Our local educators will thus find new ·lines of specialization, such as script writing, film editing, acting, and directing. 'With the present trend of technological revolytion, conjectures are that TV sets will find their way into the classrooms after the movies have become outmoded. In fact TV could be a remedy for the immense costs of producing educational films for the schools since only one projection center is needed for several TV receiving sets installed in each classroom. It is not hard to imagine the future teacher and her pupils dialing a movie into the classroom TV screen to start the day's recitation. ~~Public Relations: Pro and ton'' puBLIC relations has become a byword in our present day community schools, a dynamic force that denotes all the influences that bring about group interaction and crysta1ize its deliberations into a tangible reality. The endeavor to win the sympathy, interest, and goodwill of the community or to align its forces in gaining support of or in upholding certain ethical principles rests on a sound public relations. OCTOBER, 1957 By Carlos G. Behran The success of our educational program depends on the relationship among all elements in the community viewed in the light of .their needs and problems, traditions, mores and idiosyncracies and interpreted in terms of the common weal. Public relations, just as any other· principle or concept has_ its ~two sides which run counter to each other and which .have equally opposite forces of rePAGE 47 action. At its best, "Public relations is persuasion by appeal to reason," as propounded by one of the eminent educators of our country. It is defined by a policy all its own; sincere and natural, yet within moral limits. It is an honest statement of facts, free from propaganda and glamor, purged of any color or recrimination, and devoid of any tint of selfish aggrandizement. It is the anchor that ties down the educational program to the level of the masses and keeps the people informed of the undertakings, developments and achievements of the school while keeping at the same time, an eye on public appraisal and reaction. Only when there is an intelligent grasp of facts and unbiased understanding can there be a spontaneous interest generated especially when it stems directly from those affected or benefited. Community leaders especially teachers bank heavily on a healthy yet vigorous and dynamic public relations program. How truly has it been said, "Show me the school and I will tell who the teachers are and what the community is." There is the ever present need to establish report and deal w,ith the people at thPir own level; for what use are intellectuals "hen the~· emerge to be "social morons?" One can not Le isolated from the pulse and throb of daily li\·ing in the community; sharing in the burden and frustration of the unfortunate, lending a helping hand to those in dire need, or just plain forgetting oneself in relation to others are more than their worth in terms of the time, effort, and sacrifice_ dedicated to a great humanitarian purpose. On the other hand, the term "public relations" has Leen sorely abused in so many quarters until it has assumed an unsavory connotation. How many unethical practices and moral sins had been wilfully and grossly attributed ancl committed in its name? The number is legion! Public relations has been often construed to be drinking wine at the street corner with certain elements difficult lo displease in the community; or going to gamLling dens and places of questionable repute Lecause those with whom the teacher comes in contact or associates with are addicts to highly immoral vices. It may take the guise of sanctioning harmful pastimes, abetting superstition, or condoning moral turpitude for to register vocal opposition would be to court or incur the displea~rnre and emnity of certain segments of the population. It follows the fallacious line of thinking and reasoning that to do so would be to gain their goodwill and enlist their aid later on in some PAGE 48 school venture. It is a glorification of the adage, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," yet in a sadly perverted sense that does not speak so highly of what we are in relation to our objectives. In many instances, vested interests working toward selfish motives, exert undue pressure on community leaders. It represents an uncomfortable situation where the public relations program of the school faces a crucial test. What are needed are teachers who would not compromise right with wrong, truth with deceit ... without any qualm of conscience. Indeed,· public relations must be characterized by tact and diplomacy but it must have a backbone to resist undue influences inimical to the interest of the community and places in a bad light the good name of the school. Such a state of affairs where the means used do not justify the ends creates a very unpleasant situation with resounding effects that are reflected both in and out of the classroom. How can teaching be reconciled to the actual facts where the teacher himself, has fl!iled in the eye of his young wards ... a theoretical precept and model but found wanting in his own· actuations'! This is a typical situation in many communities where so called "public relations" is involved as an approach to gain the backing and cooperation of the community that leaves a very controversial aftermath. It is praying on certain pronounced inconsistencies and weaknesses of the people as a means to an end ; how can the partnership between the parents and the teacher be justified through the perpetua-· tion of such detrimental vices as drinking, gambling, and propagating further undesirable idiosyncracies? Or, is it just a mere delusion that to do so would give one more tangible proof that the community school has firmly taken root? On the other hand, a serious inconsistency arises for these highly questionable and unethical practices run counter to the objectives of the community school which •. can not countenance their existence. To live true to the principles and tenets on which the community school stands four-square, the community leader e8pecially the teacher, in the light of such a situation begins to preach and wean the people from their old ways and practices after he has given his sanction earlier if only to win them over. The harm has been done as a result of a mistaken conc;ept of "public relations" and of the outcome ... your guess is as good as mine! THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR
Date: 1957
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