The Rugged Road to Learning, 1921

Ontario Motion Picture Bureau

This film advocates the consolidation of rural schools into larger education centers and the use of mass transportation for children attending these new schools. The Rugged Road to Learning dramatizes a day in the life of children who, before consolidation, had to travel through the snowy woods to attend a cold country schoolhouse. Later in the film, a larger, consolidated school encompassing five Ontario country districts is featured favourably. Scenes show happy and lively children who are ready to learn. The use of dramatic scenes to underline a film's message was a common technique by the 1920s. Although this film is far from subtle, it was well understood that "the great mass of the movie public want to be amused and entertained not instructed, and if they are to be educated it must be in a subtle, delicate manner" (Rankin, p. 936).

Reference
Rankin, Norman S. "With the Edison Players Across the Contintent." Man to Man Magazine. Vol. 6-7 (June 1910 to January 1911), quoted in Peter Morris, Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939. (Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press), p. 91.

IDC: 120360.