Watch How Quiet Helps at School

The ideal classroom is still as a tomb according to this vintage Coronet Instructional short. First we see a mildly chaotic room of first graders who are then contrasted with Miss Bradley's little angels next door. Apparently opening their yaps wide only on the playground, they communicate sotto voce ("Whispering is the quiet way to talk when you have to talk!"), create only "work sounds" and even manage to move heavy wooden chairs around without making a peep. They're more productive and attentive that way, we're told, though seriously, there's something wrong with a class of six-year-olds so silent you can practically hear tumbleweeds rolling across their institutional tundra. - Dennis Harvey