Being a Teacher—No Easy Task

From the film, The Dead Poets' Society. 

How many times have you ever felt like you are not absorbing the level of knowledge that you would have liked? In order to change lives as an educator, the importance of engaging your students into the subject is phenomenal. There are not many teachers who teach the students with delight and passion, but that is what makes a teacher someone a student will never forget.

 In the movie The Dead Poets’ Society directed by Peter Weir, John Keating—a unique teacher with his own teaching techniques—teaches students in an extraordinary way. He is an example of one the many few teachers in the world, who is passionate about teaching and gives his students something to believe in, and really teaching them; not only about the subject, but influencing their lives.

John Keating obviously is a good teacher, for many reasons. Many of his students’ minds were contained and they didn’t dare to express their dreams and desires, until Mr. Keating came along.

Mr. Keating taught his students to follow the paths they choose for themselves, and stand up for it; his philosophies were never spoken by other educators or elders that his students have ever met, and his words encouraged them to follow their dreams.

“I want you to find your own walk.” After this brief sentence was said by Mr. Keating, he ordered the students to walk around in their own way, no matter how different it was compared to others, and not caring about how others would think. This shows that Mr. Keating is trying to teach his students to be themselves and do what they want, unconcerned about what others decide to do with their life; it also demonstrates that Mr. Keating is a free thinker. This part of the story really intrigued me, because it really marked Mr. Keating as a really different teacher who would have a huge impact on lives of teenagers; especially the ones of the students studying in the Welton Prep School—their life is empty, only filled with studying, and memorizing—the ones that have to choose their own path.

    

The beauty of Mr. Keating’s teaching, is also that he teaches his students about the depth of life, and the beauty in poetry; his students learned that poetry cannot be analyzed in a specific format, but has to be absorbed by the human mind and broken into tiny pieces.

   

“Call me, O’ captain, my captain.” His unique introduction to the students suggested passion for what he teaches, and his way of teaching caught everyone’s attention. As he requested everyone to call him by  “O’ Captain, my Captain”, the students started to realize that Mr. Keating taught differently than other teachers, and also has a different view to life. Calling him by that name suggested that they were members of a ship and he was a captain—therefore, Mr. Keating treated them differently than other teachers. He rather preferred his students to see depict him as a poetic captain, rather than showing respect only because he was a teacher; he demonstrated that he was not only that. Mr. Keating taught his students to think deeply about poetry, as well as analyzing the problems and issues that they will have to face later on in life; he is really one of a kind, being able to merge poetry in everyday life. The students that he has once taught will never be able to forget a single word that he has taught, because every word he says possesses so much depth and meaning. The way he talked about poetry like art reveals that he has love for poetry, which more likely convinces his students to love poetry too.

He taught the students with such passion and love that he provided them with knowledgeable advices, as if they were his own children; such teachers are very rare and ones that students would always remember as their guiding light.

          

“We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.”

As explained clearly from the quote written above, Mr. Keating sees poetry and life in a different light than most of the other teachers. In this sentence, he tries to teach the students that life is not how it’s supposed to be if you don’t find passion in what you do, which is typically what happens, since parents of that time period urge their children to walk that path. For example, Neil has gotten a lot of support by Mr. Keating, because according to him, poetry, beauty, romance, love, is what humans stay alive for; if Neil finds passion and beauty in acting, it’s what he should be staying alive for, which is possibly why Neil committed suicide. Although Neil misinterpreted the message Mr. Keating was really trying to deliver, Mr. Keating really gave Neil the chance to really see things the way they were and try to stand up for what he thinks he’s right.

According to everything mentioned above, John Keating was a fabulous teacher who really found delight and passion over teaching, who really impacted his students’ lives, and spread the passion of poetry all around the Welton Prep School. The way he talked to his students how to cope with situations, really would leave the viewer dumbstruck, for in such rare circumstances would they be able to find a teacher who would help them to deal with a problem in life. The way he suggested the idea of Carpe Diem, and contributing a verse to life, is simply amazing; it can leave the viewer lost in thought, and just mesmerized by the beauty of this film.