Tradionality and Modernity of Education in Dead Poets Society

The movie, Dead Poets Society, directed by Peter Weir, tells the story of seven boys at a Catholic all-boys, conservative boarding school in Vermont called Welton Academy. The students who attend Welton, are strictly instructed to do exactly as anyone says whether they agree or not. This film explores the life that seven boys by the names of Knox Overstreet, Todd Anderson, Neil Perry, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Charlie Dalton, endure while at Welton until one day, they are introduced to a professor by the name of John Keating, who changes their worlds upside down, for the better. Mr. Keating is an alumnus of Welton Academy and encourages his students to “carpe diem” or seize the day because he wants to make his student’s lives “extraordinary.” After finding out that Mr. Keating was a part of a secret poetry club during his time at Welton, called the “Dead Poets Society,” Neil Perry decides to restart the club. Almost every night, the seven boys gather to read poems of both their own and old poet’s writings. Mr. Keating has the boys do what would be considered by the Academy as absurd acts such as having the boys jump off of his desk in order to get them to see different perspectives of life, having them rip out the introduction to their poetry book because Mr. Keating does not believe any of it is important, and having the boys use physical activity as an outlet to create poetry. If it wasn’t for Mr. Keating, the boys may never have excelled as much as they did by the end of the movie. In the end, the boys are caught and are forced to shut down Dead Poets Society in its entirety because it violates Welton’s strict, conservative ways.

Dead Poets Society views educators as an opportunity to allow students to grow into their own shells which is explained by Megan Mathis in the article, “5 Reasons To Secretly Loathe Inspirational Teacher Films”: “the teacher has helped them really see their kids for the unique, special people they are. [...] John Keating tells his students that, ‘No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.’ in Dead Poets Society.” (Mathis). A second view of educators that this movie shows is they open their student’s eyes up to the world of opportunities, which is further explained by Matthew Lynch in “18 Reasons The US System Is Failing: “public education in America needs teachers who are better trained to meet the needs of specific student populations, understand the necessary role of distance learning, and are willing to speak up to facilitate classroom change” (Lynch). A third vantage point of educators that Dead Poets Society exhibits is they help students to grow to enjoy learning by making every lesson intriguing and interactive, which the author of the article “What The Movies Taught Us About Teaching”, explains, “most onscreen teachers confront more conventional students and forge bonds with them over more conventional problems: kids who don't think they want to learn ... who mistrust authority ... who are bored ... and who inspire teachers like Robin Williams in 1989's Dead Poets Society to climb on his desk and find other unorthodox ways to enliven classwork” (Mondello). This movie reveals that life is not always about following every rule given but to learn to live, think, and grow outside of the “box” or bubble that people create around themselves.

This inspirational movie reflects the point of view that there is both traditionalist and modern pedagogy within education. The academy, professors, and administrators represent the epitome of traditionalism or “letter of the law” because they strictly enforce the school’s rules. The movie begins with a procession of students carrying flags with different words on them, which is explained as Welton’s approach to how education should occur and they include: Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. Each of these foundational components of Welton embodies a conservative point of view because, in the movie, the academy wants structure, traditions to be carried out, give students few choices, and they have closed perspectives on education as well as on what the “correct” way to conduct oneself. Overall, Dead Poets Society supports a liberal social and political way of life, based on the way that John Keating’s approach to teaching is depicted because in the movie when Mr. Keating is having his students read poetry verses, then kick a ball, chant poetry while walking in a straight line in the courtyard, and has his students jump off of his desk, everyone is joyous and the music is positive. John Keating’s point of view is also known as the “spirit of the law” which is he is aware that there are rules, but he feels that there are some rules that should be bent in order to allow for positive growth and reinforcement for his students benefit. In an article by Matthew Lynch entitled “18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing”, he discusses this very issue between modern and previous pedagogy describing that “‘we are still using the teacher training methods of yesterday.’ [...] ‘Instant access to information from the instant a child can press a touchscreen on a Smartphone and widespread socialization from as young as six weeks old in the form of childcare atmospheres – kids arrive at Kindergarten with less naivety than previous generations. Teachers don’t, in other words, get a clean slate.’” Lynch explains the overarching issue that Dead Poets Society is trying to point out and that is those old ways of teaching are no longer applicable and in this case, Professor Keating’s way of teaching is the accurate approach.

Mr. Keating keeps a heavy focus on working with his students to improve their lives, enrich their learning, encourage them to find different, engaging ways of teaching, and ensure that his students are getting the best possible education that they can receive. This movie focuses more on societal impersonal forces such as Mr. Keating ensuring that his students understand that education is not as black and white as every other teacher makes it out to be. Mr. John Keating uses his previous understanding that Welton Academy reinforces a stark and obedient way of teaching, to transform his teaching into the exact opposite of that; passionate and energizing. A statement made by Megan Mathis in the article “5 Reasons to Secretly Loathe Inspirational Teacher Films” is one reason why the 7 boys responded so well to Mr. Keating, “if we show our pupils that we care about them and respect them, they will begin to see the value in what we are trying to teach them” (Mathis). Due to the fact that every little thing that John Keating did had a purpose and was done in such an extraordinary and memorable way, the boys will never forget the impact that Mr. Keating left on them, in both an educational and personal way.

A couple of themes in Dead Poets Society are the idea of traditional versus modernistic ways, living life to the fullest, education is crucial to a person’s life, fighting for what you believe in as well as speaking out against situations you do not feel are right. In the world of education today, some common issues include: dealing with a range of “different types of families, both low and high parent involvement, student behaviors as well as attitudes towards school, unequal opportunities for students, gender, cultural, ethical, and mental health issues” (Chen 2019 and Litvinov 2018). Most of these current educational issues are seen in the movie, such as too much parent involvement with Niel Perry’s father, who refused to let him do any activities that he wanted to take since he had “everything set up” for Niel. Meanwhile, Niel didn’t have any interest in following the same route that his father wanted him to; instead, he wanted to pursue his passion for acting and because Niel was so frustrated with it all, he continued to play the major role in his school play. This situation represents a multitude of similarities between Dead Poets Society and issue in the modern educational system because Mr. Keating taught his students to fight for ideas that they are passionate about, proved to them that education can, in fact, be interesting, as well as seize the day which are the exact elements that Niel’s situation with his father, signifies. This movie is relevant to education today because another modern educational issue that is connected to it is an unequal distribution of genders which is displayed when one of the characters, Knox Overstreet, tries to woe over a woman, Chris, which is looked down upon being that he attends an all-boys Catholic school. Dead Poets Society depicts the male and female relationship as a sexual, mostly male dominant companionship, which as we see nowadays, can be noted as gender inequality that is still seen in schools today. This film depicts both the pros and cons of education such as the student’s mental health, which as the viewer can see with how Niel Perry acts, is not fully intact which is similar to education nowadays because school counselor such as Kathy Reamy notes that: “I’ve had more students this year hospitalized for anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues than ever” (Litvinov 2018). Mr. Keating represents the teachers in society today, who leave a lasting imprint on their students by teaching them in a unique, expressive, memorable, and insightful way as well as teaching them to live life in the “color” whereas, Mr. Nolan or other administrators represent living life in the “black and white” which is often the case in some schools.

A few critical observations that I am able to make about Dead Poets Society is that while it can be a complicated movie to understand, once the movie is broken down into its simplest form, the themes are much easier to see. It is crystal clear to me that the movie seeks to educate the audience on the change that a dedicated, inspirational, and progressive teacher inflicts on their students as well as how different types of people can come together in support of the same idea to create a beautiful avenue for positive growth to occur. As a whole, the education community is always striving to find different paths to teaching, learning, and educating the next generation of human beings. As we can see in this movie, comparing the way that Mr. Nolan was conducting the poetry class versus the way that Mr. Keating conducted it, not only was the structure polar opposite, but the students did not respond to Mr. Nolan’s bland and dry teaching; whereas, with Mr. Keating, every student was interested, engaged, and responsive to his every request. Within this movie, one major logical fallacy that I noticed was Mr. Nolan blamed Mr. Keating for Niel Perry’s death because Mr. Nolan believed that because Mr. Keating encouraged Niel to keep his part in the play, that that was the reason why he committed suicide; when in fact, it was his dad who was the cause.

Dead Poets Society explores the effect that one professor has on a classroom full of students, a traditional versus the contemporary way of teaching, expressing how important it is to live to the fullest or as Mr. Keating says “carpe diem”, communicates to the audience that education is crucial to a person’s livelihood, conveying the understanding that everyone should fight for what they believe in. Overall, this movie’s main purpose is to prove how influential educators are in both negative and positive ways.