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Attitudes Towards Education in The Dead Poet's Society

Attitudes Towards Education in "The Dead Poet's Society"

– Was Keating a good teacher? How do you explain his appeal to the boys?

When considering the context of ‘Dead Poet’s Society’, it quickly becomes evident that Keating’s classes are unconventional for such a conservative high school such as Welton Preparatory School. The film is set in the second half of the 1950’s and in rural America. The Hilton Preparatory School is an exclusive private school with a strong sense of reputation and tradition, and the school’s success is based on rigid educational system and strict discipline. The Welton students simply conformed to the school’s rules and expectations. Keating’s classes do not fit in such a conservative environment. Our first impression of Keating’s class is when he instructs the students to rip an entire chapter from their poetry textbook. In the student’s facial expressions there is a mixture of shock and surprise, as their new teacher instructs them to do something they would never even consider. Weir foreshadows Keating will find himself in trouble for his teaching methods when another teacher peers through Keating’s classroom window and sees the students throwing paper around the classroom and he mistakenly believes they are being unsupervised when he enters the room, only to find Keating is in the classroom also. He is also shocked that Keating would allow such rowdy behavior in his classroom. Consequently, this sets a precedent in the classroom and Keating’s idealism for freethinking, creativity and non-conformity pushes his teaching methods beyond the norms and expectations of Welton.

Throughout the film the audience witnesses how unconventional Keating’s classes are. Every class that is shown in the film is rather different because he uses different strategies and aids to get his message across to the students. For his idea of the importance of having a different perspective on things, he asks the students to step on his desk and be aware of the different view they have from that elevated position. For his idea on the importance of non-conformity and individualism, he used the playground and the boys’ walks to show why they should be make their own decisions and be themselves. To get students to appreciate literature he used alternative methods again, such as performing lines from Shakespeare, and randomly shouting out a famous literary quote before kicking a soccer ball. When everyone has had their...

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