Dead Poet Society Notes

Good teaching.

• Mr. Keating on the first class takes them out of the classroom, a change of environment to stimulate learning. he also tells small jokes to lighten the mood and make the students more comfortable. He motivates them telling them to seize the day why they are alive, because everyone eventually dies.
• Mr. Keating tells the students to rip out the introduction of their poetry book, saying that he author is wrong, that there is no measuring poetry, that they must learn for themselves and not what the author says.
• Mr. Keating tells them that they read and write poetry because they are human.
• He is teaching them to be free thinkers.
• Mr. Keating uses different/unorthodox teaching styles to stimulate his students.
• Mr. Keating has them stand on his desk as an example for them to view the world differently.
• Mr. Keating puts Todd Anderson on the spot to try and make him loosen up, and improvise a poem.
• He teaches them that poems dont have to be complex to be good.

Bad Teaching.

• The other teachers do not care about the interests of the students as much as Mr. Keating. And insist on teaching them what they should learn instead of what they want to learn.
• Neil Perry's father refuses to listen to his opinions, forcing him to do what he wants, dictating his future to him.

Synopsis

The movie is filled with many moments of good teaching and student teacher relationship between Mr Keating the poetry teacher and his class. He taught his class how to be free thinkers, thinking outside the box, how to seize the day, to enjoy life while they are alive and leave a legacy. On the other hand the other teachers at the school, especially the Principal Mr Nolan, was hell bound on sticking to tradition. Mr Perry was another example of bad teaching, or more accurate bad parenting, he forced his son to do what he thought was right for him without considering his own feelings. In the end Neil Perry giving up on his dream which his father took from him took his own life. Mr Keating is used as a scapegoat pinning the blame of Neil Perry on him.