FREE ESSAY ON DEAD POET'S SOCIETY

DEAD POET'S SOCIETY

Dead Poet's Society
The film, Dead Poet's Society, is a story of a English professor who instructs a group of
eager boys in a highly accredited and traditional boys academy. Professor Keatings,
played by Robin Williams, introduces his students into the world of poetry. Throughout
the school year, the professor inspires the students to "seize the day" and make their
lives extraordinary. A group of students gets swept away by their teacher's enthusiastic
spirit, and they decide to reorganize "The Dead Poet's Society", a select club which used
to meet in a cave when the professor attended school, to experience inspiration through
poetry. The inspirational impact he has on his students backfires when the school's board
of trustees finds out about the unorthodox teaching methods that go on in the classroom.
One of his students commits suicide after the boy's father, a very controlling man,
rejects his son and his enthusiasm for acting and the stage. 
Professor Keatings doesn't follow textbooks or the curriculum, but teaches from his
heart. Unlike his conservative colleagues, Keating employs decidedly unorthodox teaching
methods and strives to teach more than just his subject matter, which is poetry. His goal
is to inspire his students to suck the bone of life to the marrow, to seize the day and
to make their lives extraordinary. In Keating's class, you learn passion, courage,
romanticism, and, of course poetry. You pass if you avoid conformity and find your own
voice, and you fail if you neglect to live life to the fullest. The impact that professor
Keatings has on his students is eternal. His spirit will probably always live in his
students' hearts. 
Any teacher who is like Keatings is priceless. He wasn't just teacher of academics but a
teacher of life. I have had some teachers similar to Professor Keatings, whom I will
always remember. Professor Keatings techniques were unconventional but they inspired his
students to the fullest. This film relates to the Intro to Education 150 course because
the course is designed to cause one to reflect broadly on just what it takes to be an
effective teacher. The course content, like the film, Dead Poet's Society, helps us to
focus our passion and interests in teaching.