Dead Poets Society

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Recommended: Difference between public schools and private schools

Dead Poets Society a movie released in 1989 represents the problems with privet education in the late 1950’s. John Keating a new Teacher at Welton Academy, a private school for boys challenges the “the four pillars of; tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence” (Schulman) Welton has instilled in their students for one hundred years. Keating dares his students not to conform, but rather “to find their own voice before it is lost forever” (Schulman). Dead Poets Society points out the conformity many male students faced in private schools as well as in their personal lives during the late 1950’s. The main student character Neil Perry, along with Mr. Keating’s character shows the challenges those who dared to be different faced.
John Keating a former student of Welton is well aware of the expectations and traditions set forth by the Welton administration. However we see on the first day of class his teaching methods are very different from what Welton expects. While other teachers have students reciting Latin phrases over and over or impressing upon the students just how important the course work is, Keating takes his class on a trip to show them the students who came before them. He tells his students how these men seized the day and urged them to do the same “Here, Keating explained his core philosophy to his students – to contribute a meaningful verse, so that when it came time for them to die they would not discover they had not lived” (Dead Poets Society: The Death of a Romantic ). During the next class meeting Keating one of his students read the introduction to the textbook, which tells students how the use the Prichard Scale to rate poetry. By using two questions which rate the poems perfection and importance, plotting th...

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...d conformity; he allowed his students their right to discover who they are, never was there a lesson taught by him that did not cover more than just the outlined curriculum Keating wanted his students to “contribute a verse” and “to find their own voice before it is lost forever” (Schulman).

Works Cited
n.d. Academy of American Poets. .
n.d. .
Dead Poets Society - Learn from the Masters (#2). n.d. .
Dead Poets Society. Dir. Thomas H. Schulman. 1989.
John Keating. 2005. .
Studymode.com. n.d. .
White, Robert. Rebirth of Reason. n.d. .

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