The College Years: Part 1 & Part 2 - Dead Poet Society

Tradition~ Honor ~Wisdom ~Excellence ~Discipline Part 1 / Part 2

     Just as I observed in Stand & Deliver, The Dead Poet Society was very inspiring. It shows us to support children's self esteem, which is SO IMPORTANT.
     As hard as it is to do, letting our children spread their wings can be a hard task for parents. Along with that, they will be able to accomplish their dreams and passions for life. They need to be able to say, "Carpe diem" and seize the day.
     It was Neil's father that pushed him to the breaking point and the after his death, the other boys from the Dead Poet Society shouldn't have let Mr. Keating take the fall for what Neil's father did.
     Mr. Keating was a passionate, caring and inspirational teacher. He instantly had the children's respect, unlike Mr. Escalante that had to earn the children's respect. The two movies differed in so many way. Both being that in Stand & Deliver the children had control of the school where in this movie the school was structured. I also observed that in this movie the kids had to stand up for a "Labeled" teacher where in Stand & Deliver, the teacher stood up for "Labeled" students.

The movie starts out in a church set back in a the 1950's, with a very organized program. The program director acknowledged the schools many accomplishments.
It was an all boy school - some boys didn't want to leave their parents. Was children of tween - all ages.
Mr. Perry was arguing with his father around other people, his dad wanted him to drop some extracurricular classes and not allow the boy to do what he wants. He is now having to drop the annual.
Perry tried to act as if it didn't bother him.
The kids formed study groups for subjects such as Latin, Trig, etc.
Trig teacher was strict with his rules.He would deduct one point off if late.
Robin Williams played Mr. Keating - the English teacher tried to make teaching fun. He tried to joke with the student to lighten up the group. He tells the students they can call him "O Captain, My Captian"
Mr. Pitts he joked about the kids name in front of other students.
Mr. Keating kept repeating Carpe diem it is popularly translated as "seize the day"., make your lives extraordinary ( is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism)
In the evening the boys would study in the den as different groups.
Knox lets the boys know that he met the most prettiest girl.
As the student read the understanding of poetry the teacher did a chart for notes on the board and then had the boys rip it out of their notebooks. And then he told them to rip out the entire introduction. He told the boys it was not the Bible, they wouldn't go to Hell for ripping out the papers.
Mr. McAllister walked into the room when he heard laughter and fun, but when he found out that Mr. Keating was present, he stepped back.
We don't read and write poetry because it is cute, we write poetry because we are part of the human race Mr. Keating tells the students.
Mr. Keating was told by Mr. McAllister that he gave an enthustic class.
Mr. Keating seems to be enthusiastic and loves poetry.
The students asked Mr. Keating what the dead poet society was - he explained that those poets were sucking marrow out of the blood. Women drooled / swooned over the poetry.
Mr. Keating whistled one tune all the time. Seems to be the same tune.
Mr. McAllister the study hall teacher told the boys to stop chattering and sit down.
The group of boys went out for the first time for the first dead poet society meeting in the woods. It was dark, spooky and they went inside a tree trunk They say around the group and told stories.
The boys chanted the poem like a song all the way back to school.
The group of boys didn't get caught.
Mr. Anderson didn't know the answer, so teacher went to Mr. Perry.
Referred to Shakespear to a root canal.
He tried to get the students interested by joking. As he read the poetry he made jokes. Mr. Keating stood on his desk to remind himself that he must look at things in a different way.
Mr. Keating had the boys also stand on the desk.
Mr. Keating assigned the students to write a poem of their own in addition to the essay.
The two boys built a radio - "The Science Experiment"
Neil knows for the first time in his life what he wants to do - be in a play A Mid-Summer Nights Dream
Neil said he was going to do it whether his father allowed him or not. But his roommate talked the idea down.
The students when rowing were pushed to strive to there best. After all they had to row fast....
Neal wants to act, whether his dad wants to let him or not. For the first time in his life he knows what he wants to do. Mr. Keating played a big role in his decision for acting.
Neal tried to convince his roommate to do things like acting, but he didn't want to. Neal took his paper and started running in a circle around the room. Several other students chimed in on the act.
The scene when Knox road his bike down the bank and birds flew away was very pretty :)
Knox road his bike to the school where they were having a pep rally and he saw the girl he liked walk off with her boyfriend.
Mr. Keating had his students line up - repeat lines of poetry and then kick the ball. Then he turned music on to collect inspiration from the students.
Neal got the part as playing "Buck" in the play. He knew his father wouldn't approve, so he wrote letters of approval to be from his father and principle of the school.
Neal was writing his poem for English and got discouraged.
The student gets discouraged when reading his poem, but Mr. Keating encouraged him to continue and praised him for his efforts. The kids that was laughing, he made go next, it was a ordinary poem and he didn't get good scores from the teacher.
Todd (Mr. Anderson) didn't write a poem. The teacher told him he thought he had something inside of him worth a great deal. Those are very inspirational words from a teacher.
Todd referred to the picture of Walt Whitman as a scary mean mad man. Mr. Keating covered Todd's eyes and made him say his poem out loud. The class clapped and was impressed.
Mr. Keating aloud the boys to play soccer and listen to loud opera music during English - the students adored their teacher.
2nd Dead Poets Society meeting and the boys gathered in the tree trunk.
At the meeting the boy played the sax and then would resight the poem.
Knox broke down and called the girl he liked - she invited him to the movie, he said the point he was making was the she was thinking about him.
Mr. Keating was making the boys walked around in circles and they were chanting marching songs.
Neal found Todd. Todd let him know it was his birthday, he was disappointed in his gift because he got the same thing the year prior. It was a desk set!
Neal convince Todd to through it off the roof top.
The article in the school paper stirred up contrevesy in the private school. It was called profain and disrupptive article. They called a school meeting. During the meeting the phone rang and Mr. Doltan said that he got a call from God. That God said that they should be allowed to have girls at school. For punishment he was spanked with a board with wholes. The principle/ head master, Mr. Knoland wanted names.
Charlie Dolton was to turn everyone in, and apologize to the school.
Mr. Keating was being talked to by Mr. Knoland questioning him about his teaching methods. Mr. Keating was trying to explain for instants that the marching to proove a point. Mr. Knoland said he was to follow tradition and get them ready for college, the rest would follow it's self.
Mr. Keating confronted the students. He felt it was not a Carm adiem moment, in fact it was a stupid move. He told Charlie that if the phone would have been collect from God, that would have been daring.
When Neil got home from play practice, his father was waiting in the room. His father was MAD and he wouldn't let his son talk. He thought his teacher, Mr. Keating put him up to it. The father found out about this letter, he refused to quit. His father was stern, mean.
Neil went to seek advice from Mr. Keating about the play issue. Because he loved teaching he would rather be at school than with his girlfriend in London.
Mr. Keating asked if he ever had a compassionate conversation with his dad. Neil said that his dad want listen to him and what he wants. He told Neil to go talk to him before tomorrow night.
Todd went to a public high school to find the girl. The schools were very unorganized and the kids were not as structured as those attending the private boys school.
Bells rang in the halls of the private school, chatter chimed the halls as well.
Mr. Keating asked Neal if he talked to his father. Neal said that his father was out of town and was not able to make it. Neal never talked to his father--this you could tell. He was going to be in the play, regardless of his fathers words.
Todd started to class and Chris, the girl of his dreams showed up. He took her outside because girls were not allowed in the school.
Mr. Keating took the boys to the play to see Neil. Todd convinced Chris to go wtih him.
Mr. Keating sat with the boys at the play, he was empressed with Neil's acting.
Neil's father showed up at the play. Made him very nervous.
Neil stared at his dad while he resighted his play / poem part.
The audience applauded for Neil his father not so happy, Neil was very happy.
Explosions errupted with Neil and his father. The father told Mr. Keating to stay away from his son.
Neil and his father went home, his mother stood inside looking at the window looking nervous as they walked in. The smell of cigarette smoke filled the room.'
Neil's dad would take him out of school and enroll him military school. He would be a doctor, regardless of what he wanted. Neil stood up and tried to tell his father what he felt, he father cut him down before he could even talk.
Because his father was forcing his son Neil to do things he didn't want to with his life, he took it away from his father.
Mr. Keating was very hurt by this. The boys of the "Dead Poet Society" were heartbroken as well.
Dean of schools spoke highly of Neil and he let the students know that he will be missed.
The Dean wants to conduct an investigation into this matter.
Administration think that Mr. Keating was responsible for Neil's death.
The one boy said you can't save Keating, but you can save yourself and wanted them to go turn him in and let them know what he knows.
On the way to the Dean's office Know gave Todd the Thumbs Up.
Todd was taken the the Dean's office, where his parents awaited his arrival. Todd didn't agree and was concerned wtih what was going to happen with Mr. Keating. He cried and questioned, but his dad was making him sign it.
Mr. Keating came to say goodbye. He interuppted the class, and walked passed the empty desk where Neil used to sit.
The dean wanted him to read out of the book, but the page was ripped out. Mr. Keating smiled. On his way out, Mr. Keating was confronted by Todd, he knew what they did was wrong. Todd stood on the desk.
Then all the students started to stand on their desks, stating Oh Captain, My Captain.
The Dean couldn't get the children to sit down, the class was becoming unruly, they had no respect for the Dean and the beliefs of the school after "Labeling" Mr. Keating as a no good teacher. It made him very proud as he exited the classroom. After all that is what Neil would have done. Mr. Keating thanked the teacher for standing up for what they believed in, no matter the what the outcome of punishment was going to be.

Compared to the movie I watched last week, Dead Poets Society difference from Stand & Deliver by the following:

The setting was more structure. No student dare step out of line in front of a teacher.
The school was a private school and not a public school.
It was when children had manners, unlike in the movie Stand & Deliver - they didn't have manners at first till the teacher showed them they could do anything.
The teachers are similar because they try to make teaching fun and use visuals for learning.
The teachers didn't label students, unlike the teaching staff in Stand & Deliver.
The school started off by listing all the students that had made accomplishments - unlike Stand & Deliver it wasn't until the AP Calculus did the students make great accomplishments and was recognized by other teacher besides Mr. Escalante.