Importance Of Education In Dead Poets Society

The 1989 movie, Dead Poet’s Society, features Robin Williams as John Keating, the new English teacher at a prestigious prep school. Through the actions of school faculty and parents, the vivid description of Keating, and Keating’s impact on his pupils, various themes of education are implemented into the Academy Award winning movie to display the fundamental characteristics of a successful teacher. The first scene already displays a fault in a teacher’s character: pressure to succeed due to comparison. The headmaster of the school welcomes a new student and says to him, “You have some big shoes to fit. Your brothers were one of the finest”- a valedictorian and National Merit Scholar. The comparison of the success of the older to younger

Mr. Keating helps Neil to realize that his passion is acting (a career that his father did not approve), and gives Neil the courage to converse with Neil’s father who has been planning the rest of Neil’s life as a “successful” doctor. Instead of discouraging Neil from the acting profession, Mr. Keating tells Neil to “show him [Neil’s father] who you are and where your heart is.” It is important for a teacher to always encourage students and to always tell them to “reach for the stars” because every teacher understands that each child has a significant amount of potential within them. This scene relates to a past problem in education when it was believed that women should end their education earlier than men and take the only occupation as a housewife and mother in relation that Neil wanted to become an actor. I believe that women have as much potential to be successful as men in any field in the workforce. Connecting this with education, now women have the opportunity to attend university and continue their education to become valuable assets to contribute to society. In this case, teachers have the role of motivating students, male or female, to achieve their own personal