Discussion Guide for Dead Poet’s Society ACSI PFO
Professional Strategies Session 1/2
Tim Shuman, MEd
Regional Director for International Schools, ACSI Global
Scenes from the movie Dead Poets’ Society comprise a valuable tool that we use to help kickstart our thinking about what is good education.
1) Opening Ceremony 00:00-05:30
a) What are the "four pillars" at Welton? If you were to design and start a Christian
school what would your four pillars be (aka Core Values)?
b) According to the opening address given by the Headmaster, Mr. Nolan, what is
most valued at Welton? According to Nolan, why do parents put their boys at
Welton? Of what would a quality international Christian school boast?
c) Traditions like an Opening Ceremony (graduation, etc.) can contain powerful
imagery, symbols, and messages that tell us what a school values most. Name
some of the imagery that Welton employed. What kinds of traditions did your
last school employ that transferred the values of that school?
2) Neal’s room - after the opening ceremony 05:55-10:00
a) In this scene, the boys have a different take on the four pillars. The school you
will soon join will have its pillars too - both named and unnamed. What might
some unnamed pillars be in a school. i.e. values that exist in the culture of the
school but that are unrecognized. Example: we might say we are a school of
excellence but the reality is often mediocrity. Or maybe the school says it
emphasizes academics, but sports takes a dominate role.
ACSI PFO-1
b) What are the boys obsessing about in Neal’s room almost immediately? Is this a
good thing?
c) Mr. Perry enters the room and informs his son in front of the boys about a
change he made to Neal’s schedule: removing him from the yearbook team.
When Neal protests Mr. Perry chastises his son for questioning him in public.
(Note the hypocrisy in this scene.) What should have been done?
d) The movie takes place in 1959. Do you think this kind of interaction (parent to
child) might still exist today? Could it take place at one of our international
Christian schools? Are there some ethnic cultures that are more prone to this
kind of parental control - which ones?
e) Is it our place as educators or caregivers to correct a parent’s goals for their
children? How would you counsel the father? More likely, how would you
counsel Neal if he was your student?
ACSI PFO-2
3) First day in Mr. Keating classroom 10:22-17:01
a) Mr. K is a new teacher at Welton. How are the other teachers portrayed before
we get to Mr. K’s classroom? How is he different from his teaching colleagues?
b) What did he do really well on the first day of class?
c) What fire is he igniting? What is he saying about what is to come this year?
d) Carpe Diem. Make your lives extraordinary. This is a powerful challenge. What
makes it so appealing? Is there any problems with his challenge?
e) At the trophy case, Mr. K told the boys “we are all food for worms”, how does
this accompany the "seize the day" the message? How are these two
connected?
f)
How could a Christian teacher better unpack what it means to "make your lives
extraordinary".
g) Can you provide present day stories of eternity-minded Christians who lead
extraordinary lives? (And point 9.c.)
h) How will you start your first day of class? What aspect of you will you want your
students to know about you as a teacher of (name the subject matter). Do you
have a similar passion about the subject(s) you will teach this year? What if you
don’t?!?!?
ACSI PFO-3
4) First instructional day in Keating's classroom 21:00-26:50
a) Mr. K has a student read aloud the introduction to the literature textbook.
b) Did J. Evans Pritchard PhD, have it all wrong? Could that section have proven
useful?
c) What was your reaction to the order to rip out the introductory pages? Which
one of the boys are you most like: the one who hesitates greatly, or the one who
rips it out with glee?
d) Mr. K says,
"This is a battle, a war! And the casualties could be your
hearts and souls. In my class you will learn to think for
yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language.
No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can
change the world. [...] I have a secret for you. We don't read
and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry
because we are members of the human race. And the human
race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business,
engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to
sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what
we stay alive for. [...] What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer. That you are here. That life exists, and identity; That
the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.
What will your verse be?"
e) What is the message? What is Mr. K. calling his students to do?
ACSI PFO-4
f)
Sometimes even Christian educators can get formulaic and forget about
“poetry, beauty, romance, love…”. How can lines like these and the Carpe Diem
challenge be redeemed in the Christian classroom?
g) Mr. K says this is a battle, a war. What battle is he fighting? (By the way, did you
catch the tune Mr. K is whistling?* What is the significance of this?) What battle
are we fighting in the Christian school?
h) Also, have you heard Mr. K’s speech somewhere else recently?**
5) Interaction with a colleague at supper. 26:50-28:05
a) Have you ever run into a fellow faculty member that has become cynical (or in
this case, a "realist")? What does cynicism look like? Could this happen in a
Christian school?
b) How do you keep from losing your love for students and for teaching? What
should you do if you do? What if you work with a colleague like this in your
school?
6) The boys ask Mr. K about the Dead Poets Society (DPS) 28:05-31:19
a) After looking at an old yearbook, Mr. K explains the origins of the Dead Poets
Society. He explains that the DPS was dedicated to sucking the marrow out of
life. "We were romantics. We didn't just read poetry, we let it drip from our
tongues like honey. Spirits soared, women swooned, and gods were created,
gentlemen. Not a bad way to spend an evening, eh?"
ACSI PFO-5
b) When first asked about the DPS, Mr. K admitted, “This present administration
would not look favourably upon it” and then asks them to keep a secret. (Red
Flag?) What should he have shared with the boys and didn’t?
c) Note that in the movie, the book, Five Centuries of Verse” simply appears on
Neal's desk! You almost miss it if you don’t pay attention. Who put the book
there? What was the purpose of this? 33:40.
7) Mr. K's teaching methods. 50:28-52:06, 53:41-59:00 and 1:03:39-1:05:55
a) List the really great things Mr. K did as a teacher.
b) What creativity will you bring to your classroom?
c) To get students to think outside of the box, does the teacher need to be out
there too? How far?
d) There is a book called "Walking with God in the Classroom" (Harro Van
Brummelen), considering just the title alone what must a Christian teacher never
forget?
e) What about Todd’s shyness? Some students are outgoing and bold, while
others are naturally shy and prefer not to stand out in a group. What is the
appropriate way to help all students learn and grow - and maybe take risks?
ACSI PFO-6
f)
Have you thought about how certain national cultures might not respond well to
Mr. K’s methods?
g) What about the place of Mr. K's banter with kids, mocking of student's names,
and his "playful" (or otherwise) teasing of Todd? Is this appropriate?
h) During the scene where Todd is "forced" to come up with a poem in front of his
peers... what if Todd had been unable to produce a “poem” in that moment,
what then?
i)
Do teachers have an obligation to do anything it takes to pull the best from each
student? Are there any boundaries? What are they? What kinds of things must a
Christian teacher keep in mind?
j)
What does it mean to be a popular teacher? Is this something you value?
8) Scene with Nolan and Keating talking about Mr. K’s unusual methods. 1:18:36-1:20:03
a) What are the two purposes of education presented here? Is either one 100%
correct? What might a similar conversation look like in the Christian school?
b) Can you identify Mr. Nolan’s philosophy/pedagogy? What was most positive?
Most negative?
c) Can you identify Mr. K’s philosophy/pedagogy? What was most positive? Most
negative?
ACSI PFO-7
d) Are either of these two educational philosophies more “Christian”?
e) What should a teacher do if they find their philosophy not lining up with the
philosophy of the school/administration?
9) Without watching the rest of the in between scenes...
a) The Carpe Deim challenge (sucking the marrow out of life) pushed the boys to
restart the Dead Poets Society, sneak out at night on a regular basis, nearly get
Charlie expelled, Knox to chase after the girl, Neal to deceive his father and be
in the town play, Todd to stand on his desk and say goodbye to Mr. K. (And, of
course, leads to Neal’s suicide.) Was it all worth it?
b) Keeping all of the passion intact, how would you rewrite the script? How should
the story end in the Christian school context?
c) Can you name some examples of how you’ve seen a Christian (maybe one of
your students) make her/his life “extraordinary”?
10) 2:00:08- 2:05:28 Final scene - Mr. Nolan takes over Mr. K’s class.
a) What would a school today need to do following a tragedy like the one they just
experienced? What would restoration look like? What elements need to be place
so that students can get back to their learning? How would you handle your first
post-crisis class? (This happens more than you think and is incredibly
important!)
ACSI PFO-8
b) Mr. Nolan attempts to restore order. How does the movie portray him? Was it
fair?
c) Given the creativity of the departing teacher and the emotional stress everyone
was under, could any teacher have done a decent job subbing in for the beloved
teacher? What would have been a better approach in this circumstance?
d) Discuss the transformation of Todd Anderson from the beginning of the movie to
the last scene.
e) Todd was brave for saying goodbye to Mr. K. in the one and only final moment
he had. Discuss the importance of goodbyes in the international school
community.
*The War of 1812 Overture. An overture written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
to commemorate Russia's defense of its motherland against Napoleon's invading Grande Armee in 1812.
**2015 Apple iPad Commercial featuring the very same speech.
Interesting notes about Samuel Pickering - the basis for the John Keating character.
In 1989 Pickering reluctantly became something of a celebrity with the release of the movie
Dead Poets Society. The year before attending graduate school in Cambridge, Pickering had
taught the movie's screenwriter, Tom Schulman, at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.
Schulman based the character of Professor John Keating, played by Robin Williams, on
Pickering, who remembers "standing on desks and in waste cans" and teaching from outside
the window. But, he writes in "Celebrity," "I did such things not so much to awaken students as
entertain myself." The movie's publicity—and the subsequent demand for his philosophies on
education—threw him. He writes: "The life I had shaped and the little things I achieved seemed
lost. Instead of being the books I wrote or the family I cherished, I was a creature of publicity. . .
fathered by a newspaper and nurtured by an ego." Pickering has spent the last decade trying to
distance himself from the publicity generated by that movie… From an interview with Sam
Pickering. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/fge/summary/v005/5.1spinner.html
ACSI PFO-9
Samuel Pickering has eschewed publicity raised by the film and has since regarded the
unorthodoxy of his classroom behavior as more goalless than that depicted in Dead Poets
Society, in which unorthodoxy is employed deliberately as a way to preach the values of nonconformity and carpe diem. Instead, Pickering has commented that "I did such things not so
much to awaken students as to entertain myself." Pickering has often considered his teaching
style purely purposeless and impulsive, and he criticizes those who have subsequently asked
him about his philosophy on education, responding that people, regarding such large social
questions, have trouble with "the realization that mostly it's all meaningless. I don't know why
people want answers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pickering
ACSI PFO-10