Dead Poets Society: John Keatings undervisning

To what extent is John Keating a good teacher, if at all?

John Keating is an extremely passionate teacher, who puts heart and soul into his teaching and has left his girlfriend back home for his job. He makes a great effort to be an inspiration for his students and to make them independent. By unorthodox teaching methods he makes his classes interesting and catches his students attentions. He becomes a role model for the boys and makes them listen to his words.

In my opinion John Keating is a good acquaint because he teaches the boys to make their lives extraordinary, and to think by themselves. He begins his unorthodox teaching methods by showing his students pictures of previous Welton graduates. Here he explains his philosophy to his students – “To contribute a meaningful verse, so that when it came time for them to die, they would not discover that they had not lived”. He explains to his students that they are all going to die eventually, so it is up to them to make the most of their lives – to seize the day.

Later on Mr. Keating starts to challenge the boys in many ways. When he for an example makes Todd yawp, and after that makes him say whatever comes to mind which results in a poem. Keating manage to empathize with the boys and thus, in different ways, bring out the best in each of them. In Todd’s case this is self-confidence.