For the concluding post I watched Dead Poets Society and School of Rock. I had not viewed either movie prior to this assignment and the intention was to compare the two school settings in a way similar to the work of Tobin and his colleagues. Dead Poets Society was set in the late 1950s while School of Rock took place in a modern education setting, assumedly mid 2000s. However, after watching both films I decided not to focus on how education is portrayed in film has changed in a span of about 50 years but rather how the actions and interactions of parents with the school and parents with their children shaped the students' culture, ideas, and childhood experiences.
Concluding Post
Since both movies are set at prestigious private
schools, the satisfaction of the parents, the schools’ source of income, is
very important. Administrators from
Welton Academy in Dead Poets Society
and Horace Green Prep School in School of
Rock both encouraged the unconventional instructors: Mr. Keating in the
former and Dewey Finn in the latter, to stick to the explicit curriculum
because it worked. While both curriculums
may essentially “work” and teach the students how to memorize already discovered
knowledge, the concern of the students’ ability to think for their selves and
question what is before them is discouraged and found laughable. Mr. Keating, humbly but also heroically, sticks
with Welton Academy’s poetry curriculum, but uses engaging methods such as
movement outside the classroom, music, and sports to engage his students in the
content and emotion of poetry which in turn empowers the boys at Welton Academy to
pursue their passions and create their own poetry. Horace Green Prep School is subjected to the
demands of the parents wanting their young children to receive a world class, competitive, education and they demand
answers when it comes to light that a deadbeat, rockstar wannabe is teaching
their children how to play music, manage a band, and execute a successful rock
show appearance. Mr. Finn, although with
the wrong initial intentions, helps his students build self-confidence and
express themselves through different creative avenues. Because both schools are focused on strict academic, rote education, Mr. Keating and Mr. Finn are protagonists for their
ability to help students learn what cannot be taught by reading textbooks. During childhood, learning in an unconventional, engaging ways teaches children not only the information that is important to each individual, but also how to think creatively, abstractly, and critically: a common trait in successful leaders.
Looking to the parents perspective, by placing their children in the
types of school that pressures students to learn material in a standardized
manner, the childhood culture these students are subjected to is one filled
with stress and feelings of worthlessness if they do not meet their parents' expectations. Students at Welton Academy and Horace Green are not allowed to think for themselves.
Neil Perry’s father in Dead Poets
Society has planned his son’s out life for him. It is with good intention
that Mr. Perry commands Neil that Neil is to become a doctor after earning an
Ivy League education, since his father has sacrificed so much to afford Neil the
opportunities he did not have as a young man himself. But this pressure Mr. Perry
passed along to Neil created a suffocating world for Neil to live in which he had to choose to follow his dreams and ignore his father’s wishes or sacrifice his aspirations and become the man his dad could never be. Mr. Perry’s overbearing dominance is
demonstrated once again when Mr. Perry decides that Neil is involved in too many extracurriculars
and withdraws Neil from his leadership position working on the Senior
Annual. What Mr. Perry does not realize
is that by Neil choosing the extracurrciulars that are interesting to him, Neil
is learning for himself what his interests are, what he is good at, and when he
has taken on too much responsibility. By
making this decision for him, Mr. Perry removes several learning
opportunities from his son, although not academic, but ones that are equally important for
Neil to be a happy, successful member of society. The same can be seen in School of Rock where the culture of childhood the parents are
pushing on their children is for superb academics and for merits that will stand out on their permanent records. This group of fifth graders are so well
trained that when Mr. Finn takes over as the substitute and allows them copious amounts of recess, the students do not leave the classroom because
they know they are expected to study and follow a rigid routine. By not engaging in free play with little
adult intervention, the 10-year-olds in this film are missing out on valuable
opportunities to learn how to communicate with their peers and create and
organize novel games when they all they have been subjected to is already
discovered information in a pre-organized way.
Personally, I supported each educator for different reasons.
I saw myself most in Mr. Keating – a fan of the content he is teaching,
respectful of the curriculum outcomes administration pined for, but always
adding a little something extra. Just as
there are several types of intelligences there are also multiple types of
learning. In order to receive a
well-rounded education, students cannot keep their education within the four
walls of the classroom. Mr. Keating used
kicking a ball and music to help students feel the power and beat of the poetry
they were reading. I enjoy taking
students to the basketball court to shoot freethrows and see the actual
parabolas we are discussing in algebra.
The methods may not be conventional, but the more ways a student can learn the more he or she can learn. Academic knowledge is just a fraction of everything there is to learn. For example, the ability to communicate and link two concepts together are attributes of
successful leaders – not memorizing the quadratic formula. Finally, I see my
classroom in Mr. Finn’s. It is never my
first choice to have students work individually. Some students in my room work independently
if they want to, but groups of twos and threes abound. Frequently I allow students to complete
problems in my class that peak their interest as Mr. Finn does. Where he helped each student figure out which
part of the band production best suits him or her, I encourage students to
answer questions in ways that they like best: charts, graphs, or tables all
relay the same information in different ways to different students. It is common in schools that individuality is encouraged amongst students but children need to be given the chance to learn and grow without being watched and instructed every step of the way. If a young student does not fill with excitement at the sound of unlimited recess, then he or she may not jump at the opportunity to conduct experiments or create the next best selling video game because he does not know how to freely think and create.
Teachers are given the unique
opportunity to influence students’ lives to support or challenge the
guidance students are receiving at home.
I found Mr. Keating to be a teacher that was thought-provoking – his
goal was to help his students see situations from different points of view. He never approached his students about doing
something they were not comfortable with, the students always came to Mr.
Keating first and then Mr. Keating offered his advice. However, I do not condone the manipulation
and threats Mr. Finn used to force his rock band on his unsuspecting
students. In the end, Mr. Finn taught
his students lessons on self-confidence, organization, and sticking up for
personal beliefs, but he also taught his students that it is okay to lie and
deceive others in the process. Mr.
Keating artfully advised his students to always pick their battles and this is
something Mr. Finn, and students, should learn. The balance of respect and
pursuing your dreams that comes with choosing which battles to tackle when
faced with conflict or adversity is a key attribute to living a content and
productive personal, social, and economic life. But again, children will never master this artful skills if their fathers are always making decisions for them.
Where teachers are encouraged to be facilitators of learning in the classroom, and where it has been proven that students learn best when they construct their own knowledge, the same can be applied to the culture of childhood and learning schools and parents are creating for the next generation of decision makers and leaders. To facilitate students' childhood: letting them create their own games to play or choosing which one to not play, seeking out friendships from their peers that do and do not look like them, and by letting them learn (sometimes the hard way) how much they can and cannot handle will leave a lasting impression and will be a personal experience for students to connect with rather than being instructed on how to grow up and learn.
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