"We read poetry, not for fun. We read and write poems, because we are members of human beings, and human beings are full of passion. Although studying medicine, law, business and engineering are lofty goals in life, they are also necessary for human survival and development. But the pursuit of poetry and beauty, the pursuit of romance and love is the meaning of our life. "
This is a scene from the classic movie Dead Poets Society. This film was shown in China in the 1990s, and I haven't seen it. At first sight yesterday, I was so excited that I burst into tears. It was a brief encounter.
Everyone should meet such a teacher when he is young. However, most people, like me, are not lucky.
Mr Keating is a teacher of classical literature. He loves literature, full of passion, full of emotion and independent thoughts.
Wilton Preparatory College, where he teaches, is a preparatory school of the top universities in the United States, with a high enrollment rate. Mr. Keating's first day at school coincided with the opening ceremony of Wilton School and the 0/00th anniversary of/kloc. The headmaster proudly reviewed the four creeds that the school has adhered to for a hundred years: tradition, honor, discipline and Excellence, and claimed that it was these beliefs that made the school brilliant.
Teacher Ding Qi is also a student in this school. He knows that the school's emphasis on the enrollment rate leads to a depressed atmosphere and is privately called "Hell School" by students. Teacher Keating's educational concept is different from the traditional educational concept of the school. He hopes to cultivate students' independent thinking and dare to question, stimulate students' enthusiasm for life, and encourage them to pursue their own ideals and live a noble life.
In his class, he tried to break away from convention and give students unique experience and enlightenment.
For example, in his first class, the students sat in the classroom, waiting for the start of another class. They think this will be a lesson no different from the past. But soon Mr Keating will tell them that they are wrong. He came into the classroom playing the Yankee March, and the students looked at him in surprise. He continued to walk slowly through the classroom to the back door, and then casually turned to the students and said, Come on!
The students looked at each other, wondering what had happened. I had to follow him out of the classroom with a book and come to the showcase in the corridor. Since the school was founded, there have been many photos of outstanding students in the showcase.
Keating said: "Look at the faces of these seniors carefully. They are just like you in the photo, with the same hairstyle and full of youth. Like you, they feel invincible and the world is in their hands. They believe that they are destined to achieve great things. Their eyes are as hopeful as yours. Have they ever wasted their years and talents until they are old and have achieved nothing before they want to struggle? These boys are now fertilizer for daffodils. But if you listen carefully, you can hear their whispers about experience-"
Teacher Keating asked the children to get close to the photos and listen carefully. The children were completely attracted by him and did as he said. And he quietly, slowly and clearly conveyed what he wanted the children to understand: seize the day! Make your life different! Grasp the present and live a wonderful life! )
This is his first class. The children felt a unique and profound shock. Some students go back and write down the motto of "seize today" in their notebooks.
He teaches classical literature. And his first formal class was to teach children to tear up books. Tear up the so-called absurd criticism of poetry made by literary critics. The children tore off the pages in surprise, which was their first experience of subversive education. Mr. Keating jumped onto the platform and stood on it to continue telling everyone, don't be superstitious about authority, you should taste poetry yourself, and try to see the world from different angles and get your own opinions. Students also tried to stand on the podium one by one and experience this unprecedented perspective.
What shocked me most was the opening paragraph. Yes, what gives us the meaning of life is not the great cause in the fields of commerce and engineering, but our pursuit of beauty and love as human beings.
Teacher Keating loves education. He has received traditional education. He has a lot of reflections on this educational model. He believes that modern society only pays attention to the development of people's rational thinking, but ignores the growth of people at the perceptual level. At the same time, he believes that everyone should have the unique personality of live high, give full play to their unique talents and pursue what they really love.
His view broke the dull educational atmosphere of the school and made the students glow with passion and vitality from the heart. He quoted Whitman's poem in memory of Lincoln, "Oh, captain, my captain!" " "So the students can call him that.
Lincoln died in the struggle to maintain American unity and abolish slavery. In this poem, Whitman compares the United States to a ship, President Lincoln to a captain, and the struggle for national reunification and abolition of slavery to a dangerous voyage. Obviously, in Mr. Keating's mind, he knows very well that it is a difficult war to be himself and stick to the truth. He is willing to take Lincoln as an example of life.
When a person really thinks independently and sticks to his own views, it will inevitably conflict with tradition and existing stereotypes.
There was indeed a student who had a conflict with his father because he dreamed of becoming an actor. The child has always been obedient to his parents. Under the influence of Mr. Keating, he found that what he loved was acting. He began to fight against his father for this, but he could not compete with his iron-fisted authority and was finally suppressed. His father thinks that Mr Keating misled his son. He transferred his son and forced him to become a doctor.
The boy was desperate and finally ended his young life with his father's pistol in the middle of the night.
The boy's father sued the school, thinking that it must have something to do with Mr. Keating. Teacher Keating was investigated by the school, and the students were called for interrogation one by one. One of his students refused to sign the materials that reported him in order to show his support and was expelled. Other students were forced to sign collectively under the double pressure of the school and parents.
In the last scene of the film, Mr. Keating went to the classroom to get his personal belongings before leaving school. The headmaster is in class. When the students saw Mr. Keating's high spirits, they felt deeply guilty that they were forced to sign Mr. Keating's accusation.
Just as he was about to leave the classroom, the students stood on the table and shouted his name: Ah, captain! My captain! Oh, captain! My captain! Regardless of the headmaster's warning, the students told him in this way that they would stick to their own views and stick to what they thought was right.
This scene is exciting and exciting against the backdrop of the Yankee March. Many people say that this movie has been watched many times just to watch this shocking scene again. Stick to your own opinions and stand firm. As Mr. Keating said, this is a battle, a war. Your hearts and souls may be injured, but you must fight!
This film not only expresses a new educational concept, but also shows the frustration or even failure of this educational concept in reality-in the process of struggle, some students paid the price of their lives, some students were expelled, Mr. Keating was expelled, and the future was uncertain.
But in the last scene, the students bravely stood on the desk in the voice of the principal, telling the teacher and everyone in the audience that this was not the final outcome. With the light of human nature, it will never go out, it will remain in people's hearts, it will inherit and carry forward, inspire more people, grasp the present, live a noble life and lead an excellent life!
When Mr Keating was a teenager at Wilton School, he took part in the Dead Poets Society. This experience was seized by students and Dead Poets Society was rebuilt privately. This also became the name of this film.
This name is easily misunderstood. In fact, it means "born to die". Before every rally in Dead Poets Society, we should read a eulogy, which is quoted from Thoreau's poem:
I went into the jungle because I wanted to live casually.
I want to live in depth and absorb all the essence of life.
Destroy everything that is not life.
In case I'm dying
I found that I had never really lived.
Thoreau
From this eulogy, it is not difficult for us to know the purpose and pursuit of the poetry club.
People need guidance most when they are teenagers. And Mr Keating, it is at this age that life throws them a bright sunshine and illuminates their hearts.
Although their lives have actually been decided by their parents, they will study hard in aristocratic schools, enter first-class universities in the United States, and become bankers, judges, financiers and members of the upper class in the future. Compared with such a smooth road, they chose a more difficult road, but they really survived.
Those children who resolutely stood on the desks in the warning and threat of the headmaster have already built their own ships in their hearts. They will become brave captains on this ship, brave the wind and waves in their future lives, and resolutely advance towards their own goals.