Robin William’s character in the film The Dead Poets Society, Jon Keating, not only teaches his students the beauty of the English language, but he also preaches the importance of “carpe diem,” or seizing the day. The sad reality of teaching in today’s world is that the only way a teacher can talk about carpe diem is if he teaches Latin.
Student-teacher relationships are restricted in the high school classroom, so students cannot truly experience the same relationships shared in The Dead Poets Society, a film that not only depicts how beautiful student-teacher chemistry can be, but according to one CHS teacher, one that is shown in graduate school to inspire teachers.
It is ironic how teachers look to this movie for motivation, but cannot truly achieve the same touching bond as the one depicted due to restrictive MCPS policies. Lack of trust and the brevity of student-teacher pairings plagues the potential for such chemistry.
In elementary school, unlike high school, it was taboo to interact with more than three teachers a day. This allowed for optimum bonding with teachers. By the end of the year, most teachers knew every student like family; they were familiar with their learning habits, study habits, social habits and even their parents. This partnership is severely lacking in high school.
It is possible, because of the course requirements, that a student can have 14 different teachers during the course of the year, and 56 teachers over their high school careers. Only someone as charismatic as Ferris Bueller could pull off a good relationship with 56 different people.
Furthermore, when the time comes to write college recommendations for a student that a teacher has known for a mere 18 weeks, is difficult for the teacher, and the inadequacy of the letter will only disappoint the student. Everyone’s main ambition at CHS, with the exception of a few, is to get into college. Thus, it would benefit most students to maintain strong relationships with their students.
If a student and a teacher had paired up for a bare minimum of two semesters, plus an educational field trip, then it would be easier for that teacher to write a rave review of that student’s potential and skills.
This leads into the other argument of non-educational activities. In today’s world of lawsuits and the risk of inappropriate behavior, a memorable field trip is out of the question. According to teacher Michael Carroll, who used to have an annual camping trip to Mount Vernon with 200 students, field trips are wonderful for student-teacher chemistry, but the lack of trust is a factor that prevents these team building activities.
The fact that trust is a one of the compromising issues for the chemistry of students and teachers is a sad reality. The bonds will never achieve their potential.
In The Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating challenges his students by daring them to refer to him as “O captain, my captain,” and breaks from the curriculum for their benefit. The product was arguably the best relationship in cinematic history. This could be the reality of CHS, but someone needs to break boundaries and be innovative in order to benefit students and teachers alike.