Dead Poets Society

After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.

Although a character chooses suicide, what other options could he have considered? What effect does his death have on others?

What does Mr. Keating imply when he asks the students to contribute their own verse to life? What does it mean to find your own voice?

Why can it be difficult to maintain individual beliefs in the face of others? What exercises does the teacher use to illustrate this?

Is Mr. Keating a pied piper, leading the students into trouble, or a radical thinker opening their minds? Do his ideas help the boys to think for themselves, or are they merely substituting his ideals for those of their parents and former teachers? How can parents and children find balance between their individual dreams and the hopes and expectations of others?