I wish the world had more teachers like him

I love that the one kid even uses his ruler to tear the page out.

Of course, Nuwanda is the first to rip it out!... My idol

Charlie/Nuwanda is so underrated. He understood free thinking better than all of them, especially at the start.

As a poet myself, I also take offense to this introduction. Poetry isn't something you figure out like some math equation, it's putting your heart, your soul, your sense of humor, your grief, your love, your hate, your knowledge, your fantasies, and everything that makes you what you are and how you interpret the world onto the page. It's turning the blood in your veins into the ink you use to write it out. It's gluing your fingers to the keyboard until the finished work becomes the only solvent to release it. It's venting your life experiences in a creative way. It's art.

In my high school American Literature class, the poetry book that we bought for the class also had a terrible introduction. So, we also ripped out the introductions of our books. Rest in peace, Robin Williams.

Good movies develop their characters. Great movies develop their audiences. I absolutely love the use of this same introduction passage at the beginning and end of the movie. In this scene, when we hear Neil read it for the first time, all we really see is a normal classroom learning the curriculum, and the explaination of poetry seems to make sense. After the movie has unfolded, we as an audience learn how to suck the marrow out of life and whatnot, and when Cameron (notorious fink) reads the very same passage aloud, we react to it completely different. It's not a lesson anymore, it's a cold, conformist deconstruction of poetry, and it goes against everything that poetry is. Additionally, having Neil read it the first time and Cameron the second time shows that the boys all began as submissive students ready to conform, and each of them grew to become true poets and reject the introduction, each of them except for Cameron (goddamn fink).

Every school needs a teacher like him

the hardest thing about this movie is how absolutely gorgeous the students are.

"I don't hear enough rip!" lmao!

When I saw this film at 14, I enjoyed it but I was not yet mature enough to grasp the full significance. Just watching a few clips on YT has made me realize how much this film touches on life. Now, at 38, I can't wait to watch this again soon, with new eyes.

Robin Williams looked so happy on the screen.

It is interesting because so many college textbooks still have introduction chapters like "Understanding Poetry" that are soul-less and overly complicated. I usually skip over them. There doesn't need to be this strict model for every single subject.

This movie screams brilliance. All-time favorite.

In my experience, I have found english teachers - particularly literature teachers - to be some of the most inspiring and most passionate. I've walked out of lessons in awe at the depth of the human condition, and others on a note of euphoria. These teachers brought soul to the text but also knew the necessity of AO1, AO2, AO3.

After watching this amazing movie for the first time I get pissed every time I see Cameron now

I had a teacher like this guy, I think nearly everybody got teary eyed on the last day of class, I miss it but I still message him from time to time.

'calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness'. HA HA HA, how can you keep a straight face?

Teachers like him have the power to change lives... RIP Robin Williams, you were a wonderful actor.

I usually do not like book vandalism, but I think the Captain has right... xD

A teacher like this is faithfully needed if we want to make a world of open-minded people . This movie is a masterpiece i like every single minute of it , and Robin williams was the perfect person in a perfect role...i feel the need to say thanks oh captain , my captain.

I realized something today: Dead Poets Society predicted the existence of Common Core in 1989. Common Core is the Pritchard essay discussed here. Robin Williams (Mr. Keating, "Oh Captain My Captain") is what all teachers should strive to be like. Truly let kids think for themselves and not try to fit into some cookie cutter image that the government wants.

The ginger won't go to hell for ripping out the introduction. He'll go to hell for lacking a soul.

There is great meaning in this scene. It challenges conventional thinking and the common assumption that our societal systems of 'natural selection of ideas' actually works well, or at least better than any other. As a teacher he is showing the pupils that they must learn to think for themselves and be willing to question anything, even a recommended school text. It also is the first sign in the film that Keating shows he is really at odds with the educational establishment that he works at (a very traditional, conservative one at that), which ultimately proves his downfall, but only in terms of his job. This is, I feel, the key point of the film. Do you accept the heavily compromised status quo, or challenge it when you feel it is wrong? Some see no point in challenging it (and may not even think it is wrong), seeing only selfish ends as the only sensible goals in life which any person failing to aim for is an idiot. These people hate people like Keating, whose primary aim is to teach his pupils to be masters of their own destiny and hence able to suck as much of the marrow out of life as possible. When the pupils rebel and stand on their desk in honour of Keating after his unfair dismissal, it is important to note that many of the students didn't do likewise. Some through fear, some through a lack of understanding or feeling no doubt. But this makes the movie more realistic and profound rather than some fairytale, happy-ever-after. It's a metaphor for life, about real people, us and them, you and me. We are far from all the same. His unfair dismissl also reflects an absurdity of real life, where often profits (school reputation) trump justice and truth. Ultimately, truth is power, but in situations where the majority view is distorted, then selfish money will tend to follow the distortion and thus be vulnerable to the truth. This is a part of the tragic story of humanity. Those who can see a better way, and want to help create it, often have to suffer the challenges from that which stands in their way. The boys in this film who sided with Keating had the innocence of youth on their side, which is always seen as dangerous to the establishment, who want to mould the children into their view of morality/behaviour (as in Pink Floyds Wall, 'we don't need no eduaction' etc.). It reminds me of a saying "The old learn through experience what the young know through instinct".

I love how unapologetic he is. And he's not hesitant for the students to continue ripping once a colleague comes through the door.

Mr Williams was and is my favourite actor. R I P a true human being

The line about "I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to him" is actually a line from Mork and Mindy. Can't remember the exact episode... but there it was.

When I was in high school, I created a bit of a scandal when I signed up for the remedial English class because I felt that the person relegated to that duty was the best teacher in the department. He was very much like Mr. Keating in this scene. I was so happy that my teacher was present at the release event for my first book of poetry and that I could honor him.

One of my very favorite professors in music school said something one day that tracks with Mr. Keating's approach: "Music doesn't 'mean' anything. It can inspire emotions, it can even be specifically composed to elicit emotions, but it doesn't have any real intrinsic meaning, nor can it communicate any real intrinsic meaning. No composer ever said to himself, 'Ugh, my girlfriend left me, so that's why this modulates to the relative minor here'."

I would pay to have John Keating as my teacher!!!

Our schools need more teachers like John Keating and the whole damn world needs more people like Mr. Robin Williams !

This movie taught me to love the written word. The world will miss Robin Williams.

I love this scene. And funny thing is, despite the math equation evaluation of poetry's greatness being clearly intended to be as soulless and foolish as possible, it's actually a pretty good way of breaking down a piece of art's quality. The most useful way to analyze art is to ask what reaction it creates in its audience and how it does that. An artist can figure out what their artistic goal is, then employ craft to accomplish that goal. This also allows us to learn from art with strengths outside the artist's original intent (death of the author). How valuable, universal, or timeless that goal is has a lot to do with the art's enduring greatness as well. An advertising jingle might be enormously effective at its goal (making the audience remember an advertising message) but most wouldn't nominate even the best advertising jingle as a truly great piece of music. None of this contradicts the teacher's main point either, the human race is filled with passion. This is what we stay alive for. Art makes us feel things, and creating art that gives people a wonderful experience they treasure forever is the enduring beauty of art.

Loved this part and movie in general. Thank God none of those boys would be going to Hell for ripping out the whole introduction out of a textbook. Thank you Robin for helping to inspire us to not be afraid of being rebels at school. Rest in Peace good sir.

The teacher: RIP AND TEAR UNTIL ITS DONE

I don't hear enough rip.... RIP Robin Williams!!

Pritchard was a left brainer. He had an analytical approach to something that is expressive! That itself deserved his pages to be ripped out!

It took me years to understand this, this movie is about art verse math. A lifetime battle for me.

KNOX IN THE BG TRYING TO EAT AT 1:26 😂😂😂😂

Robert Sean Leonard is so beautiful and charming!! Especially in this scene!! 😉😊😆💘

it's awesome to see how when they ripped the intro out, you see the chapter "poetry part 1", almost as if to say the introduction is needlessly confunding, obscuring the true body of poetry

0:58 Student was shading the area under the P vs I graph while Mr. Keating just started labeling the P and I axis.

It's impossible to rate art objectively, that's one of the problems with that introduction. He is also teaching them to think for themselves, to feel as well as think, to realise that published books can be wrong, to understand that a teacher can be much more than a supplier of information/facts, that educational institutions and indeed all of society are flawed, that life needs to be grasped to make the best of it, that age can give us wisdom which younger minds in particular can benefit from, but that wisdom doesn't always flow from age, that good people can profoundly affect others, that there are often necessary compromises in life but that we need to find ways to live well and help move things forward, and that there is such a thing as society and love is the most important thing.

Is it wrong that of all the classic quotes in this film, "Excrement" is my favorite line of the film?

The kid at 0:28 is literally me whenever I'm in class.

And here we are in 2021 when nobody does movies like this anymore We are going downhill right to the bottom

Great flick. Thank you. Poetry is especially effective at describing spiritual realities because the poet deals with emotions: the non-physical, spiritual side of life. - “The Place for the Poet,” Baha’i News, June 1989

1:29 After 30 years, I just noticed the guy sneaking a bite to eat. lol

This movie should be included in the school syllabus📚📙📘📗📓

Movie is about cognitive reasoning, thinking for yourself about what is right for you and do not conform to others. Be true to yourself

that one kid eating in the background is me lol

I don't hear enough rip! XD

Its unworn flesh unblemished, the child knows nought; Of worlds of men and of those who’ve fought. Then, as youths, they conspire their fate; Their acts, their deeds they seek to emulate. Thus, young men pursue with unbounded profanity; Fearless intention with mis-founded sanity. Every move and turn made earnestly; To one end: their preconceived pre-destiny! Then, as steel-edged men with steely ambition; They seek their glory or else, perdition. Ag’ed now am I, and you would me shrive? Oh hear me please, I beg, oblige. Of this I speak with resigned finality; So tired am I of young men and their vanity.

Neil Perry aka Robert Sean Leonard is so so so handsome

"Then why did you make me buy this from the school book store for $500"

Such a brilliant film. We can only hope that films of this quality will be created ever again in the future.

when he puts the paper in his mouth!! hilarious

Ripping off, is ripening of the fruits of poetic eloquence, in its own art, to bring forth the beauty, tranquility, as well as command of nature.

Area of the poem? I thought this was English class not Math class.

Still waiting for Mauler's 10 hour response to this scene.

Those guys are way much more hotter than any of the guys in my school

I've taken to doing the same with my literature books and even taken to refusing to purchase books with commentaries of any kind unless I actually know the person, not because they have credentials glued to their name.

I think I am the only poet in the known world to have liked Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. "Understanding poetry" text while watching the film. In fact, when Mr Keating said "Rip it out" I said "WHAT?".

The teacher at the end is the tweed version of Homer Simpson dissolving into that bush.

R.I.P. Pages

I aspire to be a teacher like this. Whoever taught us that life was in the binds of such restriction? There is an irony in “making a living” that we are taught. We already have life. Why do we merely observe ourselves in equation?

1:25 That guy over there is just eating

2:00 What if they rented the books?

I love that by the end of the film, McAllister would come around to Keating teaching methods, taking his students outdoors. Although he doesn't do it to the degree Keating does, it shows Keating's influence does not limit to students only.

Much of the conception of poetry as useless comes precisely from how it is approached in schools. Poetry is something alive but in literature class it is generally shown as something cold and difficult, ready to be analyzed and to be "dissected" as in an autopsy.

3:05 _Nuwanda is my spirit animal._

This movie is magnificent. A classic film.

Even better than the chalkboard scene in goodwill hunting.

Hi qeti777 =), Thank you for taking the time and effort to both upload and share this video with the youtube family. I hope you have a nice day! =).

Robin Willams’ “Mrs.Doubtfire” taught me that everyone whether being a dude or a lady that you can just about darn anything and it is all about the aspects of using humor and a casual sadding understanding later on. -NK

This movie encourages one to stand out from the crowd

If it was the Bible, I'd still rip out pages. I wouldn't go to hell for doing that.

Seems to me Pritchard made a simple argument - a recipe. Simple enough to be understood and mocked for it shallow crudeness, but it did offer the young a beginning on what to evaluate and how to express it. Williams says feeling is all, but feeling is not communication.

Think for yourself the greatest motto of dead poets society

RIP Robbin Williams !!!

"Understanding Oncology" by Dr. Wilson, MD

This movie is one of the reasons I want to be a teacher

J. Evans Pritchard is so opinionated and subjective in terms of understanding poetry to students! The Common Core standards should teach and explain the technicalities of poetry! Keating nailed it on point!

RIP Robin WIlliams.

Best movie ever

Never realized the narc was using a ruler to perfect his graph.

Wow the one reading the book at beginning has good potential to become a doctor's

That's all well and good but I still don't understand trochaic hexameter and why that sort of thing was so important for Virgil, Homer and Ovid.

I recall this film well. This past fall I did just that. I ripped up my 2018 Government "Book of Drugs". Excrement! Be gone USA book of drugs! I'll tell the government the same thing if they ask. "This isn't the Bible" I won't go to hell for it. Felt pretty good too. Thanks for posting. R.I.P *O Captain, My Captain* Peace!

from seventeen's new teaser?? ⇊

My bf and I were reading the 'joy of sex' well illustrated how-to book and we just decided to rip the pages up and just enjoy each other's love, warmth, pleasure and do whatever felt good without any special pre-conceived technique except one time he dislocated a shoulder trying a new position when we were in the tub.

this hits me differently now i know how expensive text books are

This is such a true lesson.

if only we could calculate the value of poetry with such a simple formula...

2:34 2:35 It's not the Bible you're not going to go to hell for this (insane laughing)

Question 1: HOW DOES THE POEM MESS WITH YOU EMOTIONALLY? ...and then wait for responses.

Excellent movie.

One of the best movies ever

"Not a bible, you're not going to hell for this." 😭

a lead is continuall, if it can stay a lead through the change of laws and justices, according to world/ global growth, we find the most outstreached, uprite, straight, path.