Dead Poets Society

Marlon Castrodes Pagon

The movie the Dead Poets Society gave me a very lasting impression how a simple instructor changed the lives of the kids. The very simple fact is that one really has the power to change lives in his very own little way. The change does not focus only on the context of books and can be found in the ideals written books. I believe as I saw the movie that teaching students should not be teaching at all. It is because teaching should be more than that.
In the movie, during the first scenes in dormitories, hallways, and classrooms I am gradually introduced to the group of students that are at the center of the story. The behavior of the students is quite diverse as they go along meeting in one compartment, or should I say, a classroom. These individual differences marked and showed differently as the teacher began his teaching. This teacher is called Robin Williams – the English teacher who had just been hired, and who displayed ideas and a spirit that deviated sharply from the established school’s practices and norms. Right from the start Keating propagates an anti-authoritarian philosophy of life, and he would soon profile himself not only as a competent teacher, but also as the provocative and inspiring educator of the youngsters of whom he is in charge.
During his very first class session Keating demonstrated forcefully that he was not just there to convey academic information, but also to show what students could do with such knowledge in their everyday lives. The first class session was, indeed, not so much a lesson in English literature, but a dramatic philosophical wake-up call. Robin Williams was really different and unusual in contrast with other teachers in school. These teachers are authoritarian and disciplinarian. However, Robin was not.

One part of the scene in the movie, Robin made the students look at the old photographs of former Welton students that decorated the hallways. To quote the lines:

“They are not that different than any of you, are they? There's hope in their eyes, just like in yours. They believe themselves destined for wonderful things, just like many of you. Well, where are those smiles now, boys? What of that hope?"

The students were restrained by what Robin saying. Robin continued the lines below:
Did most of them not wait until it was too late before making their lives into even one iota of what they were capable? In chasing the almighty deity of success did they not squander their boyhood dreams? Most of those gentlemen are fertilizing daffodils now. However, if you get very close, boys, you can hear them whisper. Go ahead, lean in. Hear it? Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!”

When the students left the building after class, most of them were in thought. Robin’s words were having an effect on their feelings. Some of them had occasion to quote the maxim while they were pursuing their various goals during the fall term.
Most of the students at Welton were from rich families, and most are destined to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and become doctors, corporate lawyers, or bankers. Considering such prospects, it would be natural for everyone to regard such disciplines as English literature as a mere sideline among academic studies, as something like a decoration of a life that is dedicated to more palpable and important matters than poetry and the humanities. Bourgeois parents expected their youngsters to know a little about high culture--in the same spirit in which they expected them to learn table manners and perhaps a foreign language. However, no student was encouraged to blow the importance of art and culture out of proportion by devoting more time to poetry than to such serious disciplines as mathematics or chemistry.
Robin managed to undermine this widespread conception of the liberal arts; he more or less convinced his students that what seemed at first of only secondary importance is in fact at the very center of a well-lived life.
"One does not read poetry because it is cute,” he tells his students. “One reads poetry because he is a member of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion! Medicine, Law, Banking--these are necessary to sustain life. But poetry, romance, love, beauty--these are what we stay alive for. ... Poetry is rapture, lads. Without it we are doomed."

Behind Robin’s high praise of poetry is Henry David Thoreau’s general revaluation of society’s established priorities: We do not live in order to work, according to the philosophy of Walden, we work in order to live. And we succeeded in living extraordinary lives only by staying clear of the ordinary preoccupations with careers and making money—by focusing seriously on those things that make a human existence passionate and radiant. By this, Robin’s ideals were odd and peculiar.
Robin's teaching methods were different—at least by the standards that year. He did not just tell students that it was important to keep an open, flexible mind, and to look at things from different and changing points of view. Rather, he made them literally climb on top of a desk and took a look around. This eccentric and physical translation of the neglected expression - changing one’s point of view – would have far more effect on his students' dispositions than any amount of notional explanation. Robin also had his students tear those pages out of their textbooks that he exposed as lifeless letters and intellectual debris. For Robin, a book is not a sacred authority, but a tool that ought to be used--or unhesitatingly discarded if found wanting. He frequently reminded them to think for themselves, and not just to accept passively what teachers or textbooks tried to tell them.
As the story moved in progress, the administration discovered the teaching of Robin. These people found that the teaching of Robin is somewhat eccentric and against the standard and policies implemented in school. To make the story short, he was fired from his job.
The most salient in life is when the world sees against you for no valid reason. That may be unfair in some other ways, but life has to go on. The movie in itself showed how the struggle of Robin brought changes the whole concept of life and making life to the world of change. The philosophy of Robin is simple. Everyone must live with his or her ideas because one exists and needs change later in life. Robin did an important role in providing avenue towards life beyond horizon and sees what the world is.


The Great and Inspiring Leo Buscaglia
Marlon Catrodes Pagon

"Life is our greatest possession, and love its greatest affirmation."
Leo Buscaglia is another person to look up to. He is one-of-a-kind and an inspiring one. He is most closely associated with love and human relationships, emphasizing the value of positive human touch, especially hugging.

His association with hugging became his trademark at lectures, where thousands of people would stand patiently waiting to hug him after a presentation. It was not uncommon for him to give a talk of about an hour, then stay afterwards signing books and hugging for at least twice that long. This came about when someone spontaneously offered him a congratulatory hug following an early speech. A line formed, and it became an anticipated part of future events. Time restraints on occasion would dictate that those towards the end of the line would have to choose between a hug and an autograph. Nearly all chose the physical connection with this inspiring speaker. And he almost never left until he met everyone in line. Should someone be left out because they hadn't pushed to the front? Those would have been people he would have missed experiencing, he said, and that would have left him a lesser person.
Buscaglia’s performance as speaker gave him a better impression to the groups of people. The reaction to both his dynamic, evangelical delivery and the content was like nothing ever seen in educational circles, and Buscaglia became a popular educational conference presenter. This exposure led to speaking requests by colleges, and by other professional and business organizations.
The study of love about his work brought him to the study of life. Living in love is living in life, and vive-versa. One of the most inspiring lines he wrote was, "It's not enough to have lived. We should determine to live for something.” He suggested that one must live life to the fullest and make life fulfilling. By this, only one will be able to discover, realize, develop and actualize your uniqueness. When one does, one has the duty then to fulfill and live with it. This is why I live with the life that is so fulfilling for me. No matter what other people say as long as I am happy and I am not hurting anyone else, that is good. This point makes life even happier when one loves his or her work. Just Leo Buscaglia himself, he even manages his life with too much devotion upholding higher morals and standards. With all his inspiring thoughts and lessons in life, life out there is fantastic and amazing.