Dead Poets Society: 5. Carpe Diem

What is Carpe Diem? Find examples illustrating the Carpe Diem concept and how the Dead Poets Society affects the life and behaviour of the students.

'Carpe diem' is a Latin phrase that means 'seize the day’; it warns us to make the most of the time on earth and to enjoy every moment to the maximum.

Carpe Diem is a very common theme throughout the film and it encourages the students to revive the Dead Poets Society as well as motivating Neil to pursue his dream of acting. This phrase becomes the students’ slogan.

At the beginning of the film, Mr Keating talks to his class about how they can be successful in life and achieve greatness by showing them pictures of previous students and telling them to seize the day whispering several times “carpe diem”.

The Dead Poets society in my opinion is about looking at life from a different angle and doing what you believe is right. In Mr Keating’s first lesson, he gets the class to rip out a chapter of their textbook. It was something out of the ordinary, something controversial that the students weren’t used to.

As the film progresses we begin to discover Neil’s passion for drama. Going against his father’s wishes, he decides to audition for the part of Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he gets the part and surprises everyone; it becomes obvious that he’s a natural performer. After the show Neil and his father have harsh words. Neil resents the fact that his father doesn’t let him follow his dreams and make his own decisions, ultimately he feels trapped; this subsequently leads Neil to take his own life using his father’s revolver.

Even though the ending is sad, it holds a deep and motivational message. Neil commits suicide and Keating gets sacked for encouraging Neil into acting, despite this, their defiance and courage is infectious and inspiring.

In the last scene, when the new dead poets society go against the headmaster and support Mr Keating chanting in unison “o captain my captain” we see a smile broaden across the teacher’s face. He leaves the school feeling that he’s made a difference to the boys’ lives even if it’s cost him his job. This attitude encapsulates Carpe Diem.

By Jasmine Quraishi

Dead Poets Society: 4.

Why Mr. Keating's teaching style "unorthodox"?

Mr Keating wanted to change the student's lifes by poetry. He tried to make different the routine of a literature class just deepening in what the author wanted to transmit. However sometimes the teacher seemed to ignore that he was teaching how to live "Carpe Diem", how to introduce poetry in their lifes in a conservative school. It could be unorthodox because he pretended them not to learn literature just studying, he wanted them to get the whole point to live from poetry. He wanted to educate in ideas, how to be a good person, how to see the life in a different point of view.He wanted them to show the men with theirs own ideas that they had inside. He wanted to educate in how to be a good person, how to live seizing the day. Unfortunately, the way of learning in Welton Academy was just teaching that poets wrote poetry, not the way the saw,taught, tasted and lived their lifes.

HE WANTED THEM TO MAKE THEIR LIFES EXTRAORDINARY.

 

By: Belén Muriel

Dead Poets Society: 3. What is a good teacher in your opinion?

What is a good teacher in your opinion?

Jasmine: I’ve had many great teachers in the past all unique in their own special way. It seems cliché but it’s true when they say that a teacher can really change your life whether it be academically or on a personal level. Memories regularly come flooding back of my previous school and what most stands out is the support and guidance offered by the teachers though every stage of my education. Personally a good teacher is someone you can relate to, understanding, firm but fair and most importantly, passionate about what they teach. My old science teacher, Mr Williams' wacky unconventional approach to science and teaching in general made lessons enjoyable and fun. The two years he taught me science coincidentally were my best academically. 

Belén: In my opinion, Mr Keating had the perfect teaching style. Why? Because he was  someone that was involucrated in the student's education, not just in how to learn maths or literature. He was worried in their lifes, in their future, in their education, in how to make them better people. How to seize the day. 
A teacher isn't only a person who shows you how to do a mathematics' problem, because so much people can do that. The good teacher wanted you to get the whole point to life, making you a good person. This is a great responsability because children will be the adults that their teachers and their parents educated to be when they were little. Educate, not just to teach, I think that's the most important way in a good teacher: Showing the students how to make their lifes extraordinary by poetry, english, maths or history.

Dead Poets Society: PLOT

"Make your lives extraordinary"


Welton Academy (Vermont, New England) is one of the most prestigious school of all the country. Welton is an only men school. The education is based in four main ideas "tradition, honour, discipline and excellence".

Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, and Gerard Pitts are students of Welton. Their new English teacher is going to change their opinion about poetry.

Mr Keating’s methods are not like Welton ones, he tells the students that they may call him "O Captain! My Captain!” (From a Walt Whitman poem). Mr Keating also teach the students the idea of “Carpe Diem”.

  

Inspired by Keating, the boys secretly revive the "Dead Poets Society," to which Keating belonged when he was a student in Welton, every night they meet in a cave a read poems.

Todd tries to overcome his shyness. Neil is hiding his theatre passion to his father. Knox falls in love and he fights for her love. Charlie has a new identity, he is “Nuwanda”.

Neil plays the role of Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His father told her before the day of the play that he mustn’t play that role. Without his father permission Neil acts the first night of the play and Mr Perry discovered him. He takes Neil home and tells that he is not coming back to Welton, that he will go to a military school and then to Harvard.

Neil is impotent, he doesn’t know how to express his feeling to his father, and he ends with his life.

In the school the headmaster begins an investigation, also Mr Nolan laid off Mr Keating. He blames Mr Keating the suicide of Neil. But the boys defend Mr Keating and  they say goodbye like Mr Keating wants.

Marta

Dead Poets Society: 1.

NOBEL ECONOMICS PRIZE

This week instead of visiting a new country, we’ve been asked to choose somebody who we think would most deserve to be awarded with the Nobel Economics Prize. Each group has been assigned a different category and out of all the candidates we’ll have to vote for the most worthy winner.

The winner of the Nobel Economics Prize is............................

EMILIO BOTIN

We’ve chosen Botin because the bank he owns, Santander, has had a global impact especially during these tough economic times. While many banks were going bust, Santander’s profits doubled during the first quarter of 2009 which subsequently led to the creation of 400 jobs in the UK alone.

Santander’s financial strength enabled it to rescue alliance & Leicester (a British bank) with a £1 billion capital injection early in the global credit crisis in 2008. It also saved Bradford & Bingley’s crumbling deposits operation.

The global group reported a 6 per cent increase in profits for the first quarter of 2010 and put emphasis on its international diversification. Just under a third of profits are generated in Spain, 23 per cent from the rest of Europe, 35 per cent from Latin America, 16 per cent from Britain and 2 per cent from America.

In conclusion, we think that Botin is a suitable candidate for this prize because he sets an example for other entrepreneurs that even under difficult circumstances any bank or business for that matter can be successful.

                By Jasmine, Marta, Ascen, Ana and Belen

FIFTH STOP: AUSTRALIA

Fourth Test
The Rabbit problem in Australia:

Rabbits are not native to Australia. They were introduced into this country by European settlers over 120 years ago. There they have fewer diseases or predators than where they came from.  So their numbers increased dramatically and they spread across most of the land, digging burrows and making the soil bare by eating the vegetation.


Rabbits eat pasture that could be eaten by sheep, cattle or native animals. Rabbits cause considerable damage to the natural environment. Many species of unique Australian mammals have become extinct since introduction of the rabbit. Rabbits have certainly contributed to the demise of these native Australian animals.

By: Ascen Serván