Editor’s Note: The writer, Chloe Kennedy is a student in Tim Hall’s class.
“Manage your life and make wise choices,” is the phrase you would hear being sung in unison if you were to stop by the end of one of professor Tim Hall’s psychology classes. You wouldn’t hear the pages for textbook reading being mentioned or the rubric for a project being explained, but rather this repeated phrase from Hall.
Hall has screened the film “Dead Poets Society” in his classes for the past 15 years, and while some students say they questioned the purpose, he believes the advice and themes of the movie is applicable in the lives of college students.
When Point Loma Nazarene University students arrived at Hall’s psychology class, they saw that the agenda for the week included watching the movie “Dead Poets Society.”
Charles Silvey, a first-year finance major, is a student in Hall’s Psychology 1001 class and admits he was weary when hearing the name of the movie.
“I didn’t know what it was so I was interested, but it kind of seemed a little weird and outdated,” he said. “Like the name ‘Dead Poets Society’ seemed a little eerie.”
Hall is a psychology and kinesiology professor who has taught at PLNU for 28 years. He said he continues to show the movie because it is relevant to the lives of all age groups, especially young adults.
“The content of the movie and the main themes never grow old,” Hall said. “25 years from now, those same themes will still exist in humanity, relationships and our development and growth. The themes are universal – they’re timeless.”
“Dead Poets Society” brings its audience into the lives of eight young men who attend Welton Academy, a rigorous boarding school. The film covers themes including adolescence, romanticism, familial pressure, poetry and suicide in a 1950s setting. The character John Keating is Welton’s English teacher who makes the boys play outside, march in disarranged patterns and rip out pages in the textbook, as he believes in the power of liberated teaching strategies.
Professor Keating, played by Robin Williams, spoke his famous words to his students throughout the film: “Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
Keating preached about the pursuits of poetry, love and reaching one’s full potential in life. He provoked his students in a way similar to Hall. Students said they started to see Hall less as a teacher, but as something more.
Sarah Tishburn, a first-year psychology major in Hall’s class, said that she would describe him as understanding, open and vulnerable.
“I see him as a friend but also a mentor,” she said. “I honestly feel like I can tell him anything.”
Hall is commonly referred to as “Dippy” by his students – a name given to him by his grandkids – because he said an official title of professor is unnecessary. This name is similar to the title, “O Captain, my, Captain,” which is shouted by Keating’s students throughout the movie.
Both these professors have chipped at the walls of formality regarding their standing as teachers, and have taken a more approachable name, showing their place as an ally in the lives of their students.
Hall is known to be a very unique teacher, as he has a way of forming connections with students that go far beyond the classroom walls.
Tishburn said she has a special bond with Hall, which formed in just a few weeks.
“Hall is one of my favorite teachers,” she said. “I definitely want to continue visiting him throughout my years at Point Loma.”
Hall said he never went into teaching with a specific style in mind, he did what felt right; however, he said that students in the past have described his style of teaching as socratic.
“I don’t ever want to tell [students] how to think,” he said. “I’ll give you my opinion if you ask for it, but I want to get you to think for yourselves.”
Silvey said he appreciates Hall’s teaching style and that it makes the environment feel less class-like.
“Hall’s class doesn’t feel like class,” Silvey said. “His teaching is so conversational that it makes everything easier to learn. Even though he’s just my teacher, I feel like it’s so much more.”
Keating’s defiance of traditional means of education started to trouble the school administration. When confronted about why he taught the boys to break the strict mold that the school placed them in, Keating said, “I always thought the point of education was to get you to think for yourself.”
Both professors believe in an education that enriches the whole being, not one that simply follows a curriculum. Hall proves that liberated thought in education continues, as the “Dead Poets Society” isn’t dead.
Grace Barrera 
Charis Johnston