5 movies that will challenge your opinion about education

Movies are a great way to relax and be entertained. A good way to ease oneself of the physical stresses of the world. But there are some movies which do more than just that. Such movies make us critics of our own beliefs, and in this case, our opinions about education.

Here are five of such movies. Many films on the list are appropriate for all age brackets.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

You may have heard the phrase “carpe diem,” which is Latin for “pluck the day” or “seize the day”. Dead Poets Society was the film that popularized this phrase which was originally used by Roman poet Horace to express the idea that one should enjoy life while one can.

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 drama film, set in 1959 at the fictional elite boarding school Welton Academy.

It tells the story of John Keating, an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry. He tries to encourage his students to break free from the norm, go against the status quo and live life unapologetically.

In addition, the maverick teacher uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression. He modestly suggests that his students call him “O Captain, my Captain,” a title that Walt Whitman originally intended for a murdered Abraham Lincoln.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Will Hunting is a janitor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) who has a genius-level gift for mathematics. However, when he faces an emotional crisis, he seeks the help from a psychologist who helps him recover and find direction in his life.

Good Will Hunting is a touching tale of a young adult man who can solve any academic problem, except the one deep within himself, until he meets his soul mate who opens his mind and his heart.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s critical consensus reads, “It follows a predictable narrative arc, but Good Will Hunting adds enough quirks to the journey – and is loaded with enough powerful performances – that it remains an entertaining, emotionally rich drama.”

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

Akeelah, a young gifted girl, comes from a dysfunctional family and is on the verge of quitting school. She discovers that she has a high aptitude for spellings and enters a spelling bee contest.

Akeelah and the Bee tells the story of Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, her mother, her schoolmates, and most importantly her coach, Dr. Joshua Larabee. 

“If you see African-American kids striving to do something in the movies, it’s sports or singing or dancing. Here, we’re engaging kids on their intellect. That, you don’t see. These lies about black inferiority have been seeping into cinema, and that seeps into our kids. As a filmmaker, you can dig into these issues,” said Doug Atchison about the film.

Like Stars on Earth (2007)

No child is a dullard or blockhead. Each child is unique and just needs the right learning circumstances. This is evident in the 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film, Like Stars on Earth.

Like Stars on Earth explores the life and imagination of Ishaan, an 8-year-old boy. Despite excelling in art, he is criticized by his parents for his poor academic performance and is sent away to a boarding school. There, an art teacher suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his reading disorder and uncover his potential, revealing that, truly, every child is special.

The film proved to be vital in raising awareness about dyslexia, a learning disability characterized by reading and writing difficulties. 

3 Idiots (2009)

Narrated through two parallel dramas, one in the present and the other set ten years in the past, 3 Idiots follows the friendship of three students at an engineering college.

The coming-of-age drama is a satire about the social pressures of the education system.

The film also had a social impact on attitudes toward education, especially in India, as well as in other Asian countries such as China.

Journalist Subhash K. Jha wrote about 3 Idiots: “It’s not that 3 Idiots is a flawless work of art. But it is a vital, inspiring, and life-revising work of contemporary art with some heart imbued into every part. In a country where students are driven to suicide by their impossible curriculum, 3 Idiots provides hope. Maybe cinema can’t save lives. But cinema, sure as hell, can make you feel life is worth living. 3 Idiots does just that, and much more. The director takes the definition of entertainment into directions of social comment.”