Another film regarding a professor is a recent film set in South America at a prestigious English school for boys. The title is “The Penguin Lessons” and has a surprising character as
I think I would watch most anything with Donald Pleasence in the cast. Thank you, yet again, for another reminder of a superb episode from this classic series.
I use to think, not entirely in jest, that a teacher might take satisfaction if he could simply declare at the end of the day his own version of the Hippocratic Oath – that he did no harm. But while a student might forget much of the content in a class, he will likely remember the teacher – his character, example, devotion. As in the teleplay, while the teacher taught important things, he most importantly imparted a way of life – not just to the mind, but also the will and the heart.
This is perhaps my favorite episode in all of the Twilight Zone series. We first watched it a few years ago before Michael headed off to college. Michael had purchased the entire set of The Twilight Zone show for the family. I read the short story, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, around the same time and really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for stories about individuals living lives of quiet service. I think it is also why, although not in the academic realm, I enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day.
“But the effect on her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” -last paragraph of George Eliot’s Middlemarch
That is a very fine comment, Kelly. In "olden days" teaching was in fact thought of as a vocation, as was medicine. We are much the poorer for the move to "professionalism" in those fields. It's not that we don't want those who serve to KNOW THEIR PROFESSION. It's that in these vital fields it's that we need them to be deeply committed to the humanity of those they are serving. We've got that all wrong in our times, and it shows.
Another film regarding a professor is a recent film set in South America at a prestigious English school for boys. The title is “The Penguin Lessons” and has a surprising character as
the lead. This is based on a true story.
I certainly enjoyed it.
I think I would watch most anything with Donald Pleasence in the cast. Thank you, yet again, for another reminder of a superb episode from this classic series.
I use to think, not entirely in jest, that a teacher might take satisfaction if he could simply declare at the end of the day his own version of the Hippocratic Oath – that he did no harm. But while a student might forget much of the content in a class, he will likely remember the teacher – his character, example, devotion. As in the teleplay, while the teacher taught important things, he most importantly imparted a way of life – not just to the mind, but also the will and the heart.
Bravo, Professor Esolen. It is a tidbit from history that needs to be seen by adolescents and college students. Thank you for sharing these with us.
This is perhaps my favorite episode in all of the Twilight Zone series. We first watched it a few years ago before Michael headed off to college. Michael had purchased the entire set of The Twilight Zone show for the family. I read the short story, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, around the same time and really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for stories about individuals living lives of quiet service. I think it is also why, although not in the academic realm, I enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day.
“But the effect on her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” -last paragraph of George Eliot’s Middlemarch
That is a very fine comment, Kelly. In "olden days" teaching was in fact thought of as a vocation, as was medicine. We are much the poorer for the move to "professionalism" in those fields. It's not that we don't want those who serve to KNOW THEIR PROFESSION. It's that in these vital fields it's that we need them to be deeply committed to the humanity of those they are serving. We've got that all wrong in our times, and it shows.