The Charisma of the iPad: On Technology in the Classroom

Alan Jacobs:

Over the years a good many people have commented to me that John Keating -- the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society, that charismatic lover of and advocate for poetry -- surely had to be the pedagogical ideal, the teacher that every teacher, especially every teacher of literature, would want to be. No, I always reply. That would be Mr. Miyagi, from The Karate Kid. It's not easy being Mr. Keating. Many of his students aren't interested in his subject; others are interested but their parents don't want them to be. He has a lot to overcome, and though he does it by pure charisma, the achievement is costly: it's all-consuming for him and dangerous for some of his students. Too much drama is involved. I don't need that. By contrast, look at the sweet deal Mr. Miyagi has: his pupil comes to him, and is so eager for the sensei's wisdom and insight that he's willing to undertake all sorts of menial tasks in order to apprentice himself. Mr. Miyagi can just go about his business -- or rather, his leisure -- in the serene assurance that Daniel is learning the skills he wants to learn while the sensei gets his house painted and his car waxed. Everybody wins.

The Atlantic