Pop Culture & Education

Seriously, watch this; it’s beautiful. Favorite song from a favorite band. Word is the album was written after Jeff Mangum (vocals & written lyrics) had a dream about falling in love with Anne Frank (“The only girl I’ve ever loved/was born with roses in her eyes/but then they buried her alive, one evening in 1945/with just her sister by her side/and only weeks before the guns/all came and rained on everyone,” from “Holland, 1945” off “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel)

Back to business.

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who can’t name at least one song from the ‘60s that moves them. And if you can, clearly they haven’t heard Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.”

The music of the ‘60s played an inarguably important part in expressing the sentiments of the public during such a tumultuous time.

Though I looooove the music of the late ’60s (’70s not so much), I have yet to declare myself an active listener of modern pop anti-war tunes, though I do like Green Day’s American Idiot . . . my favorite songs tend to deal with other sorts of social awareness issues (I am not a hippie, I promise). One of my favorite bands is the Mountain Goats; song lyrics like “I’m in the living room watching the Watergate hearings/while my stepfather yells at my mother/launches a glass across the room, straight at her head/and I dash upstairs to take cover/lean in close to my little record player on the floor/so this is what the volume knob’s for” in “Dance Music” and the pressure of adolescent angst prominent in “This Year” (“I drove home in the California dusk/I could feel the alcohol inside of me/Home, pictured the look on my stepfather’s face/ready for the bad things to come/I downshifted as I pulled into the driveway/The motor screaming out, stuck in second gear/the scene ends badly as you might imagine/in a cavalcade of anger and fear/I am going to make it through this year if it kills me”) really get me.

Another favorite is Neutral Milk Hotel: “And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy’s shoulder/and dad would throw the garbage all across the floor/as we would lay and learn what each others’ bodies were for/And your mom would drink until she was no longer speaking/and dad would dream of all the different ways to die/each one a little more than he could dare to try,” from King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1.

I guess an easy answer to my musical tastes would be that, as a child psychology major, and being one who plans on going on to produce advocacy programs for children and families, and of course, coming from a violent and often far-from-peaceful home, I like songs that express the feelings of those in similar situations. I feel more removed from war sentiments: Of course I’d like the troops to come home, and I’ve never supported the war in Iraq, but this is more personal.

Music is the perfect way to reach and teach because it’s so universal. Who doesn’t love music? And lyrics, as an often-more-approachable form of poetry, are the perfect outlet for expression and emotion. Though the market for music is, of course, driven by demand and “what sells,” there will always be a societal force and cultural emphasis to music.

And who HASN’T learned from music? Isn’t there some song about 1492, and a blue ocean, and Columbus? FACTS, my friends, facts. It’s Schoolhouse Rock. It’s elementary, my dear Watson.

Essentially, music provides a relatable place for children to learn about appropriate (and inappropriate!) responses to situations and emotions, a way for them to understand that they’re not alone in tough situations, and a form of communication they are more likely to listen to. By effectively combining music with academic curricula, teachers increase their chances of hammering their lessons home with their students. Some of the best lessons I encountered in high school involved music: History classes, of course, abounded with tunage, we studied lyrics in poetry and theater, and talked about forms of emotional expression in art classes. Musical meter is mathematically based, and though I’ve never had a math teacher use music in classes, I promise I’d be more involved with the class immediately if they did.

On a similar note, I applaud the authors for incorporating music into their classes by altering lyrics to fit lesson plans, but I bet they got made fun of a lot by students (I mean, who cares, though; at least they were listening).

Bob Dylan was correct in noting that “there’s more important things in this world besides love and sex that’re important,” but as I say EVERY WEEK, it is up to we as educators to guide students in the right direction, and help them uncover what is important, beneficial, and socially relevant.

Um…apparently this has been saved as a draft for a while. Go, Elizabeth.

——————
I love Stephen Colbert. With a passion. I love Colbert more (and I say this to what I imagine is the horror of many of my peers) than Jon Stewart . . . though trust me, good ol’ Jon is up there. And though I don’t get my fill of important news from these sources (I read The Onion, too! …jk, of course), I have to admit that they are a much more fun way to hear the news.

Satirical newscasts and reports have long been a personal favorite. I started reading The Onion in the sixth grade, after being introduced by my older sister Lauren. Of course, I wasn’t big into politics or headlines by any means, but I recognized funny, and I was hooked. In the eighth grade, I received My First Presidentiary, a satirical scrapbook of George W. Bush, written by the comedy duo Modern Humorist, for my birthday; I learned an important lesson that day. Learning – especially about particularly dry things that are beneficial to know – is way more fun, and much easier, when it is making fun of someone or something. When I was sixteen, I discovered The Daily Show, where I got the same content in an easier way: the television. GOD. BLESS. AMERICA.

The important thing to note, I believe, as stated by Megan Boler in the assigned NY Times article, is that typically, The Daily Show is not watched to the exclusion of other news media. Sure, it’s funny to hear the jokes, and to watch the correspondents put themselves in ridiculous situations, but if you don’t understand the basis of the content, it’s ineffective. I read the Star Tribune, sections of the NY Times, CNN.com, and the Huffington Post (“Uhhh, thank you for telling me what I already know; who are you, the Huffington Post?”) daily. I watch The Colbert Report and The Daily Show far less often, because while I will shell out ungodly amounts of cash for high speed internet, I am too cheap to pay for cable (and for the record, I steal the internet by leeching off a neighbor’s connection . . . give me a break, I am poor as hell).

Do I think The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Onion give me an unbiased, top-quality version of the headlines on a consistent basis? No, I don’t. Do I think I’ll get that from Fox News or CNN? No, I don’t. I like to keep all my bases covered, because I’m a top-notch student: Smart and totally, f**king inefficient.

And here is an important – perhaps essential – facet of these media: Perhaps they don’t provide all the facts. Perhaps they are sliiiightly liberal. Perhaps they aren’t Pulitzer Prize-worthy sources of current events. AT LEAST THEY ARE REACHING OUT TO YOUTH. In a world that debases people under 30 for being completely out of touch with anything that doesn’t involve Twilight or Justin Timberlake, for being technology whores, for being selfish and apathetic, why in the world would anyone decry someone or something that is giving any sort of relevant information to this demographic? So go ahead, fellow college students! Watch Jon Stewart. Worship Stephen Colbert. Get your NY Times headlines via Twitter (I do!). And give yourselves a pat on the back for making even a mediocre effort to become involved.

As far as education and fake news goes, I’d say that content, of course, must be monitored for age-appropriateness, but that nothing should otherwise be restricted from the youth. And no outlets of information should be discouraged (except maybe crazy Aunt Mae, or the homeless guy outside Surdyk’s). It is not the media’s immediate responsibility to teach children how to filter satire from down-to-the-bone, heart-of-the-matter truth. It’s the job of parents, of teachers. Teach your kids crap from fact and there shouldn’t be much of an issue.

I have seen many things on passing buses. Disgraceful conduct, super-to-the-T-stereotype sorority girls who make me want to take their uteruses away, domestic acts I can only imagine ended in conception, et cetera. Once, as I was walking on the West Bank, an American Indian girl shouted “SLUT!” to me out the window of a school bus. I took offense to this for two reasons: One, I in no way look like a “slut,” so…really? That was the best she could do? Seeing as I was probably in sweats, “slob” would have been more appropriate. Two, my dad is an enrolled member in the White Earth tribe of Anishinaabe, so part of me was like, “Dude, I’m just like you!” However, since I am only one-eighth Native American and a whole 50% Finnish, I look about as Indian as Kelly Ripa.

My roommate Katie is a REAL Native American. I am just a bad-ass.

Anyway, going back to buses, I have seen many things on buses. Another, unavoidable thing I have witnesses is, of course, advertisements. We all know city buses are covered with ads inside and out. No big deal. It WAS news to me that school buses are running ads . . . that deserved at least a half-hearted WTF. I know it is hard to come by money in school districts nowadays (just the other day I saw a teacher on CNN who sells advertising space on exams to help pay for his copying costs), and I can imagine it’s a difficult decision for administrators to make when deciding whether or not to whore their schools out. After all, they have to understand that the product or service advertised on their buses is speaking for the school, so there are some businesses that probably shouldn’t attempt to approach schools for business. However, I can guarantee that many of these administrators justify their decisions because kids today are so immersed in media and advertising influence as it is, so . . . why not throw a bit more in?

Chapter 8 of Tooning In reiterates a running theme of the book: Kid culture is such a huge part of children’s lives (“one of the few arenas that provide a forum for common understandings, dialogue, and communication,” describes the text on page 75), it is unavoidable; it is up to us, as educators, to teach them how to deal with it. As with any movement, I feel kid culture can be used for good or bad (in very simple terms). Of course, children might be swayed to antisocial tendencies and behaviors by popular television shows, movies, and games. However, these same media may provide a common path that allows for social engagement, effective teaching, and truly engaged students, if used correctly. And, as always, I refuse to believe the media alone can influence a child – one cannot discount the importance of genetic tendencies, temperament, and parental influences.

On this note, and sort of going on a tangent, who remembers playing Oregon Trail in school on those old Apple computers? Those were the BEST DAYS! I was the worst hunter and half my party died by the time I got to the end, but what an awesome game! And what an effective way to teach how SUCKY it was to live back then. Thank GOD when I’m hungry I can open the fridge and not have to shoot a buffalo! What do you mean I can’t carry all this meat? Dad, I don’t know HOW to caulk the wagon! I don’t want to wait for my oxen to get better, I want to get to the fricken end of this game! Oh shit, I got typhoid fever!

As far as toys go, personally and professionally (as a preschool teacher), I am super pro-toy. I don’t care if it beeps, flashes, comes from a movie, is made of titanium or wood, bring it in, let’s break out some Lincoln logs, and build it a house/garage/stable/space station! Toys were extremely important to me growing up. My family was incredibly poor and getting a new toy was the BEST THING EEVVVVVEERRRRR! Of course, I got all my sisters’ hand-me-down toys, which was cool too, because for years I would envy a doll or car (or, I remember very clearly, Lauren’s He-Man action figure), just waiting for it to be outgrown. The day He-Man was mine was a sweet, sweet day . . . He-Man and Erin’s old (my new!) My Little Pony toys became best buds under the old oak tree in the backyard.

My Little He-Man...I knew those ponies were a bad influence.

On page 46 of Tooning In, the author notes that attempts to ban media-influenced play have been largely unsuccessful, and says that these attempts deny children “the opportunity to understand what they see in the media.” True, children are constantly being bombarded by advertisements, and they are highly susceptible to what they see on the television, hear on the radio, and so on. However, I have yet to see a child in my room who strictly plays with his or her toys as they are marketed. Again, I think a huge part of this is parental control and involvement: The less TV your child watches, the fewer advertisements he or she will see from that media outlet, for example. What to do about the school buses, though, I’m not sure. Obama?

Does anyone remember the controversy about the PBS Kids’ show “Postcards from Buster” episode where Buster Bunny (of Arthur fame) goes to Maine and meets a family headed by two lesbians?

Here is a link to an article about it. If I find clips, I’ll post them later.

Just wondering!

I am not “hip.”
Trust me, I know.

Far from thinking these online agent things are cool or useful, I think they are creepy as shit. I also think they take far too much time to create to be any help. I have to admit, when I went to gizmos.com and made my agent/movie, I look like a total badass as a breakdancer. Chris (my boyfriend) looks less than thrilled to be breaking it down with me, but…you can’t win them all. And, to be more positive, I can see where the use of an agent might be handy for online classes and distance learning situations. However, when I was listening and watching to Thom’s agent tell me the assignment, I kept getting distracted and annoyed. He couldn’t say “assignment” right, and it made me think of eighth grade keyboarding class, when we figured out how to make the computer “speak” – only instead of broadcasted assignments, we’d hear things like “Matt is a tall mofo” and “Emily is a lesbian” (remember, we were in eighth grade, and very stupid).

In the first article (Veletsianos, Scharber, and Doering), it was found that adolescents in the study regularly abused the conversational agent used. Things like drugs, sex, and other off-topic and explicit things were often mentioned, clearly showing that students are more interested in holding social conversations with the avatar than academic discussions. As far as using agents in the classroom goes, I think it must be mentioned that an avatar cannot replace a live, flesh-and-blood teacher. Strictly from the view of classroom control, an online agent carries little to no real authority . . . it won’t stop class members from running amuck or otherwise disturbing the class.

Also, another important aspect to teaching is the human connection between the teacher and student; this is impossible to find with an online being (or maybe not, if there have been divorces over Second Life affairs). At most, I see these agents as being helpful learning supplements, especially in smaller, more intimate classes: It’s like reading off the blackboard, version 2.0.

In the Veletsianos, Scharber, and Doering article, a 2004 study by Gulz is used to support the use of agents in schools; it says, “…previous research makes six claims regarding the use of such tools. Specifically, pedagogical agents can (a) increase motivation, (b) increase perceptions of comfort, (c) stimulate learning, (d) enhance information and communication flow, (e) fulfill personal connection to learning, and (f) enhance problem solving processes.” Of course, the author of the study is quick to note that the evidence supporting those claims is “at best mixed.” In the Doering, Veletsianos, and Yerasimou article, students reported conversational agents to be less supportive than hoped for certain tasks, and they provided limited support of their learning processes. Personally, I don’t see how an avatar can do any of these things any more than an actual professor can; however, I am the type who is finding an online class very difficult because of the lack of classroom time, so I may be biased. The article continues to say electronic learning with pedagogical agents is more effective than “passive information delivery” (emails, websites) because of the animation and conversational capability involved.

I think online agents would be best used in classes that involve complex explanations – because sometimes reading a complicated response to a question does nothing to thaw a mental freeze, but hearing a response spoken might help – or expression of emotions. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a class fitting those descriptions being offered online: It is difficult to teach advanced math and science concepts, or things like art and theater theory, online.

If I were to use avatars in a class, I would first have students create their own online agents and do some sort of presentation using the avatar as the speaker. First, this would kind of wash away the novelty, making it easier for students to concentrate on the lesson. Second, it would give them a view of what it is like being removed from the controls, and having to speak through another being instead of directly addressing the class, which would hopefully lead to increased empathy for the teacher!

Growing up in a relatively small town, I think I missed that part of adolescence in which the mall becomes a central hang-out. You see, I SAY I grew up in a small town, but to be honest, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, thirty miles from the nearest mall. This was the Washington Square Mall, located in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota; it is the home of about twenty stores – including a Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and a five-theater cinema. When I went to the mall, it was to eat dinner with my family or go to a movie. My friends and I never really made it out to just shop and hang around.

However, since I have moved to Minneapolis, I have come to embrace the wonder of one-stop shopping – though I do my best to avoid any mall from Thanksgiving through Christmas! I will admit to a deep fondness of the Mall of America, even while I can list many reasons why it is a completely detestable place. And, though I am a newbie to malls, and not a frequent visitor, I am a little saddened by the thought that because of the current economic situation, malls seem to be dying. After all, for people in my sisters’ generation, the mall epitomizes adolescence. Think of what John Hughes would think! After all, with “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and many others, he created this idea – this schema – of what it meant to be a teenager in America, and that kind of socialization was key.

Malls provide an important place for teens to be away from home, school, and the other places that provide a high level of stress for today’s teenager. Where else can they gather that provides the entertainment of people watching, a number of stores that carry teen-specific clothing, and the opportunity to run into that certain boy or girl from school? In an environment essentially free of authority, excluding mall security, it is a place where teens can shop, eat, and flirt guilt-free: It’s practically adulthood, but without the responsibility! It’s socialization, without too much investment! It is, in essence, perfect for teenagers.

Also, many communities organize teen-driven volunteer opportunities through malls. Some malls may offer limited “work-release” like programs for students in middle and high school to gain working experience and class credit. Other malls support programs like the Minneapolis-based Step Up program, which places low-income and high-risk students in working environments, allowing them to earn income, accept accountability, and create a sense of industriousness (my place of employment participates in the Step Up program and we get wonderful helpers; the kids LOVE them!).

Essentially, the mall is an important part of teen culture. Participating in mall socialization can benefit adolescents emotionally, socially, and physically (can’t forget all those calories burned while walking around!). Furthermore, malls often work to impose culture on teens. Stores sell specific clothing styles and brands, dictating how teenagers should look and dress, style their hair, and how they should act: Stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Aeropostale, and Pac-Sun (to name a few), all sell a certain type of lifestyle and attitude, influencing the behavior of legions of adolescents who buy not only the stores’ products, but their mantras as well. They brand teenagers with a very America-specific way of thinking: You should be an individual, but do it the right way! Buy your clothes here, like your friends! SPEND SPEND SPEND! They enforce the purest joy of capitalism, having excess money and nothing necessary to spend it on.

I think it’s difficult to get teenagers – or really, anyone who isn’t on a budget – to think about their consumption/spending practices. Part of being a teenager is the enormous pressure to conform, to fit in . . . the mall makes it that much easier. If teens were to journal their experiences at shopping centers, to become introspective about their experiences (why did I go in the first place? Who did I see there? What did I buy? How did I feel?), perhaps they would find a root cause that might surprise them. Would this put an end to the hordes of teens stampeding into Abercrombie & Fitch? Probably not. Might it increase education of spending habits and social practices? Possibly. And in the end, isn’t that the best we can hope for?

I am a fan of many, many things, to the point of pitiful desperation…just kidding. For example, I absolutely loooove the TV show 30 Rock. It is one of the things I can rely on to make me happy every time, and I only miss new episodes when there is honestly no way of getting around it! I became a fan shortly after it premiered. I didn’t watch the first few episodes, but I regularly watched two of NBC’s other Thursday night shows, The Office and Scrubs. I saw 30 Rock for the first time when I was at my parents’ house. We were all watching television, and when 30 Rock came on, I stuck around because my parents told me they really enjoyed the show. After that, I was hooked.

I love this show because it is absolutely absurd. Tina Fey created a cast of believable and hilarious characters who play off each other in the most perfect way. The writing is witty and relevant, often reflective of political or social standards, and the dialogue is often ironic and humorous. It is a show in which that which can go wrong does, but very often these issues can be cleared up with the help of close friends or coworkers; these issues are definitely realistic, which helps make the show relatable. The show’s main protagonist is Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), who is successful in her career but in no other aspect of her life. The show works not to promote women’s rights, necessarily, but the rights of all. Each character becomes empowered through the other cast members.

I love comedy in any form. I like the dry, ironic humor of The Office, and I like the crazy, unrealistic humor of Scrubs. I like satire. I like obscenity. 30 Rock offers all of these, and I like that I can get that “ohmygodwhatlol?!” feeling while being presented with political ideals (Liz Lemon: “Why do you sound surprised? I love America. Just because I think gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all have hybrid cars doesn’t mean I don’t love America!” turns to camera, winks). Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) plays a washed-up movie star who has starred in such films as Black Cop, White Cop (“One does the duty, the other gets the booty!”), Honky Grandma Be Trippin’, Fat Bitch, and Who Dat Ninja; he is slightly…insane (“You know how pissed off I was when US Weekly reported that I’m on crack? That’s racist! I’m not on crack; I’m straight up mentally ill!”). He sings novelty party songs like “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” (“Werewolf bar mitzvan, spooky, scary…boys becoming men, men becoming wolves!”) and “A Jordan Christmas” (“Imagine Christmas wishes shooting out of your eyes…”). Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) stars in musicals like Mystic Pizza and Con-Air; she also has a #1 hit song in Israel called “Muffin Top” (it’s also number 4 in Belgium!).

I loved finding 30 Rock because it is goofy and smart, both things I like to consider myself (haha). It has powerful characters and intelligent dialogue:

Tracy: “This show is our chance to break the shackles, ‘cause the white dudes wanna see us fail.”
Liz: “What white dudes?”
Tracy: “ALL OF ‘EM: Jack Donaghey, General Electric, George Bush, Karl Robe…”
Liz: “Karl Robe, you say?”
Tracy: “Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other, to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets! That’s a METAPHOR!”

Unfortunately, I don’t know many people who are fans of the show; at least, I have yet to find many people my age who like it. I think it’s the kind of thing that polarizes people—they either love it or they hate it. When I find another fan of the show, we spend FOREVER quoting lines. When I’m not around fans, I put quotes in my everyday speech, and people think I am clever or eccentric (either which I am fine with, I guess…). 30 Rock uses a lot of topical humor to relate to audiences. It is a melting pot of pop culture references, presented in a sometimes satirical, always honest sort of way. Though it’s not as influential or as informative as, say, CNN, it isn’t your everyday comedy show: From the entertainment world to the President, nothing is sacred. Unlike other shows that exercise similar rights, however, this is a sitcom, so it’s more approachable than some shows, which rely on hosts. Also, it is basically family friendly—at any rate, it airs during prime time, so it’s not completely obscene. As far as education goes, 30 Rock could be used to teach several civic lessons: the importance of community, the issues of affirmative action, and the difficulties in balancing a professional and personal life. Its scripts could be dissected in creative writing classes to teach effective satire. More importantly, and more generally, clips could be shown throughout lesson plans to more actively engage and entertain students.

So let’s talk popular culture and education, because at this very moment, I am delaying my first reactionary blog post to surf Facebook.

I don’t think there is any question that the education system in our country is far from perfect. Thinking back to a public health class I took a few semesters ago, I’m attempting to recall statistics about the outlook of the educational system in America. No specific numbers come to mind, but I do remember lots of discussion about testing, and No Child Left Behind, and the difficulties today’s educators face.

As a student in the child psychology department here at the U of M, and an assistant preschool teacher, I am concerned by the effect of the educational process on the well-being of the students subjected to it. I don’t think any teacher worth his or her salt plans curricula without the well-being of their students in mind (I hope so, anyway). I think there are just too many issues that White and Walker ignore. Their claims are well-intentioned and promising, but this isn’t a case of just changing one thing and -voila!- the system is fixed. The educational system in this country needs to be completely retooled in order to effectively integrate popular culture into today’s schools.

White and Walker’s first point, made in chapter one, is that schools have become a place of torture for students. “Demeaning” and “demoralizing” the students, schools have become less places of learning and more fast tracks to test after test…effective problem-solving skills are discarded in favor of rote memorization and other means of “learning” that are effective only in turning children off school. Unfortunately, teachers can hardly be held accountable for this. With No Child Left Behind and federal funding looming overhead, schools must achieve, even if the end result is the production of zombie-like robots, who know the dates of the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, basic addition, and nothing else.

There are several ways for teachers to integrate popular culture into their curricula–or, I guess, to let their lesson plans be led by popular culture. Music is especially effective, as it appeals to essentially everyone. Other outlets, such as MTV and YouTube, could be useful supplements and building blocks to learning. Unfortunately, teachers are often guided by administrations that warn not to increase liability, not to do anything that could mean trouble for the district. Sharing of music might still be a dangerous situation; it must still be marked by boundaries. One student’s choice of music to share with the class might offend a peer, and how could a teacher tell one student his or her music tastes are unacceptable in the classroom?

If “emotion is the glue that causes history to stick,” (pg. 17) students could indeed learn to associate events and situations with songs, movies, and characters they already relate to. One of my best teachers in high school used music to guide us through the American history of the last century, and it tied everything together, made the unit cohesive. The problem here, and White and Walker mention it throughout their text, is that one teacher here and there ultimately makes very little difference in such a broken system. It’s a start; however, the educational system is a “tradition” in this country, and like many traditions, it continues even when its fit in contemporary surroundings is poor. In order to better promote social efficacy as citizens, not “merely” students, and to educate children in the process of becoming media literate, the entire system needs to be dumped and jump-started. Before students can learn how to effectively critique the media, teachers must know how. Unfortunately, this will probably take years to cultivate. Many teachers are too busy toeing the line, scoring high on tests, and too underpaid to take the extra time to do this. It must be incorporated into the process of becoming a teacher.