Perceptions of Education in the Lyrics of American Popular Music, 1950-1980

Abstract

Education has received more than its share of public criticism during the past three decades. From the conservative Max Rafferty to the radical Ivan Illich, spokesmen have assailed schooling and teachers from every angle. Politicians want schools to accomplish a variety of constructive societal goals, including promoting unswerving patriotism, eliminating unemployment, curbing job dissatisfaction, ending social inequality, channeling young people into understaffed sectors of the job market, lessening drug and tobacco use, and stamping out teenage sexual promiscuity. Sociological theorists and educational researchers often fuel the fires of debate by suggesting additional social tasks, by exposing unhealthy relationships between the school and other social organizations, and by discovering that, after having been expected to do everything, schools do nothing particularly well. Parents also demonstrate their dissatisfaction through negative votes on school tax referenda or through the ubiquitous public opinion polls. Despite the cacophony of criticisms from many pressure groups, observations from one key group-students, the subjects of the whole educational enterprise--continue to be ignored. But youth has not remained mute. Scholars simply have not applied their critical skills to a wide enough variety of resources on this issue. Popular music, a principal artifact of youth culture, gives voice to a broad range of concerns, values, and priorities of young people. An analysis of popular song lyrics reveals that formal learning is consistently depicted as de-