by Charlotte Rochez
“The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with — nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they can add up to the story of a life.”
― Rob Sheffield, Love is a Mix Tape
Did you ever make a mixtape when
you were younger? What memories do those songs bring back? How do they relate
to your educational experiences? Do you think your mixtape was similar to
others of your generation? Would those songs bring back similar memories for
them? A top hit would likely be meaningful to
many different people of similar ages, though it may be imbued with distinct
recollections.
If, rather than reflecting on your own
experience, you were to nominate a song relating to the broader theme of
'education', which would you choose? And if we were to take these
collectively, what might such a 'people's playlist' tell us about the history
of education over the last 60 years?
Popular music is not only culturally
reflective, it may be prophetic, provocative or ameliorative. Charting such a
musical history may afford insights into popular perceptions, the creation and
proliferation of contemporary ideas and the dialogue between them.
In following playlist of British popular
music relating to education we witness the movement of positive associations or
reminiscences of schools and teachers to a criticism of the school system, its
methods and aims. This is not a simple trajectory; Madness's 'Baggy Trousers' celebrates good times within a flawed system was as a response to Pink Floyd's critical
condemnation of schooling in 'Another Brick in the Wall'. Through time similar
motives reappear: Busted’s ‘What I go to school for’ sexualises the theme of
teacher admiration in Lulu’s ‘To Sir With Love’ and Elton John’s ‘Teacher I
need you’; the Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘Never Miss a Beat’ echoes Madness’s ‘Baggy
Trousers’ in celebration of cheeky youthful defiance, but with young people’s
location moved from messing around in school spaces, to playing truant on the
streets.
In US music, too, there is a movement from celebrating schools as a place of learning to challenging the pedagogy and curriculum of conventional schooling, and more recently to questioning the impact of social stratification according to popularity on adult life experiences.
Which songs do feel provide particular insights into the history of education? Share with us on Twitter or Facebook.
