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Stereotypes In The Schools: Song Analysis

447 Words2 Pages

After reading through this lesson I have realized the impact music has on reinforcing stereotypes about schools and teachers to students.

In the song Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police, female teachers are referred to in a sexual context. The Police express their view of female teachers as “Young teacher, the subject of schoolgirl fantasy”, these lyrics indicate that female teachers are not respected for their profession, instead as a sexual fantasy for the artists. School Days by Chuck Berry also reinforces the stereotype of school being boring. The song emphasizes the joy of school ending and the suffering from sitting in class. Chuck Berry states “Gee but the teacher don’t know, how mean she looks,” which reinforces the negative views …show more content…

Wooten describes music as a form of communication that is sometimes more effective than words, because the receiving individual does not have to be understood to be effective. This is because individuals can feel the emotion from music, which is why music can either make people feel happy and excited, or aggressive. He further explains that music allows students to learn as they should embrace their mistakes and is also an outlet where students have to freedom to express what they want. Similarly, my most memorable teachers were also teachers that also embrace mistakes, an example is encouraging the class to raise their hand even if they are not certain of the answer.

In conclusion, teachers have typically been portrayed negatively in film and music, in sexual contexts, as angry, cruel and even lazy. While there are positive messages in many songs and films, the amount of negative content outweighs the positive. As a result, teachers are treated with less respect from their students because of the messages about them conveyed in music. As Victor Wooten discusses, music is powerful and has the ability to communicate messages uniquely through emotion. To create positive images of school teachers, musicians are responsible for using their platform

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