Summary: The Importance Of Popular Culture In Education

Popular culture is a language and a form of expression that is trending and widely enjoyed and accepted by the masses, and a habitual feature of a particular society at a given time (Aditi, Lecture 1). It is something that grows overtime within a society from the bottom up, and that has generated controversies for being allowed to be taught as a subject matter in the educational system. In this literature review, I will be looking at two articles; one for the importance of popular culture in education, and the other being opposed to the value it has on the educational system. In the first section I will begin by talking about arguments for the importance of popular culture in education, where it doesn’t require any exceptional intelligence,

He begins by arguing that popular culture is manipulating, controlling, and a deception. Children are constantly being peer pressured to assume the ideologies that adults have created, and teachers are exploiting student’s way of thinking by giving a helping hand, and forcing them to adopt an ideology over another. The author continues by addressing popular culture as conservative, where the dominant social values are still sustained by the bourgeoisie. He expresses that the power and the privileged once again defines, and reproduces the popular culture that circulates in societies. The article ends off by addressing the most important negative effect that popular culture creates, and that is misconstruing students to make realistic choices. Popular culture produces misconceptions, and one example that the author uses is a history lesson about Helen Keller. She is a woman regarded as a champion for her suffering, yet it ignores women as a collective whole, seeking to end class based

As the article by Ashcraft (2003) suggested, using media to engage students, teens in particular, to discuss about important discourses around sexuality, will assist them in being more aware and interested in learning more efficiently about the topic. Nothing informs us more than the media does, and the media is an important popular culture within a classroom nowadays. It brings us all sorts of knowledge and information from around the world, and even if those events or issues doesn’t directly have any relation to us, we as humans, will always have an opinion or stance regarding it. Firstly, we don’t need to have any formal or higher education in order to be allowed to talk about popular culture, nor do we need to have the same experiences or knowledge of an average adult in order to be a part of popular culture. Secondly, understanding about popular culture, simply means that you have developed individualism, and is able to express yourself the way that only you could to the society. Last but not least, popular culture is a form of liberation. It breaks down barriers between the rich and the poor by allowing everyone to have their own say in what they want or feel. It can bring people together and form connections, allowing people to critically think for themselves as an individual and as a whole. In general, people may deem popular