Down the Rabbit-Hole

"'And what is the use of a book, 'thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?"' (qtd. in De Rooy).

"'where shall! begin, please your Majesty? 'he asked.

"'Begin at the beginning, 'the King said very gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop"' (qtd. in De Rooy).

Why is it that so many students share stories such as the ones above when asked about popular culture experiences within education? Why do some teachers insist on ignoring the popular culture around them? Does this pose a problem in the educational realm, and how can it be changed?

In today's classrooms much of the fear of teaching the popular culture stems from heavy media attention focusing on popular media as the main cause of violence in children. Frightening displays of child violence, reminiscent of the shootings at Columbine High School, have caught the attention of Americans. People now ask why and how. With much ease, most people blame popular media as a negative influence on children's behavior and morals. Popular culture, however, is an influence that cannot be eradicated. Rather, because the popular culture of our time has changed the way we learn and view the world, it can be implemented within the educational system and analyzed in order to reverse negative effects that popular culture can produce on society. By ignoring the popular media and simply dismissing television shows or music as evil, teachers only aid in feeding the "underground machine" that produces violent outbreaks such as the one at Columbine.

Alice's Evidence

"'There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty, 'said the white Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; 'this paper has just been picked up"' (qtd. in De Rooy).

First, I want to focus and remind educators just why popular culture is important in education. Popular culture is a force in education that not only creates better retention for students in the classroom, but it also sets the current paradigm of thinking. Popular culture also creatively challenges students to participate within the educational experience. Popular culture does all of this while also maintaining a global perspective. These challenges posit that popular culture must be utilized within the educational structure of today's society. Teachers, good teachers, utilize all the popular media sources available to reach their students.

Tenth grade American history class? I don't remember much about it. I enjoyed it for sure (I love history), but I couldn't recite the laundry list of public works programs implemented by the Roosevelt administration even if Regis offered me a million dollars. I can, however, recite all the lyrics to Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" without much effort. In fact, this short musical history lesson has come in handy when trying to chronologically date 20th Century events. Moreover, most of the material I remember from secondary education comes from innovative teaching; instruction where teachers imaginatively used or applied the popular culture of the time.

Much like my effortless memorization of Billy Joel's mini-history lesson, David McCall noticed that his son would amuse himself by singing popular Beetles and Rolling Stones lyrics. This lead to the birth of "Schoolhouse Rock," an educational program that utilized music as a way of delivering educational concepts. McCall realized that if his son was able to memorize song lyrics, why not utilize music to help his son memorize the times tables? (Engstrom, 2). Derived from the idea that music boosts learning, Schoolhouse Rock boasts that implementation of popular culture in education can benefit student learning. Engstrom supports this notion with studies showing music grabs interest as a mnemonic device (4). Citing on specific study from Wakshlag, Reitz and Zillmann, Engstrom states, "...children in their study liked music with a fast, marked tempo, clear, distinct rhythms, and repetitive melodies, which led the researchers to suggest such music may invite learning and might more easily be learned" (5). Here, Engstrom effectively touches on the basic groundwork of music that makes it such a valuable resource for learning. Thinking back to preschool and grade school days, many would recall learning simple tasks in tune to music. For example, I like many children learned the alphabet by humming the familiar ABC melody. A survey conducted of a majority of college aged students shows that 32% spend "a lot" of their time listening to music. No one responded to never listening to music. In relation to this fact, 33% reported that they listen to music while studying some subjects. Not one student answered that they study in a quiet environment devoid of all popular culture influences ("Popular Culture in Education"). All of these percentages support the idea that music aids students in learning. Recent studies also back up Engstrom's claims that the utilization of music in education is a great way to improve learning (5). This holds true with my personal experience as well. My teachers would often have us write critical thinking papers while listening to different types of music. This not only relaxed me when I wrote, but it also added a creative flow to my writing.

Employing popular culture mediums in education must be a part of today's education not only because it heightens student retention, but also because of popular culture's role in shifting paradigms. Student learning has changed drastically over time mainly due to advancements in technology. Interactive games used in my third grade class to teach the multiplication tables were replaced by interactive computer video experiences for my younger brother. Popular culture changes and influences the way we think as a society. How then can the educational realm ignore the influences that shape its very existence? Specifically, the societal impact born from popular culture affects student metacognition, the way students learn how to learn. Students respond to visual learning more often due to heavy integration of television into society. Students enjoy "video game" and computer experiences due to the world's heavy value of these mediums. Going to school didn't teach me how to watch Sesame Street, rather, Sesame Street taught me how to learn.

Researchers for evident examples of how popular culture has changed education can look at how the active "MTV culture" has created a new form of discourse in both speech and written modes of communication. Scapp points to a move away from silence due to popular culture examples as a plausible explanation of this phenomenon (24). Scapp states, "Given the significance of the very act of no longer not speaking, we can begin to understand why there is such intensity associated with this movement towards 'centre stage'..." (24). Perhaps where popular culture has lead as example (as in depicting long silenced voices) academic speech and discourse has followed. Adding further proof for the notion that popular culture influences how one learns lies in the 85% response that popular culture does influence how one thinks a little or somewhat of the time in my personal research survey. If asked, most students will agree that popular culture does affect how they think, act and feel at least to a minor extent ("Popular Culture in Education").

Since the days of Sesame Street, I noticed a skill for business and started picking up a copy of the New York Times. Now a Notre Dame a student within the college of business administration, I do not have a strong love of the sciences. Biology class was a daily battlefield in which my tired eyes were constantly fighting my willpower to stay awake. Despite my dislike of science, however, my honors biology teacher managed to maintain my interest by singing parts of her lecture to melodies of popular music. Through humor and catchy rhythm, my teacher made studying for tests much easier and much more memorable. In fact, Engstrom remarks on this memorable and humorous quality with Schoolhouse Rock by retelling stories of original viewers and their recollections of the show almost twenty years after it was aired. "Accounts that I have gathered informally illustrated remarkable specificity" (Engstrom, 5). Engstrom also comments that the appeal of Schoolhouse Rock is simply not rooted within its "memorability" (5). Learning to music is both popular and just good fun (7). My experience in honors biology was both fun and beneficial and supports Engstrom's belief that music and popular culture can enhance learning.

Much like Engstrom's conclusion, I believe that teaching through popular culture lightens the educational atmosphere that is so centered on work. My teacher's cute melodic interpretation of the lesson plan helped students to shift the focus from one of tedious study to one of humor and active involvement. Involvement, however, need not be confined to just music education. Utilization of all forms of popular culture, such as television, radio, video games and computers can improve educational strategies. Implementing popular culture improves student learning based on its playful and interactive nature. Cynthia Lewis further supports my conclusion in her essay entitled, "Rock N' Roll and Horror Stories: Students, Teachers, and Popular Culture." In her paper, Lewis noticed in her observations of active popular culture discussions within her classroom would allow for high participation on behalf of all the students (15). Lewis significantly notes, "...[t]he students who are speaking in this segment (and others in this Y₂-hour discussion) are all academic outsiders within their classroom; a few are social outsiders as well. Here they are animated, engaged, and participatory; a stance that is highly uncharacteristic for them and one they maintain throughout this literary event" (15). Hence, popular culture brandishes the capability to integrate all students in learning in a fun and creative way.

Finally, the use of popular culture promotes the growth of a globalization of cultures while allowing for the maintenance of individual identities. Ronn Scapp in his article, "Education and Popular Culture: Identities in Conflict," focuses on the historical separateness and ongoing battle between the realms of education and popular culture (22-29). Scapp denotes that the lengthy history of educational discourse has concentrated on texts "belonging to a certain tradition" (27). Scapp describes this tradition as one of a legitimate "high culture" that diverges from perhaps more widespread values of popular culture (27-28). Therefore, questions must be asked as to exactly who is speaking throughout the language of educational texts. Scapp suggests just this point, "As I have attempted to suggest, perhaps the issue for many reacting so strongly to 'popular culture' and its influence on current scholarship and pedagogy is more a matter of who is now speaking through the various media of popular culture than anything else" (28). By formulating a question such as this, Scapp acknowledges the presence of a more global voice in today's society. New voices demand that the educational realm listen. Listen to the opinions, histories and personal stories of peoples who long have been silenced by the historically conservative and constricting educational discourse. By embracing popular culture, educators move from an outdated mode of thinking to one that fits the new globalization in thinking. Moreover, a global education that includes the individual voices of many would only expand the realm of humankind's knowledge.

As the above reasons indicate, popular culture is an important part of education. Who, then, are its detractors, and why have they struggled so hard to keep popular culture out of the curriculum? what reasons are given for the removal of popular culture? What do detractors of popular medium feel are the implications of utilization of these mediums? These are the questions I want to focus on. Next, I will direct attention towards counterargurnents of popular culture in practice and systematically refute these ideas.

Who Stole the Tarts?

'Consider your verdict, 'the King said to the jury.

'Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted 'There's a great deal to come before that!"' (qtd. in De Rooy).

Detractors of the utilization of popular mediums in curriculum most often cite three negative implications as their reasoning. [1] Popular culture simplifies education in a way that lessens the attention span of students. [2] Popular culture is merely a capitalistic enterprise in which students merely become mindless consumers of the media. And finally the most fashionable and timely, [3] popular culture is the leading and most central cause of violence in individuals. I intend to show that although these rationales in thinking may exhibit some truths, they are not so strong that they would outweigh the need to consider popular mediums in an educational context. Popular culture is a force in society that needs to be reckoned with and cannot merely be avoided or ignored. Lastly I want to show that by adopting an extreme viewpoint against the popular culture based on reasons such as the ones offered above, one will only promote the negative implications that he or she is trying to prevent.

As an example of detraction [1], Douglas R. Hofstadter, in an article discussing his disgust with the recent use of popular culture in science, warns readers of the dangers of overusing the popular culture in education to merely increase broad based knowledge of concepts (19-22). Hofstadter feels that the "sugar-coated television science shows" of today only "capture the surface of some phenomenon but convey nothing what lurks behind the scenes" (20). Hofstadter goes on to say that he would have been bored with today's programs, but at age ten thoroughly enjoyed outings with his father, a professor, and his graduate students to mountaintops to conduct scientific studies. By allowing popular culture to glorify science for youths by way of television, educators only "bore" students by not offering an in-depth explanation of scientific "mysteries" (Hofstadter 20).

Perhaps Hofstadter makes a good point that children's science programs do sugarcoat scientific theorems for its audience. However, how many children spend their youth romping the

hillsides of mountains while collecting scientific data with their professor/scientist/father? How many children were read stories about "photons" and "spin" before they went to bed at night? Hofstadter's article serves as a perfect example as what can happen if one blames popular culture prematurely as reasoning behind negative attitudes in education. Hofstadter needs to realize that the majority of children at age ten do not have the opportunity to climb mountains. In fact, some children have very little educational opportunities because of financial difficulties. It is obvious that Hofstadter speaks from the experience of an upper-class upbringing filled with all of the opportunities of education with which the upper-class label brings. Ironically, Hofstadter argues that today's society mistakenly views the role of scientist as a negative one, but he refuses to support educational television shows that generate a positive response about science. Surely popular culture brings with it both good and bad qualities, not merely negative attitudes. According to a conducted survey, 78% of those questioned felt that popular culture is a good thing most of the time, which is in direct contrast to Hofstadter's theory that students dislike the "lack of mystery" popular culture carries with it ("Popular Culture in Education"). Popular culture still exists as a means for improvements in education.

Detraction [2] can best be illustrated in recent opposition towards 'Channel One.' Across America nearly ten thousand schools have been linked to this televised medium devised by Chris Whittle of Whittle Communications. Outrage at this popular culture medium at work stems from the fact that television programming is sponsored by corporate interests and therefore commercial advertisements run during broadcasts in the classroom. Detractors claim that 'Channel One' is promoting unequal commercial access to a captive audience (Scapp 25-26). Educator Cynthia Lewis, however, feels that educators are mistaken to view students as merely "passive consumers" (16). Lewis notes observed conversations with young student groups to show that pupils actively revise texts as they read rather than just passively consume them.

Ripped from the headlines of many of today's newspapers, detraction [3] holds much weight indeed as reasoning behind discarding popular culture from school curriculum. Violence is a serious threat in today's society with outbreaks such as Columbine, where students opened fife on classmates. Many students find metal detectors a routine daily chore, much like brushing their teeth and combing their hair in the morning. Many people point to popular culture as the main culprit behind violence because it brings a quick and easy response. In reality, however, popular culture cannot be tied directly to rising trends in violence. My survey shows that the majority of those surveyed believe that popular culture is only a small in violence trends. In fact, not one person surveyed believed popular culture is the main cause of violence ("Popular Culture in Education"). Ironically, Dimitriadus and McCarthy note that we live ..... in a political climate where the terms "youth" and "violence" have nearly become synonyms" (1). As Giroux notes, popular media such as film' radio and music, are increasingly providing the narratives, albeit violent, oppressive and simplistic ones, in which and through which young people come to inhabit personal growth (15). Dimitriadus and McCarthy consider these media forms "teaching machines" with which young people invest much energy, time and emotion (2). They continue, "[t]hese are the sites where much of the most important pedagogical work is taking place for young people today. Against a backdrop of failing and irrelevant schooling systems, youth make sense of themselves and others in the spaces opened up by media cultures" (2). Lewis notices that by ignoring the societal influences, that Dimitriadus and McCarthy note as influences in which students immerse themselves in every day of their lives, can only wreak large social and political implications. Students' "expressions of group identities" will merely develop underground communities and create even more significant problems in the lives of today's student (18).

So, as education tries to ignore negative societal influences, it systematically pushes students farther away and creates "underground communities" which, in turn' fuel the production of more negative attitudes contained in the vehicle of popular culture. Dimitriadus and McCarthy note this irony by suggesting that educational institutions actually promote violence by denying an arena to discuss popular culture and societal influence (6). Supporting this idea, 0% of those individuals surveyed felt that popular culture should be removed from education ("Popular Culture in Education"). So, what can educators do? What plan of curriculum should be followed? These are the questions I want to turn to next.

Advice from a Caterpillar

"'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important to say!" (qtd.. in De Rooy).

Saying that the popular culture of the time creates and shifts paradigms in educational learning and child metacognition as a reason for implementing popular culture curriculum does not, however, restrict the educational system's role in analysis of the popular culture. Cynthia Lewis questions the roles of teachers in the classroom by examining her own career as an instructor. Lewis suggests that teachers challenge students to evaluate the mediums that influence their day to day life experiences. ~... [W]e might also ask students to examine how particular forms of popular culture work on audiences as they do, who is responsible for producing and disseminating popular cultural texts, and whose interests are served by production and consumption of these texts" (18). Lewis understands that by allowing students to converse about the popular culture of the time, valuable lessons can be taught in a way that ensures better retention than from merely reading a text book. At the same time, critical thinking and analysis skills are developed during the activity (18).

Lewis makes a valid point that critical thinking about popular culture needs to be employed in classrooms. For as many positive images in popular culture, there are also as many negative ones. By addressing these images in discussion, however, students can become aware of how the system or "machine" of the popular culture shapes the lives of the individual consumer. Lewis' judgment on popular culture's role in the educational system addresses the needs of detractors in popular culture implementation while recognizing the need for functional popular culture curriculum. Lewis allows for ample exposure to useful popular mediums, but also leaves room for analysis and change of negative societal influences.

Deeper analysis of the culture can then lead to change in negative popular symbols. While popular culture may shift paradigms in educational thinking, it does not exclusively achieve supremacy at all times. Rather, educational thinking and popular culture can work together to push thinking towards new approaches in either arena. Popular culture influences the way children learn, but that does not mean education and analysis cannot press back on these societal influences. To illustrate an example, suppose a student watches a program on TV that includes a fair amount of graphic violence in its content. Instead of dismissing this violence all together, teachers should discuss the implications of this display of violence towards society. Teachers also need to ask questions such as, who the target audience is for this television programming, and what is the producer's reasoning behind using violence within the story line? Analyzing the formulation of violence within media roles can help student's understand the difference between violence on TV and violence in the world. Students learn that sometimes popular culture benefits no one but those involved in capitalistic enterprises. In this way, students become better consumers of the culture offered to them. They learn to think and decide for themselves. Allowance for popular culture discussion would also prohibit the "underground machine" that has been present in today's youth in which negative attitudes are being strengthened by way of popular culture vehicles. By lessening the buildup of pressures in the students outside of school within classroom discussions, occurrences of tragic events such as Columbine can be decreased.

As a hypothetical situation of how popular culture analysis would work, I want to take a look at a quote I received from a mother in my survey on popular culture in education. The obviously worried mother states:

Situations such as the one above are common in schools today. Parents are quick to see popular culture influences as harmful. In my grade school, talking about Madonna and Michael Jackson in music class earned you a trip to the principal's office. And yet, by ignoring pop icons like Madonna, what is being accomplished? Stacy, in the story above, will most likely only continue to hear "Like a Virgin" on the radio for years to come. Teachers should allow students, within reason, to discuss what certain popular media forms mean to them Teachers should also draw analysis of the medium by asking questions about the medium's purpose and style. The mother above makes the same mistake that many individuals make when dealing with young children. People often think that children simply do not understand what things mean or how they work. And yet, as Lewis suggested, children have been known to analyze mediums rather than just passively consuming them. I ask the mother above, doesn't Christian religion, Catholicism in particular, speak of the Virgin Mary repeatedly within it's practices? Does Stacy sit in her church pew and passively absorb the word "Virgin" from the priest's mouth? No doubt, I would challenge that Stacy has heard the word "Virgin" many times before and has probably formed her own interpretation of it even though she might only be in third grade.

Conclusion

"'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"'

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat."

'I don 't much care where-' said Alice."

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go, 'said the Cat."

"---So long as I get SOMEWHERE, 'Alice added as an explanation."

"'Oh, you're sure to do that, 'said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough"' (qtd.. in De Rooy).

Moving analytical devices of popular culture from theory to practice in schools is by no means an easy task. It will take the cooperation of many different people, student, teacher, parent, administrator, etc. Posing the questions of the effects of popular culture, however, lives as a real issue in today's communities. It lives as a question that will not die and promises to have a very long life span. Incorporating a curriculum of popular culture while maintaining a safe balance can work. Teachers can get students to ask the big questions about the world around them. I know this because I was lucky enough to experience education in classrooms of teachers who incorporated popular culture material. They allowed our popular media to beg the questions that needed to be asked. Many of my teachers challenged me in this way giving me a better sense of the world around me and my role within it. It is through their fresh and innovative teaching style that I have become a successful and inquisitive college student. I don't just accept what I'm taught, but I analyze what I encounter in the classroom and apply this to my every day life. Popular culture simply stands for the world within which I exist. I cannot hide from society's effects or escape from it, but I can analyze its role in my life. Educational systems must continue to develop a learning approach that not only teaches valuable information, but also applies and analyzes this information with the popular culture of the time. The process of innovative learning begins with innovative teachers willing to extend lesson plans and open discussion in classrooms for all forms of popular and current events. Innovative learning also requires the support of the parent and the administration. Together, everyone must first realize that popular culture is embodied and embedded in the world we live in. From the moment we awake to the moment we go to sleep, we are bombarded by the popular culture of the day. To remove the popular out of the educational system, a system that defines itself by preparing youth for the world of tomorrow, defeats its purpose. In embracing the reality of popular culture and opening it up for critical analysis, students like myself can achieve a higher level of decision making and education, a level of education that does not exist to accrue knowledge, but that challenges and analyzes society as a whole.

Interview

Question: Do you remember any specific stories about popular culture in your school? For example I specifically remember my grade school music teacher telling us that we weren't allowed to use or talk about Michael Jackson or Madonna in the music game we would play. If we mentioned them, we'd be disqualified. Do you have any stories such as this one?

This question posted online in bulletin board format drew a lot of interesting stories from a variety of different people. I received stories from current students, students that have graduated and even parents angered at the popular culture influence in the school system. All of these stories made for a nice added touch to my research process.

  
Works Cited

De Rooy, Lenny. "Lenny's Alice in Wonderland Homepage." Personal Website. updated 26 March 2000.
	http://www.student.kun.nl/l.derooy/ (30 March 2000).
Dimitriadis, Greg and McCarthy, Cameron. "Violence in Theory and Practice: Popular Culture, Schooling,
	and the Boundaries of Pedagogy." Educational Theory 49 (1999): 1-1 2. On-line.
Engstrom, Erika. "Cartoons as Education." Journal of Popular Film & Television 23 (1995): 1-9. On-line.
Giroux, Henry A. Fugitive Cultures: Race, Violence, and Youth. New York: Routledge, 1996.
Hofstadter, Douglas R. "Popular Culture and the Threat to Rational Inquiry." Science 281  (1998): 19-22.
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Lewis, Cynthia. "Rock 'N' Roll and Horror Stories: Students, Teachers, and Popular Culture." Journal of
	Adolescent and Adult Literacy 42 (1998): 13-19. On-line.
"Popular Culture in Education." Survey. 16 April 2000.
Scapp, Ronn. "Education and Popular Culture: Identities in Conflict." Innovation: The European Journal of
	Social Sciences 6(1993): 22-29. On-line.
Scholle, D. Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture: The Language of Critique and Possibility. 173 (1991):
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