The subject of school has been a big theme for pop songs since Chuck Berry goose-stepped his way through School Days (Ring Ring Goes The Bell) in 1957. However, it seems that the seventies heralded a certain golden age of school-related songs, despite it being something of a pop void to many music fans. What makes these songs so memorable? And what does the lack of quality edu-odes today say about education in the noughties?
5: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School – Ramones. “I don’t care about history, ‘cos that’s not where I wanna be!” Although not often regarded as a Ramones classic, this 1979 soundtrack number to the movie of the same name stands proud as a thumping sing-along at a time when the band was spending a lot of time exploring new pop directions, and finally getting some chart recognition. It’s funny how at no point during my life of education, even beyond university, I’ve never actually seen a student cruise around in a GTO.
4: When I Kissed The Teacher – ABBA. “Leaning over me, he was trying to explain the laws of geometry, and I couldn’t help it, I just had to kiss the teacher!” This cringe-worthy and decisively un-pc representation of teacher/student relations is the opener to the Swedish quartet’s fourth album, Arrival. Aside from the story video acted by the band, the most disturbing aspect of the song is the teacher’s response to Agnetha’s affections. Simply put: he likes it.
3: Baggy Trousers – Madness. “All I learnt at school, was how to bend not break the rules.” Yes, I know that this song is from 1980 but so what. How could anyone ignore this cheeky celebration of schoolyard vandalism and nostalgic pranks. Whatever happened to getting the cane? And to be fair, you’re likely to receive an ASBO for pulling someone’s hair today. Make me young.
2: Another Brick In The Wall – Pink Floyd. “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control.” It all seems to get a bit gloomy and serious by the time The Floyd get involved. Still, Waters’ tune and the accompanying animation and movie turned this into some kind of prog anthem for doomed youth. The innocent fondness, of which we are used to, is replaced by a strange haunting choir – and all of a sudden there’s a reason to repel education beyond the juvenile need of ‘getting kicks’.
1: School’s Out – Alice Cooper. “Well we got no class, and we got no principles, and we got no intelligence, we can’t even think of a word that rhymes.” Here’s a little post-modern excerpt about Cooper’s acceptance of his lacking in ability to rhyme. But he just don’t care! There’s just something eternally visceral about that feeling of leaving school behind, and it’s a tune to boot; it’s also funny that he was 24 and four albums into his career when this song was released!
I accept that there are countless others from this era. But how many can you name from the last ten years? Not that many I reckon. And why? Well, it would seem that in this age of home teaching and a more varied school curriculum, there simply may well be less to complain about today. For the sake of pop music, that could well be a shame.
By: Sarah Maple
Archive for November, 2009
Top 5 Songs About Education
November 26th, 2009Disadvantages Of Online Education
November 26th, 2009
Till now all I have done is talk about the benefits of online education; all that it gives us for less money. All we can acquire by just sitting at the ease of our houses. But as we all know nothing comes without a disadvantage. If something gives you benefits and comfort, it must somewhere have something that is not that beneficial and can be a little bit hurting. Everything has a cost to it. So does online education.
One major drawback in online education is the lack of technical skills required to pursue an online degree. Most people are still not that technologically advanced to cope up with the methods that are used to make online education better. I don’t mean that all students are not technologically equipped; however ever there still are a large number who lag behind. Even many of the lecturers and administration people themselves find difficulty in operating the programs to teach or monitor the students. The tutors, especially, have had acquired their degree through traditional means and are mostly not very well versed with the gadgets.
Secondly, the most important thing required to student online is a computer and internet connection. However people in regional and far flung areas still don’t have access to this commodity. It is quiet expensive for them to purchase a computer. In one place where online education helps students from different areas meet and study together, there on the same time it creates a difficulty where a student cannot consult or discuss a technical problem occurred to him as he may not find anyone from his area.
Online course designers can sometimes wrongly anticipate computer technology advances. This leads to courses being developed for implementation on computers which were expected to become available in the future, but which did not become available; (Alexander, S. (2001) Education and Training E-Learning developments and experiences Vol. 43, Iss. 4/5, pg.240.)
The cost of an online degree is not always very low as thought by students. Some degrees may cost much more than if they were taken traditionally due to the cost of the multimedia accessories and materials involved in the syllabus. These costs may even leave behind the costs of accommodation and travel in local education.
Online education sometimes becomes very difficult to maintain. One of the reasons why a student moves towards online education is lack of time. He finds it difficult to maintain a balance between job and college hours. But even whether studying online you need to devote time in order to get grades and pass courses. At college and school, students have pre arranged time tables. Whereas while studying online you have to set a time table yourself or all your efforts go wasted.
Another major disadvantage I’d count is the lack of interaction. Even though students interact with their tutors through online learning systems, however one still can’t hear questions and discussions of other students at the time of lecture delivery. However nothing is totally free from disadvantages. Online education also has some. It now depends on the student how he manages everything.
By: Keith Londrie
BA Degree – Education Online
November 25th, 2009
There are those who are born to teach. That is their only dream in life – to become a teacher. Many people know that teachers are overworked and underpaid. Teaching is the only way that will fulfill the lives of born teachers. If you want to become a teacher, however, one must first obtain a college degree, which is a lot easier said than done.
Attending a college or university and getting a degree that allows one to teach means four full years of attending classes, lectures, labs, etc. Is it cheap? Not a chance. The price of a four-year degree education is far outpacing the rate of inflation. There are not a lot of hard working families who can afford to send a child to college for four years without some financial help.
Scholarships become part of our dinner or lunchtime conversations. No more than high school diploma, their hopes for advancing beyond entry level are greatly diminished. To earn power of many people who has a high school diploma or a GED is twice as good as it is for those without either. But to earn potential of many people with a BA degree is twice as good as that of those who only have a high school diploma or a GED. To get a BA degree makes good financial sense.
You will earn as much money over your lifetime with a BA education degree as you will earn without one. It all comes down to ponds or cents. Now days a person of any age or background can get a BA degree online. No admission requirements to meet and the price is only a fraction of that required for attending a brick-and-mortar college or university.
The progress toward getting a BA degree can be made at each student’s own pace. There are no requirements for how many credit hours must be signed up for in any given period of time. During you study the degree course of the struggle to figure out how to pay for a college education, some families and potential college students discover that courses can be taken online. If you want full degrees in education can be earned online and at a fraction of the cost of a four year career at a brick and mortar college or university.
A B.A education degree allows the born to teach teacher to teach and without starting out so deeply in debt that they will spend years crawling out from under it. The thing an online student needs to find out for he is if an online degree is accepted by the school at which he or she wishes to teach. Online B.A education degrees are being accepted more often now but all schools do not accept a degree that was totally earned online.
A mixture of brick and Mortar College and universities courses and online college courses is the best answer. One quick here, you have to check for accreditation. Many online School, colleges and universities announce that they are accredited. They institution never hide the fact you will not have to dig through many pages on their websites to determine whether they are accredited or not. The same is true for brick colleges and universities. They will always say that they are an accredited institution.
By: Syeda Mahwish Fatima Naqvi
