ENG 2043-001
Dr. Hollis
May 7, 2010
Commodifying Our Children?
Area A: What Is the Commodity?
The founders of the United States of America had a vision when they founded this country. Among the radical reformations they were making were such changes like instituting a system of elections as well giving citizens the freedom of religion, speech and press. It wasn’t until over one hundred years later that our country’s leaders decided that every child deserved to be able to learn, regardless of social status or economic wealth. Thus was the birth of public schooling. Since this time, public schools have existed to give every child in America an education and therefore an equal shot at having the future he or she dreams of.
Public schools vary in shape and size but their purpose is the same. They exist in order to instill society’s values upon its pupils and to prepare them for the real world. It is a building, or series of buildings, where all the knowledge is kept and imparted onto to students who thirst for enlightenment. Public schools combat such issues as racism and diversity, gender equality and morality. Students are treated equally and fairly in these schools and the schools themselves do not discriminate between pupils. All are admitted regardless of race, ethnicity, wealth, religious affiliation or sexual orientation.
Area B: Negating Stereotypes
One of the best things about most public schools is that there is no challenge of absent presence. Most public schools have a ban on such electronic devices such as cell phones and iPods during school hours. Additionally, many public schools have blocked websites such as facebook and twitter from their computers. While many students are upset about these conditions, it forces them to interact with their teachers and their peers on a more personal level. Everything that you learn in school revolves around face-to-face encounters. Through forcing students to interact in this manner they are strengthening their student’s personal and communicative skills as well as their academic abilities to perform complex calculus equations. In many ways these schools act as anti-popular culture hubs because they are free from the technological trappings that plague us in the real world. While many college students and business people are attached to their blackberries all day, public school students are free from such distractions and able to focus on what really matters: learning about subjects that will help them get into colleges and get jobs rather than what their “BFF” (best friend forever) posted on their facebook wall. Public schools also remain a highly disciplined atmosphere. Any infraction such as bullying, or harassment is immediately dealt with by punishment. Additionally, most public schools offer health classes that educate both genders on the importance of equality. Therefore, public school remains an environment where issues of exploitation and objectification are rarely encountered. An old proverb asserts, “Boys will be boys”. But there have been numerous incidents when children have been expelled from public schools for harassing their female counterparts. Especially after the incident at Columbine, which, though it did not deal directly with a gender issue, did deal with a prolonged case of bullying obviously incited by popular culture’s expectations and stereotypes, schools have taken a much firmer position on all issues of exploitation.
Because public schools are based on objective forms of knowledge, the cultural ideals represented in Orientalism are absent. Orientalism is based on the idea that the West is dominant over the East. In public schools, students learn about the objective history of all nations through social studies classes. Therefore, public schools do not enforce ideas of orientalism in their pupils. That is not to say that students remain free from the contamination of these ideas. In fact, outside forces such as familial beliefs play an important part in founding a child’s code of morality and belief system. However, public schools, because they have teachers that meet state qualifications, do not infect their students’ minds with ideas of prejudice. Essentially, public schools attempt to enforce an atmosphere of knowledge that is not limited by stereotypes or prejudice. Granted, prejudice finds a way to sneak through the door in most cases, but the structure of public schools remain a commodity free from the influence of popular culture.
Area C: The Legacy of Our Children
The effect of public schools is not a direct one. Though the millions of children who pass through the public education system on a yearly basis will undoubtedly have a vast impact on popular culture, in fact they shape. The effect of public schools then, is that popular culture will hopefully begin to reflect the values that public school instills in its students. Therefore, hopefully popular culture will begin to shy away from materialism and exploitation in favor of medium and commodities that have a more beneficial effect on society. Public schools are incredibly beneficial to our society and will hopefully positively impact the landscape of popular culture over the coming generations.
