Joining the Conversation Step #2

Dominica Beverley

8 April 2013

Megan Keaton

ENGL 1103                                                                                                     Academic Essay

            As we go about our daily lives, we hear music all around us. Especially in the urban youth, music is a big part of their lives. It can motivate them, give them an emotional release, or even distract them from completing tasks. Here is one thing I do wonder about, how does it affect them in school? Research shows that music has a significant effect on students in which the psychological processes in their brain can manipulate mood and when moods change, the actions of the person changes. Different types and styles of music contribute to this as well.

Music on My Mind

            As students, we have something that helps us focus and concentrate on completing tasks, for some students music is their motivator. Veda Brown says that, “Adolescents’ attitudes about school, material success, appreciation of themselves and others seem to be shaped to a large extent by the music they listen to” (49). She suggests that the types of music that kids listen to adjust their attitudes. It is almost as if the music influences their decisions in school. However, Sharon Lee claims that even if we don’t voluntarily choose the music, the surrounding music has some effect on our mood and behavior as well. She states, “Also are important are the effects of the music we do not choose, but are subjected through our environment choices such as restaurants and stores” (1). Brown says it may be the music that students choose that affects their behavior and Lee says that music affects students no matter where it comes from. Lee asks the question, “Can it [music] help students study more effectively, or does it distract from the completion of homework?” (2). The answer could go either way, depending on the type of student.

Different Types of Students

Different types of students are dispersed throughout the learning community. Every student learns differently and the aids that they use are different as well. Some students need complete silence to work or to focus while others need a snazzy beat in the background to keep them motivated while completing assignments. In the urban youth, students aren’t performing as well as the majority students (white students) and so they may need some extra help or an extra push to get them going. The Regional Education Laboratory, who has studied stereotypes about African American students, claims that, “In a society where economic opportunity depends heavily on scholastic success, even a partial narrowing of the achievement gap would lead to a positive change in the lives of academically at-risk children” (1). Since African American students or black students already have a hard time in school with stereotypes labeling them as failures, these students need some support to help them overcome this issue. They do it by incorporating music in their habits. Sharon Lee tells the reader about an article from 1991 written by Martha Giles and Giles said “Intervention programs for children at risk could use music to help them relax, build their self-esteem, and help them with their emotional problems” (3). Music not only can help students focus but it can act as a emotional release when the weight of school is overbearing. This is another good use of music as students in school.

Music in the Schools

            If music helps students perform better outside of school, why not bring music inside the schools and integrate it into the curriculum? Margaret Hagood, along with other authors, discusses the thought of including music in the teaching instruction. They suggest that it would give the teachers an edge if they include pop culture in their instruction and it would have the students more interested since the music already appeals to them. She states, “They [21^st century texts] also include pop culture texts, which are mass-generated print and non-print texts (e.g., comics, anime, TV shows, movies, videos, young adult books, music lyrics) that use multiple modes (e.g., linguistic, visual, aural, performative) to entice audiences to use them” (2). By incorporating music and other forms of pop culture into the instruction, teachers and students will be satisfied. Teachers will gain student attention and comprehension and the students will be engaged because they have something that is interesting to them to make learning a little bit easier. Marc Hill can agree with this notion of including pop culture and music into the classroom. He says, “Given the salience of hip-hop culture in the lives of many American youth, the educational community has begun to pay considerable attention to the pedagogical possibilities of hip-hop culture within formal schooling contexts” (2). He explains of scholars who have made a course titled “Hip Hop Lit” which is a course in which you study different aspects of hip hop and listen to songs and analyze them. These scholars understand and have “shown how the elements of hip-hop and other forms of popular culture—rap music, turntablism, break dancing, graffiti culture, fashion, and language—can be used within classrooms to improve students’ motivation, teach critical media literacy, foster critical consciousness, and transmit disciplinary knowledge” (2). Not all teachers think that music or pop culture incorporated into the curriculum or teacher instruction is a good idea.

It’s a Distraction

As it was stated in the previous paragraphs, not everybody can think of music as an asset when it comes to school or schoolwork. With students who are struggling, especially black students, may be emotionally distraught and use music as a release. It can, in turn, cause them to act out of character. For example if a song’s lyric has violence and an angry tone, it may cause the student to act in such a way. Veda Brown states, “Children who lack pro-social skills associated with stable emotional intelligence tend to be easily influenced by various environmental factors such as peers and media. Some adults believe that this emotional weakness in children may leave them vulnerable to ideas of violence, sexual promiscuity, and other forms of anti-social behavior that are often portrayed in some popular hip-hop songs and videos” (51). From society’s point of view, the music, videos, and other forms of pop culture are aimed at the adolescents. Society has placed negative views on Black children and students and that is why it is hard for them to focus in school. These students are worried about failing and living up to that stereotype. The Regional Education Laboratory claims, “stereotype threat arises from a fear among members of group of reinforcing negative stereotypes about the intellectual ability of the group” (1). From a teacher’s and a parent’s standpoint, they oppose music only if it is negatively impacting their child. Brown writes, “Well meaning adults have often complained that the popular music of today seems to have a detrimental effect on children’s thought and subsequent behavioral patterns. Particularly, many adults believe that the lyrics of some celebrated musical artists such as Fifty-Cent, Nelly, Foxy Brown, Marilyn Manson, Lil’ Kim, and Eminem have often undercut the very attributes, skills, and values of emotional intelligence that form the basis for pro-social behavior” (51). I know of a song by Soulja Boy called “Throw Some D’s”. I can understand why a responsible adult figure would be very cautious of what their child/student listens to. In his song, he says, “I always be in school, but I be walkin’ halls/A lot of teachers give me test but they be super hard/I get into some trouble, then my mama calls/But after I get out the office I’ma tell ’em all dat/
I’ma superstar and that’s best/ Every time you see me up in class, my head on that desk” (MetroLyrics.com). If I was a parent, I wouldn’t want my child or my student listening to someone who is promoting bad gestures in school. Since children listen to this artist and idolize him, they might be tempted to act like him, which causes a problem for everybody. Music can be a benefit and a fault, but it all depends who you listen to and what message they are sending to the listener.