Dominica Beverley
Megan Keaton
ENGL 1103
15 April 2013 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 some 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 or plays a role in the way they behave. It is almost as
if the music influences the decisions that students make in school. Similarily,
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 also 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). This
is just like when you enter a shopping center or an elevator and you hear music
playing over the loudspeaker or intercom system. The music they play is supposed
to put you in a state that is comfortable to shop in. On the elevator, the ride
up and down can get awkward especially if you are on the elevator with people
you don’t know. The music can manipulate your mood so that the ride is easygoing.
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). She didn’t answer the question
but I am trying to find that out as well. As far as I know, the answer could go
either way depending on what type of student it is.
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.
Some of them do it by incorporating music in their study 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 an emotional
release when the weight of school is overbearing. I know that when I get
stressed out about something at school, the first thing I do is plug in my
headphones and de-stress with some music. Most of the time I listen to songs
that reflect my mood or songs that have a soothing beat.
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 [21st
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, both 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 because the music appeals to the different
learning types. Marc Hill agrees 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). In my English Literature and Composition
class, my teacher Ms. Woods used music in her instruction to familiarize us
with analyzing text to find the author’s point of view. We were focusing on the
theme of the American Dream and she used the song “Made It In America” by Jay-Z
and Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean. This made the class interested in learning
especially because we had to do an assignment on a popular song. However, not
all teachers think that music or pop culture incorporated into the curriculum
and 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).Some students give into peer
pressure and wind up being susceptible to the acts of violence and sexual
promiscuity which is prevalent in urban communities today. The adolescents are
the main targets of music, videos, and other forms of pop culture; they appeal
to them the most. 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. In the song, he
also uses bad grammar, “I always be in school, but I be walkin’ halls”
(MetroLyrics.com). Parents send their children to school to get an education
and when they go home everything they have learned is being erased when they
listen to music like this. Most students don’t even listen to the lyrics of a song;
all they hear is the beat. Once the words get embedded in their minds, it’s
like mind control. They don’t even know what they are saying, let alone know
what the lyrics mean. 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.
Works
Cited
Lee,
Sharon. “The Effects Of Music On Student Psychology.” Online Submission (2011): ERIC
Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
(ED)
Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, et al. "Reducing Stereotype
Threat In Classrooms: A Review Of Social-Psychological Intervention Studies On
Improving The Achievement Of Black Students. Issues & Answers. REL
2009-076." Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (2009): ERIC.
Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
Brown,
Veda. "Guiding The Influence Of Hip-Hop Music On Middle-School Students'
Feelings, Thinking, And Behaving." Negro Educational Review, The 57.1-2
(2006): 49-68. ERIC. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.
Hagood, Margaret C, Donna E. Alvermann, and Alison
Heron-Hruby. Bring It to Class: Unpacking Pop Culture in Literacy
Learning. New York: Teachers College
Press, 2010. Print.
Hill, Marc L. Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-hop Pedagogy
and the Politics of Identity. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009. Print.
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