An issue addressed in the song is education through the No Child Left behind Act. Education is a big issue part of our society. There is a lot of power behind education it can almost be related to the idea of commodity fetishism because not many people realize all the planning, rules and policies that go behind the education system. It starts with the government nationwide but then goes down to your local government such as the mayor then even more so to the city/town in which you live in and then the schools and within those schools there are the principals and teachers it is all a power structure. Within this “power structure” there is authority and that authority starts off at the top the nationwide government which is again essentially the president who has power and authority over all the structures below it, and so on as it continues to go down the line. Using this example we can also say that teachers which are the lowest at the “power structure” are an example of domination told to act or do something a certain way. As soon as new school policies get implemented they quickly adjust to it. In the song Pink’s lyrics state “How can you say no child is left behind we’re not dumb and we’re not blind. They’re all sitting in your cell while you pave the road to hell.” The NCLB act was something Bush created in order to create equality and better opportunities for disadvantaged students across the nation as well as ways to improve scores in standardized testing in order to improve an individual’s education. Each state was asked to develop assessments on “basic skills” and to create measurable goals to help students improve. However, rather than helping disadvantaged students, who were most likely students in low income neighborhoods, the NCLB act excluded these students who most likely were minorities. Education is only one of the issues Pink addresses in her song and a good example to discuss the power the education system has as well as the power our government has over important issues such as children’s education.
What is power? According to Weber, power is imposing ones will and with power comes domination. Domination as Weber explains is a group of people who obey commands to those in power and won’t be in opposition to it. Along with this Weber also explains the idea of discipline. Often times when we think of discipline we think of what our parents taught us as children to obey or we would get things taken away from us, or doing our weekly chores for allowance. However discipline as Weber explains is unthinking manner, just dong the tasks or command automatically without thinking about it. Also, when thinking of the term power we often think of someone powerful above someone commanding those people such as Hitler or even our presidents. In the song Dear Mr. President by Pink she addresses issues she had regarding the way our country was going when Bush was in office. She states issues such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the No Child Left behind Act. Though the lyrics cannot be used as actual facts nor blame everything on the president because we put him in office her lyrics can still however be analyzed to critique the power government really does have on us. At the beginning of the song she states “Come take a walk with me, let’s pretend we’re just two people and you’re not better than.” Once again, though we elect the president and are giving him the power to have power over us Pink is implying that the President is also just another human being just as she is and doesn’t want his authority to overpower hers.
An issue addressed in the song is education through the No Child Left behind Act. Education is a big issue part of our society. There is a lot of power behind education it can almost be related to the idea of commodity fetishism because not many people realize all the planning, rules and policies that go behind the education system. It starts with the government nationwide but then goes down to your local government such as the mayor then even more so to the city/town in which you live in and then the schools and within those schools there are the principals and teachers it is all a power structure. Within this “power structure” there is authority and that authority starts off at the top the nationwide government which is again essentially the president who has power and authority over all the structures below it, and so on as it continues to go down the line. Using this example we can also say that teachers which are the lowest at the “power structure” are an example of domination told to act or do something a certain way. As soon as new school policies get implemented they quickly adjust to it. In the song Pink’s lyrics state “How can you say no child is left behind we’re not dumb and we’re not blind. They’re all sitting in your cell while you pave the road to hell.” The NCLB act was something Bush created in order to create equality and better opportunities for disadvantaged students across the nation as well as ways to improve scores in standardized testing in order to improve an individual’s education. Each state was asked to develop assessments on “basic skills” and to create measurable goals to help students improve. However, rather than helping disadvantaged students, who were most likely students in low income neighborhoods, the NCLB act excluded these students who most likely were minorities. Education is only one of the issues Pink addresses in her song and a good example to discuss the power the education system has as well as the power our government has over important issues such as children’s education.
2 Comments
Indira Orozco
2/10/2013 12:46:53 pm
I liked how you tied in No Child Left Behind as an example of authority and domination. It is so interesting to see how President Bush was signing legislation that would directly impact children in poor, inner city, public schools that he had no knowledge about or had even attended. But because he holds this rational-legal position that Weber talks about, he signs it, and it is law. And also how you were talking about the hierarchy of the system and how the teachers are left at the bottom to implement these new rules. So Bush probably had no practical knowledge of how this legislation would actually impact the education system and the children within it. It could be said that he used the NCLB legislation to make himself look better, because many people did not know any better, and this also made his authority legitimate. The teachers or schools had to implement the legislation whether it worked or not or if they liked it or not. This demonstrates how his position got many people to do whatever he said. So when examining this situation, it is important to look at how these powerful people play such an influential role in our lives. Should they just be able to do these things? So what if they were elected, it does not mean that they just get to do whatever they want. How are we supposed to fix something like this? Shouldn’t the public be more informed about some legislation that is discussed before it gets implemented? Why should one person in a position of power get to determine how everything should be, especially when its not something they have to deal with?
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Nelly Jimenez
2/11/2013 01:57:11 am
I have never heard this song before! The first time that I heard this song it made me reflect a lot about our education system. In a way it kind of got to me because it made me realized how messed up society is. Just recently, my local neighborhood schools are in risk of closing down because my community wants to build more charter schools. People are fighting for access to higher education as well as better funding for charter schools. They don’t realize the different consequences that might arise later on. The fact that people might be unable to afford for their child to attend a charter school and the commute children will have to make to attend other public schools really troubles me. Education plays a very important role in society because we learn to make informed judgments about our leisure activities, our political involvement, and our everyday lives. Education not only dominates our lives but it is also a crucial part of what we are and what we become.
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