Alright class, we′re gonna get started.
Everyone, please don't take your seats,
Close your textbook,Stand up, and dance to this song
What do you think of when I use the word School?
You might shrug your shoulders and be like, ′S cool –
It's a needful but imperfect institutional tool
To make the people on the planet not be absolute fools
Or you might have the view that it's only half true
What they teach, and that in truth it′s a tool that uses you –
Subject to abuse, and the subjects you take
Are designed to make your mind subjects of the state
...Some say it′s great tho — A-OK –
And the best way to go is to go and get A's –
But whether you B for it or don′t C it as best
Society D-mands that you go or you're F′d
When we were kids
We would sing this hook
'No more pencils
No more books′
When they made us go to school
And yet in the days when the tradition began
Way before the institutions and the social demand
The Ancient Greek "schole" from which "school" is rendered
Did not mean work you had to do, it meant LEISURE
Leisure? — Yessir — Free Time? — yes! —
If you had food to eat, and other needs didn't press
You might read or write, if you liked — free of stress –
So yes — in a sense, School meant Recess
You might spend your time with a Socrates
And talk thoughtfully about God and Being
And contemplate concepts of cosmic things
Without and obligation or college fees
And speaking of ironic etymologies
'Education′ from the Latin educare means
To lead out from, not to sit inside —
And ′study' meant passion for a task — yeah, right
Now you might ask why, like — Bruh, what da fuh...?
How′d it all become the opposite of what it was?
School meant Days Off; study meant fun
Why's it upside down? I′m confounded. It's dumb
Welcome to the club. Are you really surprised?
Humans have a tendency to systematize –
And the systems are fine, until the systems are blind
To the very human beings for whom the system′s designed
It's a means to an end. And in the end that means
That whoever's at the head gets to set the meanings
And assign the readings, and to set the times
And to regulate the rhythm of our lives and minds
But way before pencils and way before books
And way before the tests that everybody took
There was Old School School. (Word)
Alright let′s go ahead and walk outside now
Put our hands in the soil.
... Don′t forget your improvised song is due...
At any time
It ain't about your interests, kid –
It′s how ya get 'er done
Better aggregate your passions into learning outcomes
Don′t be burnin' out, son!
Reevaluate your goals
Gotta crack another statue from the economic mold
Got you docile till you′re old –
'They don't want us to know!′
But the thing about ′Them' is
The ′They' is Us, bro –
Life is short, learning′s slow –
Why go back to the source
When you could simply get it second hand?
A requisite course
And yes, you're being forced –
And while at times it may be free
So is all your social media –
It′s not that hard to see
That that's another way of saying the commodity's me
And the product is becoming what they want me to be
You′re so lucky –
Old school study –
So what are we to take from it
And what disintegrate?
How to disentangle the age-old angle
Of obligation in the way
When we educate –
How to make it relate so it ain′t
Disembodied and a Knowledge but in name
Without making that very same knowledge
All but impossible to gain? (Dang)
Make it a GAME — make Work Play –
Never have to go to, and yet learn everyday –
Make it into songs, teach lessons over beats
And not just on the internet but also on the streets
Education is an art
And performance is a part
Of its method and its manner
'Cause the head needs the heart –
Hip-hop History
SchoolHouse Rock
Indigenous traditions –
Times change. TikTok
Here′s a thought —
Honor teachers in the game that go the hardest
'Cause in the end the teacher is the same as the artist –
Let em play their part as pop-stars, getting famous
Being bona fide philoso-rapper viral sensations
...I′m biased. ... Should I even talk?
I'm a product of the system, a philosophy doc –
And my knowledge, on which I base this critical thought
Is predicated on the privilege of having been taught
– I′ve thought of that a lot. ...If we lost what we've got
Is it tantamount to tossing out the board with the chalk?
But it may be worth a shot: and here's the reason why
Like nails on a chalkboard, we′re just squeaking by
Education is the basis of society′s design –
The system that instills what's in everybody′s mind
And under this system, the society we find's
Economically unequal, ecologically awry
So redefine School: Not a tool of the state
But a movement that arises from those who create –
Whose mode of exchange isn′t monetary wealth
But Relationship and Wisdom. An end in itself
No more tests
No more rules
No more half-truths
Back to the roots –
Back to Old School Schools
You're so lucky –
Old school study
No more hassles (Old school study)
No wack books
No more teacher′s dirty looks
No more bureaucratic crooks (Old school study)
And school boards with too many crooks
No more standards (Old school study)
No more rules
No more half truths
Back to the roots
No more half truths (Old school study)
Back to the roots
Back to the roots
Old school school
Alright well, that's it for me today ...
But we'll meet again for our next session ...
Whenever we meet again. ...
And until then...
Study!
