Don’t
Blame it on Elvis … or Beyonce Either
Published in Marietta Daily Journal Feb.21, 2016
Ours is a culture that’s becoming more and more
adolescent. But
let’s not blame it on 13 to 19-year-olds.
Their values are still being formed.
At fault is our total embrace of the entertainment culture
which has values of its own, the chief one being money. At the heart of our entertainment culture
lies youth culture, and although the Beatles’ Paul McCartney once remarked, “We
can’t be teenagers forever,” we seem to be proving him wrong.
Who
or what is to blame for an industry that shrouds the nation and vies for our
children? Not Elvis, the founder of
youth culture. Nor do I blame the crass Beyonce
who so famously performed recently at the NFL Super Bowl. No, the guilty ones are parents and schools
that have acquiesced to the standards of pop culture rather than holding up
standards of their own.
If
schools tried, they could successfully resist the seductive, though dead-end allure
of entertainment/youth culture. Lest you
think a success story that hearkens back over a half century ago cannot be
valid today, read on and at least consider my argument that youths have not
changed, but that their parents have.
When Elvis
Presley invaded the music world, he instantly created a sub-culture. To parents and schools, however, it didn’t
matter too much that television granted him audience. Television, an entertainment medium, was
where Elvis belonged. In Mississippi,
Elvis’ home state, some adults and certainly teenagers (myself included) were
proud that one of our own was a big star.
But
schools didn’t adopt Elvis’ music. They
ignored him. At little Forest High
School downstate from Elvis’ hometown of Tupelo, our teachers never tried to
give us what we already had. We already
had Elvis. (Fitch Hair Oil worked quite
nicely for shaping my hair into an Elvis ducktail.) We also had Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis,
and Chubby Checker, but we certainly didn’t expect to hear any of them piped in
during lunch. We had radios at home.
What
we didn’t have but needed was an understanding of school subjects and, let us
say, Beethoven. Classrooms provided the
history, math, and other studies. Weekly
assemblies provided Beethoven and such via the talents of piano students, not
to mention the very best of oratory provided by speech students and visiting
speakers. Student soloists and ensembles
gave us respite from rock and roll and an appreciation for harmony. (No relentless pounding notes or questionable
lyrics.) Many a country kid like myself, steeped in country music and now the
new rock and roll, was broadened and awe-struck by the vistas set before us by
the Friday assemblies.
Call
it classicism if you like (that’s what it was), but because of wise school
leaders and teachers, we understood that, though it was fun, rock and roll was
not the vista to our highest aspirations. We needed knowledge, and that’s what school
provided.
But
today’s teens have to be entertained. No, they don’t. Today’s teens are different. No, they aren’t. Youth are always malleable, no matter in what
century or at what school they appear.
Today’s parents and schools are different, however. Different because they have swallowed the
notion that youth can be “reached” only if parents and teachers “identify” with
them. Does anyone think that “the
greatest generation” or its immediate offspring was very concerned about
“identifying” with their children?
Piping in “their
music” during lunch doesn’t challenge or broaden students; it only promotes pop
culture. Supplying blaring music at every
school event doesn’t educate; it only affords students yet another opportunity to
slosh around in their present world.
Inattentive parents – and some educators – apparently don’t realize that
the yearning (sometimes sad) eyes of teens cannot be satisfied by the likes of Beyonce
or the sensual, “Look at me” culture she symbolizes. Youth’s search for significance will always
meet a dead-end in a culture centered on hormones.
Had
the Depression not put the quietus on the Roaring Twenties, America’s obsession
with youthfulness might have come sooner.
As history unfolded, it was the fifties that ushered in youth culture
and its tight hold on all of us.
Challenge the way schools accede to youthful tastes today (whether
dress, music, language) and you will be told by some principals, “It’s for the
kids.” Truth is, too many parents and
schools are letting “the kids” run the show.
For me, there is
no greater joy than being in a classroom full of teenagers. Teenagers are weird, frightening, hilarious,
and inspiring. They don’t need adults
who think or act like teenagers.
Let’s not blame “the culture.” Let’s blame us. Adults have the power. What good is it if not exercised?
Roger Hines
2/17/16
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