School – Supertramp
Over the years school has been a major focus of media, with songs such as Another Brick in the Wall and School’s Out for Summer. Various school based movies have gained recognition, some even gaining a cult following: Heathers; Slap Her, She’s French and most recently Mean Girls. So, what do these have in common? They all portray school in a negative light – Supertramp’s School is no traitor to the cause.
Written around 1974 School paints a bleak picture of the schooling system of the 1960’s and 70’s. Supertramp thoroughly chastises the education system, and the theme of the song School largely resembles Pink Floyd’s later work: Another Brick in The Wall.
Supertramp present school as a place not of learning, but instead a place of fixed values and beliefs, school is not a place in which you’re educated, it is a place where you’re taught to assimilate and accept the beliefs of your previous generations.
School brings up the importance of maintaining personal choice and independence despite pressures to conform from schools and society as a whole. Roger Hodgson demonstrates this by singing, in his typical ‘miserable’ voice: “Maybe I’m mistaken expecting you to fight, maybe I’m just crazy don’t know wrong from right…But while I'm still living, I've just got this to say, It's always up to you if you want to be that, want to see that, want to see that way…” Implying that it is always up to people in society to make decisions and think for themselves instead of just accepting the values that schools of the time forced onto the students.
In School, nothing is presented as individual, there is not a teacher, there are teachers. There is not a single student, there is a group of students – all the same, all identical. As previously stated, this lack of individualism in schools is the main theme of Supertramp’s School.
The representation of the three key factors; students, teachers, and the community or society, is finely interwoven to the point that much of the meaning of the song would be lost if one of the factors was removed. The community in school is the main force controlling the values that are passed on, though the teachers, to the students; the students of the school then grow up and enter the community – causing the cycle to start again and values to remain fixed
Hodgson sings, in the first verse of the song “Don’t forget your books, you know you’ve got to learn the golden rule”. The golden rule is traditionally a series of moral codes in which people abide by. While it would be nice to think that Hodgson was implying that students were taught morals in the schooling system this is not what he means. Hodgson talks about the golden rule, not as a series of values, but literally as ’those with the most gold win’.
School does not show communities in the sense of a small tight-knit group of people supporting the school, instead we are given a view on society of the time as a whole – and like everything in the song – it is far from positive. School shows the role that society played in the values that were taught to the students. School presents schools as a place highly influenced and run by the traditional Christian values of previous generations. Hodgson sings “What are they trying to do? Make a good boy of you” and then goes on to say “Don’t want the devil to come pull out your eyes” highlighting the extent that schools relied on traditional values to keep students at bay.
School largely criticises the teaching style and teachers of the time, placing them in a negative role. Hodgson portrays teachers like interrogators and leaders of a totalitarian regime, people who tell you what to think as opposed to people who help you grow and learn. He states “Don’t criticise, they’re old and wise, do as they tell you to” saying, quite bluntly, teachers are force whom you automatically give your respect, never question, and accept as the truth.
Students are conditioned to become what it commonly regarded as the ‘silent majority’ a silent, fickle, naïve group who do not question anything they see. They’re taught to “be like Johnnie”. Johnnie is a student who is, as Hodgson states, “Too-good.” He is a student who when a “Teacher tells you stop your play and get on with your work”, stops his play and gets on with his work. Johnnie is a student that doesn’t “hang around and learn what life’s about” Those who are not a “Johnnie” are forced into submission by the unwavering confronting power that their superiors hold, they’re forced to agree even though inside they maybe be “full of doubt”, they are unable to show it
As previously stated, school plays a large part in the media, various movies have been released, many chastising conformity in schools. The wannabe satire Mean Girls, is a dodgy teen movie, which insisted on including its cliché mushy prom scene aside. However, Mean Girls looked at the effects of conformity. Though on a smaller scale to that of School, Mean Girls looked what mindless conformity does when it’s portrayed as the ‘right’ thing to do, it looked at what happens to those who disagree with what’s cool and popular and the way they were brought down by their peers, until they lost all morale and felt no desire to fight. This same scenario happens in School, the opposition are hurt, shunned and shamed until they lose all desire to fight.
School is a valuable insight into the way schools were run in the 1960’s and 70’s, it shows us the way schools were, this on its own is a valuable comparison with our schooling system. It allows students of today to appreciate the changes in the schooling system and thank God that they didn’t go to school in the 1960 and 70’s.
Though schooling has changed for the better, the message of Supertramp’s School still remains as relevant as it did 30 years ago. School looks at mindless conformity, something that still occurs in today’s society. Though School chastises conformists, it doesn’t tell students mindlessly run amuck and rebel against all forms of conformity – it tells people to think before they accept what they’re told. This message is one that will never lose its value no matter how much schooling changes and evolves – or devolves.
- Nitya Devi (2004)