The Miseducation of a Celebrity

            Last week I attended an event where the guest speaker was a well-known recording artist who spoke about his involvement in causes of social justice.  As the artist began speaking about the various social justice causes he supports and why, when he began to talk about the problems in public education, he spoke with the same narrow, prescriptive lens as many celebrities and high profile individual supporters of the transformation of public education.

            The artist, like many celebrities and high profile individuals spoke about public education from a deficit perspective with sweeping generalizations.  Speaking as he was an “authority” on the problems in public education, the artists discussed the research studies he has read, the schools he has visited, and discussions he has engaged in with high profile individuals in the public and private sectors, politicians and others with interest in public education. 

The solutions the artist claimed would transform public education reflected a shallow and simplistic view of the problems plaguing public education.  Arguing the problems in public education stemmed from unions, poverty and lack of qualified teachers and resources in poorer schools.  The artist believed that competition from charter schools, diminishing the power of unions and creating empowerment zones such as the one in Harlem would transform public education.

Although these ideas were a rehashing of solutions previously stated by many celebrities and high profile individuals, surprisingly absent from the artist solutions was an acknowledgement of being part of an industry that targets youth and promotes academic underachievement.  The artist failed to consider how the recording/entertainment industry creates a perception of success coming via underachievement and under education.  Many recording artists are portrayed and promoted as being street smart with a criminal past.  Many of the most successful recording artists are the ones who’s “street cred” is based on having a criminal past that includes not completing high school, selling drugs and being incarcerated.  Additionally, the boasting about excess (money, sex and drugs) in their music and lifestyle captures the attention of impressionable youth who seek to emulate this lifestyle instead of getting an education.  If public education is to be transformed, outside influences such as the targeting of youth by the entertainment industry must be addressed.

As we work to transform public education, it is important that celebrity and high profile supporters understand the problems plaguing public education are complex and multilayered and should not be generalized or viewed as simplistic.  It is also important for celebrities and high profile supporters to understand the impact they could have on the transformation of public education if they can change the culture of their industry that promotes underachievement and targets youth.