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发帖数: 29846 | 1 VA school board defends 8-year-olds singing ‘Occupy’ lyrics
posted at 12:07 pm on January 3, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
Give enough monkeys enough typewriters, and you will eventually end up with
the complete works of Shakespeare. Give enough 8-year-olds enough “
inspiration,” and you will apparently end up with an ode to the Occupy
movement.
That’s the argument being advanced by the Albemarle County (Virginia)
School Board in defense of lyrics purportedly written by third-grade
students at Woodbrook Elementary School. The title of the song is “Part of
the 99.” Here are the lyrics:
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes—they’re the 1 percent
I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes—they’re the 1 percent
I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99
The inspiration for these heartfelt sentiments didn’t come entirely from
the monkeys’—I mean kids’—inborn sense of social awareness. The effort
was guided by professionals at Kid Pan Alley, an organization that helps
children write and perform their own songs. The organization’s motto is “
Inspiring kids to be creators, not consumers.”
A video at Kid Pan Alley’s website provides a more in-depth look into the
group’s mission. Here is a transcript of the first few sentences:
Imagine that you are a child writing a song with your classmates guided
by a professional songwriter. You would be changed forever. You would learn
about teamwork and the value of including everyone’s diverse ideas. You
would feel listened to and really proud of your accomplishments.
So, putting aside the question of whether 8-year-olds working independently
would dream up a battle hymn to class warfare, we are to believe that an
organization dedicated to “including everyone’s diverse ideas” would not
have at least nudged the tykes toward the 99 percent theme? Steve Koleszar,
chairman of the school board, doesn’t think so. He tells a local CBS
affiliate:
They don’t censor what the kids write. They don’t shape what the kids
write. It all comes out of the kids own mouths and the kids own words…
The kids choose the topic, this class chose the topic and those are
their words.
Carole Thorpe, of Jefferson Area Tea Party Chair, is incredulous. Of the
claim of freedom from censorship, she asks:
Does this also include religious content of lyrics? Would it include
profanity? Does the school at any point say this content is inappropriate
for an eight-year-old? |
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