The thing that most resonated with me from this reading was their approach to popular culture. It reminded me of the Marxist teaching of the proletariat versus the bourgeoisie. Education in the high school does place an emphasis on the "classics" while largely ignoring current works. If movies are used, it is a movie that is an unimaginative retelling of the classic we are studying. When studying Othello in a multicultural, urban classroom, would you not look to the movie "O"? What about finding music that represents the same struggle Beowulf had against Grendel?
I enjoyed the phrasing of their argument, too. There is an "hierarchy that has been articulated between elite culture and popular culture...clearly, one of the core purposes of industrial schooling has been to expose children to the 'best' the culture has to offer to elevate them from their vulgar and 'un-American' backgrounds."
What this "elite culture" fails to realize is that this "vulgar" background is more American and more relevant to the students. As the authors argue, our job is to use the classics, highlighted by contemporary, popular culture references so that we instill in students the ability to better critique the "hegemonic texts like local, state, and national legislation..."
If we cannot reach this, then we have truly failed them. This is my idea of "leave no student behind." Give them the skills to question critically of the government so we have more and more people able to recognize when the government is being stupid and immature and when are they are being fed political rhetoric from the media.
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