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  • ♪ (tranquil music) ♪

  • ♪ (industrial music) ♪

  • ♪ (synthpop music) ♪

  • - "Don't Stay in School"?

  • - Cool hair.

  • - ♪ I wasn't taught how to get a job

  • But I can remember dissecting a frog

  • ♪ I wasn't taught how to pay tax

  • But I know loads about Shakespeare's classics

  • ♪ I was never taught how to vote

  • They devoted that time... ♪

  • - I have to say, I wouldn't have expected

  • this awesome level of rapping from a guy that looks like that.

  • - ♪ I was never taught what laws there are

  • Let me repeat ♪ - True.

  • - There should be a law against that here.

  • - ♪ But I know how Henry VIII killed his women

  • - This is great.

  • - ♪ Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks

  • Yet I don't know squat about trading stocks

  • Or how money works at all

  • Where does it come from? ♪

  • - I know. I didn't learn about money.

  • - ♪ ...the world function? ♪

  • Didn't learn how much it costs to raise a kid

  • Or what an affidavit is

  • But I spent days on what the quadratic equation is

  • Negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared

  • Minus 4ac over 2a ♪

  • That's insane, that's absolutely insane

  • - It's insane?

  • - ♪ They made me learn that over basic first aid

  • - No life application, yeah.

  • - ♪ ...the most deadly mental disorders

  • Or diseases with preventable causes ♪ - Wow.

  • - ♪ Or how to buy a how with a mortgage

  • If I could afford it

  • ♪ 'Cause abstract maths was deemed more important

  • - Yeah, we need to think more about what we're teaching,

  • absolutely.

  • - ♪ But it's cool, 'cause now I could tell you

  • If the number of unnecessary deaths

  • Caused by that choice was prime

  • - (chuckles) Nice.

  • - ♪ Or how to help my depressed friend with their mental state? ♪

  • - This is sad.

  • - ♪ But learn mental maths

  • Because you won't have a calculator with you every day

  • - (chuckles) - ♪ They say it's not the kids

  • The parents are the problem

  • Then if you taught the kids to parent

  • That's the problem solved then ♪ - Yeah.

  • - ♪ I'm only fluent in this language, for serious? ♪

  • The rest of the world speaks two

  • Do you think I'm an idiot? ♪

  • - (amused) This guy has got a lot on his mind.

  • - ♪ But I won't take it

  • ♪ I'll tell everyone my childhood was wasted

  • - Man, he's mad.

  • - ♪ I'll share it everywhere how I was "educated" ♪

  • - Wow. - ♪ And insist

  • These pointless things, don't stay in school

  • - (impressed) Oh. Nice.

  • - That was amazing! (laughs)

  • - (discouraged) No.

  • That's what I do. I teach.

  • - I have three kids that have already graduated from high school.

  • And it wasn't until after the fact that I'm like,

  • "Okay, wow, they really don't know about real world."

  • ♪ (industrial music) ♪

  • - (Finebros) So have you ever thought about

  • what this guy was saying about education?

  • - Not until recently-- not until now, actually.

  • - Every day as a teacher.

  • I keep saying, "How am I gonna translate into real life?"

  • - As a teacher right now,

  • we see people really teaching to the test.

  • And I know that my students are very frustrated with it.

  • - No one ever taught me how to write a check

  • or how to balance a checkbook.

  • You just learn that by trial and error.

  • - They don't teach us about taxes.

  • You don't teach about responsibilities.

  • They don't teach us about our credit.

  • They teach us old things like the math-- like he was saying,

  • that math with all the square and the b and all that.

  • We don't do that!

  • - (Finebros) So do you agree with his statement?

  • - Not the overall statement, like "don't stay in school."

  • But I get it as far as school is one outlet of knowledge source.

  • - The problem is there's a lot of information out there.

  • In order to get what that guy was after,

  • you would have to have kids in school for 12 hours a day.

  • - I think it's important. I think we need to offer kids more

  • in the way of technical education, like vocational education.

  • - We do focus a lot on testing

  • and not so much on real-life applications.

  • So our kids end up really confused when they graduate.

  • - (Finebros) And what level of school are your children at?

  • - My oldest is gonna be a senior this year.

  • - My own kids are in middle school.

  • - I only have one left in high school.

  • - My son is going to the sixth grade.

  • My daughter's going to the ninth grade.

  • - My oldest is in college.

  • And then my youngest is gonna be a junior in high school.

  • - My daughter is gonna be going to 11th grade.

  • (hushed) Oh gosh, I'm so old.

  • - (Finebros) And overall, what do you think

  • about the curriculum that they're learning?

  • - I think it's really good.

  • - Some of it is good. You know, some of it is okay.

  • - I feel like he's gotten a good education.

  • - Could be a lot better.

  • - It's okay.

  • We do need to reassess the way that we look at education

  • and what we're teaching.

  • - The curriculum that they're learning is pretty much academics,

  • and it's like the video.

  • This is not really what they're gonna take with them

  • when they leave school.

  • - (Finebros) When you look back at your own education,

  • do you feel it prepared you for life? - Yes, actually.

  • The math part, because of what I do for a living.

  • I'm a machinist.

  • - The best things that I learned in school was to read and write.

  • And I've been told over and over again

  • that if I can write well and communicate with people,

  • that that would really serve me well in the real world.

  • - It helps me remember random questions on Jeopardy!

  • - I got a lot of math, got a lot of reading.

  • But regards to the social skills,

  • things like-- literally you hear about it--

  • balancing your checkbook-- those kinds of things I didn't get.

  • - I didn't learn a lot of stuff that I wish I would.

  • I'm learning from my kids now.

  • The school never prepared me for that.

  • - Well, it didn't prepare me on how to get a job.

  • I don't remember the class of, "How to get hired."

  • (giggles) Don't remember that class.

  • - (Finebros) Why do you think

  • we aren't teaching these things in school?

  • - They just want the kids to learn the basics,

  • get 'em in, get 'em out.

  • - They don't want to complicate it. They don't have the time.

  • - It's really, really difficult when you are just asking

  • for the entire system to be completely changed.

  • - They feel like it's not important,

  • but they don't understand that it is important.

  • - The state educations is getting enough money from our taxes

  • to be able to provide more than what they're providing right now.

  • - In order for my kids to take certain classes,

  • they had to take extra classes.

  • Those are electives. It's not required,

  • 'cause they're focusing more on the reading and writing,

  • which, of course, is important. But it's not teaching them

  • about what's happening on CNN when they watch the news.

  • - Because we're so concerned

  • about test taking and scores for schools.

  • We have to change the mentality of how we think in education.

  • There is plenty of time to teach kids how to be good citizens

  • and how to contribute to the society

  • and the communities around them.

  • - (clang!) - (Finebros) Truth!

  • Other people would say that the school is for academics,

  • and the responsibility lies with the parents for life lessons

  • and things of that nature. Do you agree with that statement?

  • - I think it's a partnership.

  • - I think there could be a balance to it.

  • You can't just let the school teach 'em everything.

  • - If you had that life course at school,

  • and kids were coming home talking about that life course

  • and bringing up that stuff to your parents--

  • I believe it's a joint effort.

  • - I think that it's the parents' responsibility ultimately.

  • But I also feel that the school--

  • with regards to the reading, writing, and arithmetic--

  • those three things are not good enough.

  • - (Finebros) So do you think that your children

  • are properly prepared for everything in the world

  • off of their schooling? - Yes, I do.

  • - I hope so.

  • - No.

  • -No.

  • - There are some things that you're not gonna be able

  • to teach children by talking to them.

  • They're gonna have to be put into it.

  • - Actually, looking at that video now,

  • I want to impart as much knowledge as I can

  • and let them know about the mistakes that I made.

  • - (Finebros) So back to the video,

  • he decided to call his song "Don't Stay in School."

  • What do you think about that choice of a title?

  • - Oh, I hate it. (chuckles) I hate it.

  • - Gives the wrong message to some kids that,

  • "Hey, why should I go to school,

  • where I can learn this outside of school?"

  • - He's just being over the top.

  • Every kid knows, you have to go to school.

  • - I think that it's kind of a shock value.

  • It's just like, "What do you mean, 'Don't stay in school'?

  • That's just..." you know.

  • And then you want to click on the video.

  • You want to see what the hell they're talking about.

  • - I want my own kids to watch that video.

  • I'm gonna search for that one,

  • (cracking up) and I'm gonna show it to my kids today.

  • - It's okay, because I'm pretty sure, after seeing that,

  • he wasn't really trying to say, "Ditch out of school."

  • - (Finebros) So this was made by a young person

  • that started a whole conversation about education

  • between both students and adults.

  • Were you aware that these types of deeper conversations

  • end up happening thanks to a YouTube video?

  • - Not at all. I've been fighting with my daughter over YouTube.

  • I love that side of YouTube. I'm actually now thinking,

  • we could just educate our students more with that.

  • - With the existence of YouTube, I had to find a peace with it,

  • and I do bring it into my class.

  • They enjoy seeing something,

  • if you talk about, from the real world.

  • - It's amazing how they empower themselves with YouTube.

  • YouTube is powerful.

  • - (Finebros) So last question: what is something

  • you think should change in the current education system for kids

  • that you think will help them enter in the real world?

  • - More real-life situations that kids are prepared for.

  • - Maybe they should put something that's life skills.

  • - The whole life class. I think that's super important.

  • - I think that their senior year should be really a chance

  • for them to start to explore careers.

  • - I wish there was just a little bit more leeway.

  • Kids don't all learn the same.

  • They don't want to open your dusty books.

  • But if the same exact information and facts

  • were put in a different way,

  • I think they're more open to it.

  • - Let's leave our obsession with competing with the world

  • over test scores.

  • We have more scientists in our society.

  • Let's focus on creating those people,

  • not test takers in this country.

  • - Thanks for watching the first episode of Parents React.

  • - In the comments below,

  • let us know what video we should react to next.

  • - Subscribe. We have new videos every week.

  • - Goodbye!

  • - Goodbye. Stay in school.

  • ♪ (industrial music) ♪

♪ (tranquil music) ♪

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