Media

FILM
Urban:
Dangerous Minds
This movie featured Michelle Pfieffer as a tough teacher who works to connect with students in the inner city school she has taken a job in. It portrays the students as an equally tough lot who initially seem to be more street smart than book smart. The issues that the kids deal with in the movie range from teen pregnancy to gang violence and death, and the environment bestows these students with a bleak, hopeless outlook despite their brightness. This movie takes many stereotypes and tosses them into one classroom with one ideal teacher prototype to demonstrate worst/best case scenario, but overall, the issues that surface and the true caring as well as the novel approach to education utilized are valuable.

Suburban:
Never Been Kissed
This is a very cutesy movie with a main character who is actually twenty something and posing as a student to write an expose on teen behavior and eventually falls for one of the teachers. So yes, there is some questionable activity that makes me a little uncomfortable. That aside, the teenage drama, clique organization of the school, and superficiality of certain students is a somewhat indicative, if exaggerated representation of suburban schools. Actually, when trying to think of a suburban movie, it was hard to come up with one that was not over the top, however, that may be a function of my preferred genre as well. Suburban students are portrayed as superficial, paying much attention to appearance and cars, hard partiers, as demonstrated by the requisite parents out of town house trashing, and socially cut-throat. Cliques abounded, and the relative small size made the divisions obvious, as the cruel but hot crowd harassed the sweet but dorky misfits. Based on this movie, suburban schools are scary without proper navigational skills and resources.

Rural:
Footloose
This movie focuses very little on education, but centers around small town students and their mission to revive senior prom despite a town wide ban on rock and roll and dancing. It contrasts the small town rural mores with the edgy attitude of a transfer student (Kevin Bacon) from Chicago. Rural schools are shown to be uptight, strict areas where sports reign supreme, everybody knows everyone else, and outsiders are viewed with both curiosity and suspicion. Extracurricular activities include playing chicken on tractors, hanging out at the drive-in, and senior prom. Basically, rural schools are shown as areas where morals and family values are strong, and education is traditional.

TELEVISION
Urban:
Fresh Prince of Bel Aire
Yes, the school featured in the show is about a rich private school. However, the reaction of Will Smith, the Fresh Prince as a transfer student from the streets of Philadelphia, to this environment demonstrates the contrast with his background. The implications of his reaction to dress code, proper behavior and social order are that city schools are much tougher places where anything goes, that and culture as the uppercrust knows it is non-existent. The necessity of his transfer from the danger of Philly to controlled Bel Aire also spells trouble with the city education.

Suburban:
That 70s show
Many episodes focus on the relationship drama and capers of a core group of friends, but school is occasionally a focal point. The cliquey aura of the suburban atmosphere is communicated clearly. Some students are more serious than others, and cars, dating, part-time jobs and getting access to alcohol fill spare time. Eventually, college becomes a priority for some characters.

Rural:
Smallville
As the name implies, “Smallville,” Kansas is a small rural town. Though the bulk of the series concerns the antics and quest for self-identity of one resident teenage alien, Clark Kent, the details of his high school are well done. As a farm boy himself, Clark has chores before and after school in addition to schoolwork. Once again, sports are a focus of the school culture, and the small town atmosphere lends itself readily to gossip.

NEWS
Urban:
New York Times: To Close a School: A Decision Rooted in Data, but Colored by Nuance
By Javier C. Hernandez
This article details the decision to shut down 14 failing schools in the New York City area. Reasons cited involve poor performance and low standardized test scores, however this data was combined with other issues. One factor considered is overcrowding and the ability of other area schools to handle overflow. Some of the more thought provoking parts of the article to me were the fact that dwindling enrollment was seen as a positive thing, due to increased personal attention, and the effect that such an event would have on students and teachers.

Suburban:
New York Times: In a High School Fracas, Accusations and Confusion
By Kevin Coyne
Millburn High School is a school that has been listed as one of the best in the country and is situated in an affluent area. This story details area demographics and hints at racial tension. It opens and closes on a positive note about the school viewing the inauguration, yet the story is one of violence, and the end of the conflict resulted in one student being hospitalized (and released) due to head injuries sustained from being struck with a baseball bat, and two brothers being arraigned on charges in Newark. Even in upper class suburbia, tension and violence are issues.

Rural:
The Express Times: Great Meadows redistricting hearing scheduled in appellate court
By Stephen J. Novak
The Great Meadows Regional School District is a combination of two townships and has three schools. The conflict outlined in this article involves the desire of the smaller district to withdraw from the regional district due to unfair financial distribution, which was acknowledged. It highlighted a move towards shared resources by the state, and the divisive budget issues that can arise. This rural district is still awaiting a decision by the state, at a hearing to be held in Trenton. My cynical outlook is that the interests of the community looking for reform will be ignored by those in control on the basis of numbers.

MUSIC
Urban:
“Both Sides of the Story” by Phil Collins
This song makes reference to all kinds of depressing life conditions. I always picture dark buildings, alleys and dim streetlights when I hear this song. It talks about violence at home, homelessness and drinking. The title is a cliché, but it is something to bear in mind. You never know what other people are going through.

Suburban:
Difficult to chose this, but I had to go with “Welcome to my Life” by Simple Plan, because it embraces the angst of teenage life. If kids are anything like me, general unhappiness and a desire to be someone else occasionally were a part of adolescence. The idea that no one can understand could easily be a part of the internal conflict of a suburban kid who seems to have it all on the outside yet is filled with insecurity.

Rural:
Hicktown by Jason Aldean
This song makes many rural references. It refers to football, smoking, jacking up pickup tires and grannies. It’s upbeat and fun, and pokes fun at urban slicksters. True country pride that doesn’t take itself too seriously.