The Importance Of Pop Culture In Schools

Most people, especially of this generation, are fond of knowing and embracing whatever is popular. There are so many things that are “trending” now that Twitter’s top 10 trends is not enough to cover, grab, and list everything that people see as “hip”. This is one way to see what Pop Culture is actually about to some netizens. However, how is Pop Culture really defined? According to Delaney (2007), Pop Culture “is generally recognized as the vernacular or people’s culture that predominates in a society at a point in time.” West (2013) put it simpler by saying that, “Popular culture is everywhere.” Whatever most of the people capture the people’s interest now is pop culture. There are so many things that people are into at the moment and it

For the reason that it has been instilled in people’s minds how, like stated above, things that are involved in the world of popular culture shouldn’t be used in the academe, it is hard to get them to understand why pop culture is relevant in schools. However, what they do not understand is how popular culture gets the generation of today going. Communicating with these students and understanding whatever they are interested in will be hard if these teachers do not look at popular culture as something relevant. Popular culture in fact bridges the gap between the teachers and the students in the academe. According to Online Universities (2013), “Pop culture offers an opportunity for educators to meet students where they are.” In the world of the English Language for example. Teachers, of course, in literary courses would want and need their students to read texts from the Greek mythology like The Iliad, Oedipus Rex, and what have you. However, students nowadays are more often not, not interested in that. Today, it has become a trend that students in high school sleep during their literature subjects as what is being discussed do not capture their attention. Considering that their attention span is so short, it will be hard to teach them things of the past or in history. Which is why popular culture is important. How does it actually bridge gaps? One knows how history never fades. Qualities from the past are most of time still present today. Which is why, for example in literature, books that are being read by students today should be read by the teacher and can be used in the classroom. According to Morgan (n.d), “Let them tell you about their world and you’ll have a much easier time telling them about yours. Effective teaching hinges upon communication, and you can’t communicate without entering into the world of those you wish to reach.” When teachers