The Integration of Pop Culture into Curriculum

The article “High-school classes go for pop culture” discusses the integration of pop culture into the curriculum in Australian schools. Examples of this include students creating art from trash, playing the logo quiz, studying car and perfume ads, and watching YouTube videos in their high school English class under lesson plans produced for teachers by the national English teacher organizations.  Using resources such as these has raised concerns at the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority that teachers will adopt the units thinking they reflect the balanced study of English mandated in the curriculum.  Though the material would be engaging, there are other ways to engage students. It is possible for teachers to engage their students in their lessons without necessarily needing to draw on curriculum content from other learning areas.  Resources such as these should only been seen as “a slice of learning, not the full program.”  The intent of integrating subjects is to produce a series of resources that is engaging to students, based on themes that fit the English syllabus as well as the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities in national curriculum.

“Curriculum represents selected aspects of learning and cultural values…it is culturally produced in order to be culturally interpreted, that is, regulated and consumed by people” (Wadham et al. 2007). Pop culture breeds consumer culture in that it allows us to “understand the world and how individuals should operate within it” (Wadham et al. 2007).  In saying this, I think that pop culture should be integrated into Australian curriculums, but to a certain extent, and in conjunction with the mandated curriculum.  As Wadham states, “Humans are cultural beings – we develop meanings and interpretations of the word around us.”  We “actively produce and are produced by culture” (2007).   Because we are exposed to pop culture in our daily lives and because this interaction plays a role in shaping who we are and who we will become, I think that it is important for pop culture to be incorporated in schools. By doing so, students will be able to better relate what they are learning in schools to their world view, who they think they are as individuals, and what role they play in society, thus gaining a better understanding of what is being taught. 

I also think that much of the mandated curriculum does not grasp students’ attention and engage them in learning.  If students are not engaged in the learning process, little or no learning will occur.  The students’ attention must be grasped in some way and teachers can do so by relating pop culture and students’ interests to the course-mandated curriculum.  If students are interested in what they are learning, they are more apt to gain a better understanding of what is being taught.  Personally, I know that if any one of my teachers took the time to learn about my interests and considered these interests when creating their lesson plans, I had a greater respect for them and I immersed myself more in the lesson and in the content being covered.  I think that once the students are engaged and the teacher has their attention, it is easier to relate the interests of the students and pop culture to the mandated curriculum.  I also think that it is, in fact, more beneficial for teachers to incorporate curriculum content from other learning areas because then students are able to make connections and construct a broader perspective of learning and education.

References

Ferrari, J. (2013, September 16). High-school classes go for pop culture. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/high-school-classes-go-for-pop-culture/story-fn59nlz9-1226719602415#

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney:

Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?