Pop Culture May Be(yoncé) The Future Of Higher Education
By Samantha Craig
Lately, it seems like universities are finally buying into the power of pop culture and introducing the topic into their classrooms. As early as 2011, Georgetown came out with a “Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay Z” course. Other professors and universities soon followed suit, and developed similar courses that used pop culture as a reference point: “The Sociology of Miley Cyrus” (Skidmore), “Politicizing Beyoncé” (Rutgers), and closer to home, “Sean Combs and Urban Culture” (NYU). Putting initial excitement about the glamor of such courses aside, is it more beneficial for students to have something relatable, though potentially distracting to traditional academia, presented in the classroom?
Rutgers University Professor Kevin Allred, who has taught the “Politicizing Beyoncé” course, states: “I use Beyoncé to discuss race, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. because her cultural influence is so pervasive and as one of the most powerful black women in pop culture today, what she does says something about the ways we see sex, gender, and race as categories in society.”
He also stresses the importance of retaining students’ interest. “I firmly believe that you have to make your material interesting to students to engage them, especially in today’s technological world, or else you risk them being unable to relate, and thus deem the material important… to study them [social and cultural issues] we also have to look at ourselves. And I think pop culture helps do that.”
Brian Centrone, a Liberal Studies writing professor at NYU who centered the focus of his course on “Art, Culture, and Media,” notes the importance of creating a “context” for students. “Pop culture just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There are histories, philosophies, theories, ideologies all working together to create what is seemingly this very instantaneous moment in our lives,” he says. “But in reality, these trends, fads, and phenomenon are deeply rooted in our past as a culture, as a nation, and as a people. Ultimately, this is what we’re always striving to teach our students, so if using pop culture helps us get there, more power to it.”
The sudden emergence of this brand of education has come at a time where society is questioning the value of attending college. Could this shift in educational perspective be a result of efforts for the universities themselves to stay relevant?
“It comes down to the idea of engagement, capturing an audience. Universities know that if they want the best and the brightest to come to their schools, they have to offer courses that are more interesting, more diverse, more in line with what students are passionate about today,” Centrone states. “Some academics might see this as a passing fad, a way to make money, a sellout, and maybe in some cases they’re right. If you can use what is relevant to students to illustrate deeper ideas, to make them connect with the larger world around them, then you’re performing the tasks of the university.”
Allred shared this sentiment. “Technology advances so quickly and I’m finding in my classrooms that the attention span of the average student is changing as well,” he said. “Their references are quickly exceeding those of the teacher, so it’s the responsibility of a good teacher to push [his or herself] to be aware of what is important and interesting in their students’ lives — because that is what is going to determine what kind of interest they have in the material.”
Ultimately, this current change in the academic mindset is hinting at how higher education will morph in the future. “[Pop culture in the classroom] signifies the beginnings of a willingness to change, although I am not always hopeful about how far universities are willing to take things,” said Allred. “We don’t live in the same time as when higher education was first plotted out and different curricula were devised, and we need to be flexible and change with the times.”
When it’s all said and done, the difficulty in blending cultural differences with a traditional academic basis will be timeless. “Like pop culture itself, what is relevant to students shifts radically from generation to generation. Academia will always struggle to find a balance between providing students with the foundation that they need and the relevance they seek,” Centrone adds.
“What any great educator knows, and what they want their students to know, is that the drive to move forward is fueled by what’s behind us.”
