Blogia
... be different

little boxes

- educación
little boxes

In Levittown, all the homes did look the same. Even all of the gardens were manicured similarly. If someone disregarded their grass for too long, Levitt would send people in to cut the grass and send the bill later. The Levittowner baby boomers had formed communities where all of the homes looked similar.

In her song "Little Boxes", folk singer Malvina Reynolds described the little box houses of Levittown and its residents as "all just the same." She described how everyone living in the houses all lived the same monotonous life and how everything always ended up the same, just like the houses.  Her observations are right, wrong or both depending on your perspective...

Don´t you think there are similarities with some kinds of education: no attention to diversity and monotonous teaching styles in "little classrooms"?


Little boxes on the hill side, little boxes made of ticky tacky.
Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they were put in boxes, little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers, and there's business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
Where they all get put in boxes and they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
In boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

12 comentarios

mariña -

Hombre gris, con una vida gris, manipulado por personas grises que gobiernan este mundo gris. A ver si hacemos algo y cada uno pone un toque de color en su vida. Be different!!

Cecilia -

Cuando leí este artículo, lo primero que se me representó fue la imagen del "hombre gris", aquel hombre "masa" o "seriado", como los códigos de barra, que no quiere o no puede ser él mismo.

mariña -

Alexandra, eu non dubidaría en sacalo do centro e despois denunciaría a este... Tal cantidade de barbaridades non se poden permitir.
Ainda non chegou o día e xa estás feita unha "madraza", como se adoita dicir...

mariña -

Bueno, aunque a primera vista sea así, a lo mejor podría ser algo parecido a lo del huevo y la gallina, pero casi nos olvidamos por hoy de esos "huevones" que controlan ese corral en el que nos tratan de encerrar.

alexandra -

José Manuel gracias por esa versión de Tom Paxton. A canción é boísima, aínda que a dos ticky tacky boxes tamén ten moita razón. Viva a diversidade! Por certo, como algún día meu fillo veña do cole e diga que aprendeu cousas coma as que di Paxton non sei se non preferirei que saia da escola. Claro que tamén podo presionar dende a ANPA para cousas coma esa non pasen(jeje), aínda non naceu e xa estou pensando en como me vou involucrar no cole. Bueno, unha aperta para todos.

josemanuelvez -

Perdón. Es justo quería decir, pero ya mi cabeza no controla la lateralidad, je, je

mariña -

¿y no lo primero causa de lo segundo?

josemanuelvez -

Hummm! Yo diría que no es 'por un lado y por otro', sino que más bien lo segundo es causa de lo primero...

mariña -

Y es que vivimos en un mundo en el que abunda el ansia de poder y la falta de escrúpulos por un lado, y por otro la ignorancia y falta de reflexión...

ramo -

ese es el tipo de poder que tiene la escuela, aparato ideológico del Estado; y realmente en algunos sitios se exprime al máximo su poder. Ese tipo de cosas son las que se fomentan al otro lado del charco, que llenan un país de gente "patriótica?"..., pero lo más triste es que en este lado del charco hay gente que admira ese modo de ser y pensar

mariña -

Sólo se me ocurre un comentario: escalofriante...

josemanuelvez -

Thos "little" classrooms contain 'big feelings'. Here's an example:

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school?

I learned that newspapers never tell a lie,
I learned that soldiers seldom die,
I learned that everybody's free,
That's what the teacher said to me,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school?

I learned that policemen are my friends,
I learned that justice never ends,
I learned that murders die for their crimes,
even if we make a mistake sometimes,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school?

I learned our government must be strong,
It's always right and never wrong,
Our leaders are the finest men,
And we elect them again and again,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school?

I learned that war is not so bad,
I learned about the great ones we have had,
That we've been to Bosnia and the Gulf,
And someday I might get my chance,
And that's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.