♪ (tranquil music) ♪ ♪ (industrial music) ♪ ♪ (synthpop music) ♪ - "Don't Stay in School"? - Cool hair. - ♪ I wasn't taught how to get a job ♪ ♪ But I can remember dissecting a frog ♪ ♪ I wasn't taught how to pay tax ♪ ♪ But I know loads
about Shakespeare's classics ♪ ♪ I was never taught how to vote ♪ ♪ They devoted that time... ♪ - I have to say, I wouldn't have expected this awesome level of rapping
from a guy that looks like that. - ♪ I was never taught
what laws there are ♪ ♪ Let me repeat ♪
- True. - There should be a law against that here. - ♪ But I know how Henry VIII
killed his women ♪ - This is great. - ♪ Igneous, metamorphic,
and sedimentary rocks ♪ ♪ Yet I don't know squat
about trading stocks ♪ ♪ Or how money works at all ♪ ♪ Where does it come from? ♪ - I know. I didn't learn about money. - ♪ ...the world function? ♪ ♪ Didn't learn how much
it costs to raise a kid ♪ ♪ Or what an affidavit is ♪ ♪ But I spent days on what
the quadratic equation is ♪ ♪ Negative b plus or minus
the square root of b squared ♪ ♪ Minus 4ac over 2a ♪ ♪ That's insane,
that's absolutely insane ♪ - It's insane? - ♪ They made me learn that
over basic first aid ♪ - No life application, yeah. - ♪ ...the most deadly mental disorders ♪ ♪ Or diseases with preventable causes ♪
- Wow. - ♪ Or how to buy a how with a mortgage ♪ ♪ If I could afford it ♪ ♪ 'Cause abstract maths
was deemed more important ♪ - Yeah, we need to think more
about what we're teaching, absolutely. - ♪ But it's cool,
'cause now I could tell you ♪ ♪ If the number of unnecessary deaths ♪ ♪ Caused by that choice was prime ♪ - (chuckles) Nice. - ♪ Or how to help my depressed friend
with their mental state? ♪ - This is sad. - ♪ But learn mental maths ♪ ♪ Because you won't have a calculator
with you every day ♪ - (chuckles)
- ♪ They say it's not the kids ♪ ♪ The parents are the problem ♪ ♪ Then if you taught the kids to parent ♪ ♪ That's the problem solved then ♪
- Yeah. - ♪ I'm only fluent in this
language, for serious? ♪ ♪ The rest of the world speaks two ♪ ♪ Do you think I'm an idiot? ♪ - (amused) This guy has
got a lot on his mind. - ♪ But I won't take it ♪ ♪ I'll tell everyone
my childhood was wasted ♪ - Man, he's mad. - ♪ I'll share it everywhere
how I was "educated" ♪ - Wow.
- ♪ And insist ♪ ♪ These pointless things,
don't stay in school ♪ - (impressed) Oh. Nice. - That was amazing! (laughs) - (discouraged) No. That's what I do. I teach. - I have three kids that have already
graduated from high school. And it wasn't until
after the fact that I'm like, "Okay, wow, they really
don't know about real world." ♪ (industrial music) ♪ - (Finebros) So have you
ever thought about what this guy was saying about education? - Not until recently--
not until now, actually. - Every day as a teacher. I keep saying, "How am I gonna
translate into real life?" - As a teacher right now, we see people really teaching to the test. And I know that my students
are very frustrated with it. - No one ever taught me
how to write a check or how to balance a checkbook. You just learn that by trial and error. - They don't teach us about taxes. You don't teach about responsibilities. They don't teach us about our credit. They teach us old things like
the math-- like he was saying, that math with all the square
and the b and all that. We don't do that! - (Finebros) So do you agree
with his statement? - Not the overall statement,
like "don't stay in school." But I get it as far as school is
one outlet of knowledge source. - The problem is there's
a lot of information out there. In order to get what that guy was after, you would have to have
kids in school for 12 hours a day. - I think it's important.
I think we need to offer kids more in the way of technical education,
like vocational education. - We do focus a lot on testing and not so much on real-life applications. So our kids end up really
confused when they graduate. - (Finebros) And what level of school
are your children at? - My oldest is gonna
be a senior this year. - My own kids are in middle school. - I only have one left in high school. - My son is going to the sixth grade. My daughter's going to the ninth grade. - My oldest is in college. And then my youngest is gonna
be a junior in high school. - My daughter is gonna
be going to 11th grade. (hushed) Oh gosh, I'm so old. - (Finebros) And overall,
what do you think about the curriculum
that they're learning? - I think it's really good. - Some of it is good.
You know, some of it is okay. - I feel like he's gotten
a good education. - Could be a lot better. - It's okay. We do need to reassess the way
that we look at education and what we're teaching. - The curriculum that they're learning
is pretty much academics, and it's like the video. This is not really what
they're gonna take with them when they leave school. - (Finebros) When you look back
at your own education, do you feel it prepared you for life?
- Yes, actually. The math part, because
of what I do for a living. I'm a machinist. - The best things that I learned
in school was to read and write. And I've been told over and over again that if I can write well
and communicate with people, that that would really
serve me well in the real world. - It helps me remember
random questions on Jeopardy! - I got a lot of math,
got a lot of reading. But regards to the social skills, things like-- literally
you hear about it-- balancing your checkbook--
those kinds of things I didn't get. - I didn't learn a lot of stuff
that I wish I would. I'm learning from my kids now. The school never prepared me for that. - Well, it didn't prepare me
on how to get a job. I don't remember the class of,
"How to get hired." (giggles) Don't remember that class. - (Finebros) Why do you think we aren't teaching these things in school? - They just want the kids
to learn the basics, get 'em in, get 'em out. - They don't want to complicate it.
They don't have the time. - It's really, really difficult
when you are just asking for the entire system
to be completely changed. - They feel like it's not important, but they don't understand
that it is important. - The state educations is getting
enough money from our taxes to be able to provide more than
what they're providing right now. - In order for my kids
to take certain classes, they had to take extra classes. Those are electives. It's not required, 'cause they're focusing more
on the reading and writing, which, of course, is important.
But it's not teaching them about what's happening on CNN
when they watch the news. - Because we're so concerned about test taking and scores for schools. We have to change the mentality
of how we think in education. There is plenty of time to teach
kids how to be good citizens and how to contribute to the society and the communities around them. - (clang!)
- (Finebros) Truth! Other people would say that
the school is for academics, and the responsibility lies
with the parents for life lessons and things of that nature.
Do you agree with that statement? - I think it's a partnership. - I think there could be a balance to it. You can't just let the school
teach 'em everything. - If you had that life course at school, and kids were coming home
talking about that life course and bringing up that stuff
to your parents-- I believe it's a joint effort. - I think that it's the parents'
responsibility ultimately. But I also feel that the school-- with regards to the reading,
writing, and arithmetic-- those three things are not good enough. - (Finebros) So do you think
that your children are properly prepared
for everything in the world off of their schooling?
- Yes, I do. - I hope so. - No. -No. - There are some things
that you're not gonna be able to teach children by talking to them. They're gonna have to be put into it. - Actually, looking at that video now, I want to impart as much
knowledge as I can and let them know about
the mistakes that I made. - (Finebros) So back to the video, he decided to call his song
"Don't Stay in School." What do you think about
that choice of a title? - Oh, I hate it. (chuckles) I hate it. - Gives the wrong message
to some kids that, "Hey, why should I go to school, where I can learn this outside of school?" - He's just being over the top. Every kid knows, you have to go to school. - I think that it's kind of a shock value. It's just like, "What do you mean,
'Don't stay in school'? That's just..." you know. And then you want to click on the video. You want to see what the hell
they're talking about. - I want my own kids to watch that video. I'm gonna search for that one, (cracking up) and I'm gonna
show it to my kids today. - It's okay, because
I'm pretty sure, after seeing that, he wasn't really trying to say,
"Ditch out of school." - (Finebros) So this was made
by a young person that started a whole
conversation about education between both students and adults. Were you aware that these
types of deeper conversations end up happening
thanks to a YouTube video? - Not at all. I've been fighting
with my daughter over YouTube. I love that side of YouTube.
I'm actually now thinking, we could just educate
our students more with that. - With the existence of YouTube,
I had to find a peace with it, and I do bring it into my class. They enjoy seeing something, if you talk about, from the real world. - It's amazing how they empower
themselves with YouTube. YouTube is powerful. - (Finebros) So last question:
what is something you think should change in
the current education system for kids that you think will help them
enter in the real world? - More real-life situations
that kids are prepared for. - Maybe they should
put something that's life skills. - The whole life class.
I think that's super important. - I think that their senior year
should be really a chance for them to start to explore careers. - I wish there was just
a little bit more leeway. Kids don't all learn the same. They don't want to open your dusty books. But if the same exact
information and facts were put in a different way, I think they're more open to it. - Let's leave our obsession
with competing with the world over test scores. We have more scientists in our society. Let's focus on creating those people, not test takers in this country. - Thanks for watching
the first episode of Parents React. - In the comments below, let us know what video
we should react to next. - Subscribe. We have
new videos every week. - Goodbye! - Goodbye. Stay in school. ♪ (industrial music) ♪
I've got some mixed feelings about this, you know? I mean, the video is good. The song is good. But at the same time, some people don't even get to go to school.. If you understand my point of view.
It really infuriates me when they constantly talk over videos missing entire points.
Most schools will teach you, if you pay attention about half the time, how to learn how to do these things. They also taught me many of the things he missed. I was never a good student. I usually learned ahead of the class, and moved on. I only wanted out.