Pump Up The Volume Analysis
1990’s Pump Up the Volume follows Mark Hunter, a shy high school implant that adopts the persona of outspoken pirate radio deejay ‘Happy Harry Hard-on’ by night, as he stirs up fellow teens and unravels the fabric of his suburban Arizona community. By subverting the expectations that fellow students face, he reveals the institutional obstacles that arise in teaching and learning when the education system services individual merit.
By portraying the failings of pursuing academic excellence above all else, the film critiques the bureaucratic administration. According to Hubert Humphrey principal Loretta Creswood, “this school is judged on one category only: academic scores” and boasts “the highest S.A.T. scores in the state,” flaunting the school’s …show more content…
Harry’s broadcasts strike a chord with the disaffected youth of the academically-driven community of Paradise Hills: “You have parents, teachers… movies, magazines, and TV telling you what to do… Your job, your purpose, is to get accepted, get a cute girlfriend, and think up something great to do with the rest of your life. What if you're confused and can't imagine a career?… [No] one wants to hear it.” There are no actual scenes of learning that actually take place in a classroom, merely hints in the form of brief montages and academic expectations, but this is likely intentional. According to David Labaree’s How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning, the best explanation for the current state of education comes from credentialism, observing that individuals seek competitive advantage in the form of degrees and grades, which has educational consequences in the form of discouraging genuine learning and “[disengagement] from the educational process. (Labaree 251)” The effects of this is seen in the film, as parents flock to send their children to the school due to its reputation and strike deals with their children to leave them alone if they do well, playing into a larger message of adults’ eagerness to look the other way in the face of teen exasperation so long as it does not interfere with their academic performance. In preparing for college and the workforce, the journey to attain success leaves no room for the fulfillment, intellectual and otherwise, of the
By portraying the failings of pursuing academic excellence above all else, the film critiques the bureaucratic administration. According to Hubert Humphrey principal Loretta Creswood, “this school is judged on one category only: academic scores” and boasts “the highest S.A.T. scores in the state,” flaunting the school’s …show more content…
Harry’s broadcasts strike a chord with the disaffected youth of the academically-driven community of Paradise Hills: “You have parents, teachers… movies, magazines, and TV telling you what to do… Your job, your purpose, is to get accepted, get a cute girlfriend, and think up something great to do with the rest of your life. What if you're confused and can't imagine a career?… [No] one wants to hear it.” There are no actual scenes of learning that actually take place in a classroom, merely hints in the form of brief montages and academic expectations, but this is likely intentional. According to David Labaree’s How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning, the best explanation for the current state of education comes from credentialism, observing that individuals seek competitive advantage in the form of degrees and grades, which has educational consequences in the form of discouraging genuine learning and “[disengagement] from the educational process. (Labaree 251)” The effects of this is seen in the film, as parents flock to send their children to the school due to its reputation and strike deals with their children to leave them alone if they do well, playing into a larger message of adults’ eagerness to look the other way in the face of teen exasperation so long as it does not interfere with their academic performance. In preparing for college and the workforce, the journey to attain success leaves no room for the fulfillment, intellectual and otherwise, of the