The things kids listen to these days

I had a moment this week where I realized how desensitized our kids are to certain things in society. One of my coworkers that I have worked with for 6 years has recently announced that she will be moving to a new school next year. She told the kids as next week is our last week of school. One of my students wrote an entire play and wanted to get the kids involved in parts so they could perform it and dedicate it to the teacher. (Awesome!)

A group of my boys thought they were too cool for a play and decided they wanted to make a song for her. They are used to me taking popular songs and changing the words to fit our AR celebrations in front of the school and so they asked me how I do it. I told them I print off the lyrics and then start changing it to fit my needs. I've done songs from YMCA to Respect by Aretha Franklin. I told them to choose a song and I will print it off for them once I check out the lyrics.

So, the boys get excited and come tell me their song choice. They shuffle their feet and eyes dart a little before telling me that there is one or two cuss words in the intro part but if I would just cross those out when I give them the lyrics then they can change it to a science song.

O...m...g. The song they chose was "The Motto" by Drake. I'll give you a second to Google the lyrics to the song before you continue reading...
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(Enter choice shocked expression)
Uh... right? That's what I said when I started reading through the lyrics. That entire song would be one long black line if I crossed out the unacceptable stuff.

I have come to conclusion that they never really paid attention to the words and only liked the catchy chorus and beat along with a few choice lines they thought were cool in there. They write the word "YOLO" on everything they touch so I know they worship this song. When I gasped in class and told them there was no way I was letting them use this song they were shocked.

"But it's on the radio Mrs. Richards!" And it is... all they do is blank out the worst of it. Why is this junk being played on the radio constantly for listening ears? Young listening ears... I get that songs have their place in society but I think our radio community has a responsibility that they are not taking seriously. Popular stations that play pop music are playing songs repeatedly like the one above... pausing out the "naughty word" isn't enough.

Of course, PARENTS NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT THEIR CHILDREN ARE LISTENING TO! Please, parents you HAVE to listen and look at what your children are listening to. You have to be aware that many songs have suggestive content that your children are quoting, listening to, and surrounding their lives around!

The fact that these kids actually suggested to their teacher to print off this song tells me surely they did not truly know what all the words were saying... but it concerns this 5th grade teacher when I see mention of parts of the song in all that they do.

What do you think?