Dead Prez They Schools Lyrics

Why haven't you learned anything?

Man that school s___ is a joke
The same people who control the school system control
The prison system, and the whole social system
Ever since slavery, nawsayin?

[Verse 1]
I went to school with some redneck crackers
Right around the time 3rd Bass dropped the cactus album
But I was readin Malcolm
I changed my name in '89 cleaning parts of my brain
Like a baby nine
I took a history class serious
Front row, every day of the week, 3rd period
f___in with the teachers had, callin em racist
I tried to show them crackers some light, they couldn't face it
I got my diploma from a school called Rickers
Full of, teenage mothers, and drug dealin n____s
In the hallways, the popo was always present
Searchin through n____s possessions
Lookin for, dope and weapons, get your lessons
That's why my moms kept stressin
I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn't interestin
They seemed to only glorify the Europeans
Claimin Africans were only three-fifths a human being

HOOK:
They schools can't teach us s___
My people need freedom, we tryin to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my d___
Tellin me white man lies straight bullshit (echoes)
They schools aint teachin us, what we need to know to survive
(Say what, say what)
They schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

You see dog, you see how quick these m_________ers be to like
Be tellin n____s get a diploma so you can get a job
Knowwhatimsayin but they don't never tell you how the job
Gonna exploit you every time knowwhatimsayin that's why I be like
f___ they schools!

[Verse 2]
School is like a 12 step brainwash camp
They make you think if you drop out you aint got a chance
To advance in life, they try to make you pull your pants up
Students fight the teachers and get took away in handcuffs
And if that wasn't enough, then they expel y'all
Your peoples understand it but to them, you a failure
Observation and participation, my favorite teachers
When they beat us in the head with them books, it don't reach us
Whether you breakdance or rock suede addidas
Or be in the bathroom with your clique, smokin reefer
Then you know they math class aint important 'less you addin up cash
In multiples, unemployment aint rewardin
They may as well teach us extortion
You either get paid or locked up, the pricipal is like a warden
In a four year sentence, mad n____s never finish
But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a doctor or a dentist

HOOK(first part of hook twice)

Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all high class n____s with y'all nose up
Cuz we droppin this s___ on this joint, f___ y'all
We gon speak for ourselves
Knowhatimsayin? Cuz see the schools aint teachin us nothin
They aint teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they s___
Make they businesses successful while it's exploitin us
Knowhatimsayin? And they aint teachin us nothin related to
Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin?
Aint teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto
They aint teachin us how to stop the police from murdering us
And brutalizing us, they aint teachin us how to get our rent paid
Knowhatimsayin? They aint teachin our families how to interact
Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? They just teachin us
How to build they s___ up, knowhatimsayin? That's why my n____s
Got a problem with this s___, that's why n____s be droppin out that
s___ cuz it don't relate, you go to school the f___in police
Searchin you you walkin in your s___ like this a military compound
Knowhatimsayin? So school don't even relate to us
Until we have some s___ where we control the f___in school system
Where we reflect how we gon solve our own problems
Them n____s aint gon relate to school, s___ that just how it is
Knowhatimsayin? And I love education, knowhatimsayin?
But if education aint elevatin me, then you knowhatimsayin it aint
Takin me where I need to go on some bullshit, then f___ education
Knowhatimsayin? At least they s___, matter of fact my n____
this whole school system can suck my d___, BEEYOTCH!!