Jenny from the block

[franceslievens]

When J-Lo started promoting her "Jenny From the Block"-persona it had a lot of appeal with young girls that wore the same pink track suits, big earrings and bubble gum lipgloss. Their jeans were so low cut that when they sat down it revealed their red thong. That is not a pleasant sight, especially when you're a teacher walking through a class.
sister_luck's recent post on what German kids think about the U.S.A. reminded me of the Jennies From the Block in my classes last year. Rap and r&b has become one of the most prominent influences among youngsters today, I believe. Where I grew up on Nirvana and grunge (the clothes! oh! my! friggin! god!), these kids dress like in the music videos played constantly on some local variant of MTV (Jim or mcm or tmf or whatever); they can dance like they dance in the videos; they even act the way the butt shaking, jewelry blinging actresses and actors of the videos do. It's not only the girls. Boys wear their baggy trousers and SeanJohn-sweaters with enough machismo to make Puff "What the Hell is his Name Again" Daddy look proud. We're lightyears removed from my baggy black t-shirts and black trousers. (Or we can just say we're ten years removed from those. Frances isn't as young as she likes to let you believe.)
At first I thought this was a consequence from living in Brussels. Rap and r&b cultures are in the first place linked to big cities. I've grown up in a small town where the most subversive thing you could say was that living in Brussels wasn't that scary or dangerous, where you talk a lot of sex with the boys, but never get to the action, and where you never ever think about strutting yer stuff and showing off. Hometown is indeed a crazy place to grow up. sister_luck's recount has me convinced there is something more going on here than the simple influence of living in the big bad city and growing up quicker than the average small town girl.

Rap culture is indeed the most significant part of youth culture nowadays, but it's only a certain segment of youth that's interested in it. sister_luck writes: "This group of students is in the lower set, i.e. their academic ability is slightly below average." In my experience it were the youngsters in the job-oriented classes that dressed and acted this way, and – something I can't really explain – the 14, 15 and 16 year olds (my third and forth graders) did it more than the two highest groups (16, 17 and 18 year olds). I could see a schism between the two low grades I had and the two highest grades. Somewhere between forth and fifth grade the girls and boys left their copycat behaviour behind and developed their own style. (Somewhere between those grades they usually also leave behind what we call "the monkey years". I say usually, because some people never leave those year behind.)
But not so in the job-oriented classes, where pose sometimes is everything, and strutting yer stuff is just something you do, because their isn't much else, is there? I haven't got a real explanation for it. I only watch and witness and can think of several kids that don't fit the bill. I do believe that youngsters seem to grow up quicker than they did 10 years ago, but they don't. They talk big and think they know stuff, but they don't. Jenny From the Block has taught them to wiggle their asses and smile at the boys, but she hasn't taught them how complicated life, relationships, and just growing up are.

Comments

[mbangel10.livejournal.com]

Well said. Kids do grow up a lot faster these days it seems. Unfortunately, their maturity levels don't. They talk big and act big but indeed, they are still just children.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Yes, and as a teacher I find it very hard to relate to that. I teach morality, so talk about things that are on their minds: sex, relationships, what's on tv, and always I get confronted with a lot of pose, a lot of "we know it all, just move on" and it's very difficult to get through that pose and that attitude and show them there are important things they don't know.

But it's the age. Little know-it-alls. I was the same to a certain degree.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Just one more thing: what really got to me was that it's nearly always the not so bright kids that act this way. These are the ones that I have the most difficulties to relate to them. These are also the kids that get told -- over and over again -- that they aren't good enough. It seems that acting big and talking big is a way to compensate for how the society treats them.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know those Jennies - and of course the thong thing.
Funnily enough, there's some sort of backlash going on - at least at my school. While the current years 8 and 9 are very much influenced by the so-called R&B (which is not Rhythm'n'Blues in my book) and rap culture, grunge and punk are certainly making a comeback in years 6 and 7 (to some extent also in years 8, 9, 10). It's just that they don't know a thing about grunge and punk. I've got 11-year-olds in my classes with Punk's Not Dead t-shirts, The Exploited badges and 'Palestinian' scarves (which they call towel scarves). And of course, Kurt Cobain is a big name for them.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I don't have the 11 and 12 year olds, so I can't speak for them, but I think you are right in seeing a revival of grunge and punk there. I saw it with kids I had in primary school. (But then again -- not all of them -- they were also very much into Eminem.)

And I called Palestinian scarves already "towel scarves" when I was 12, so I think it's a recurring feat. And I was sooooo "Punk's not dead" when I was 13 or so. I loved it. It was the most subversive I could be at that age. The whole "no future" theme lived on a bit in my class and on the last day of school, before our end exams started, we all came as punkers to school. We thought it wouldn't be that big a deal, but the teachers were all sooooo impressed. *g*

It's the constant return of the same. There isn't much of a contesting culture at the moment, so you pick things that were contra years ago. Aren't we all going 80s now, btw? Top Gun, Electronic music and Duran Duran... (Hopefully the power suit won't return...)

And then there's Che Guevara as a fashion statement...

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Thankfully the '80s revival is nearly over - not too keen on it, but I saw a couple of those awful balloon skirts in a shop window in England. Yuck! I can remember the first time they were around.

On a different note and I'm in danger of sounding like someone from my parents' generation, I think that way too many kids I see these days only value appearances - be it looks, flashy cars, money, the right clothes etc. Lots of them want to be filthy rich and pretty (and are quite happy to have surgery in order to achieve that). *shudders*

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Balloon skirt??? *blushes* I had one of those when I was 8 or 9.

I think the appearances thing is very much age related. They see all the time that money can buy them anything, but they'll have to learn the "money won't buy them love". (They desperately need to listen to the Beatles. *g*)