Text: Dead Prez. They Schools.

Why haven't you learned anything?

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

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
Fuckin' 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' niggas
In the hallways, the popo was always present

Searchin' through niggas 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 fifth's a human being

They schools can't teach us shit
My people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my dick
Tellin' me white man lies straight bullshit

They schools ain't 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 motherfuckers be to like
Be tellin' niggas get a diploma so you can get a job
Know what I'm sayin' but they don't never tell you how the job
Gonna exploit you every time know what I'm sayin' that's why I be like
Fuck they schools

School is like a 12 step brainwash camp
They make you think if you drop out you ain't 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 ain't important 'less you addin' up cash
In multiples, unemployment ain't rewardin'

They may as well teach us extortion
You either get paid or locked up, the principal is like a warden
In a four year sentence, mad niggas never finish
But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a doctor or a dentist

They schools can't teach us shit
My people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my dick
Tellin' me white man lies straight bullshit

They schools ain't 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

They schools can't teach us shit
My people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my dick
Tellin' me white man lies straight bullshit

They schools ain't 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

'Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all high class niggas with y'all nose up
'Cuz we droppin' this shit on this joint, fuck y'all
We gon' speak for ourselves

Know what I'm sayin'? 'Cuz see the schools ain't teachin' us nothin'
They ain't teachin' us nothin' but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they shit
Make they businesses successful while it's exploitin' us

Know what I'm sayin'? And they ain't teachin' us nothin' related to
Solvin' our own problems, know what I'm sayin'?
Ain't teachin' us how to get crack out the ghetto
They ain't teachin' us how to stop the police from murdering us

And brutalizing us, they ain't teachin' us how to get our rent paid
Know what I'm sayin'? They ain't teachin' our families how to interact
Better with each other, know what I'm sayin'? They just teachin' us
How to build they shit up, know what I'm sayin'? That's why my niggas

Got a problem with this shit, that's why niggas be droppin' out that
Shit 'cuz it don't relate, you go to school the fuckin' police
Searchin' you you walkin' in your shit like this a military compound
know what I'm sayin'? So school don't even relate to us

Until we have some shit where we control the fuckin' school system
Where we reflect how we gon solve our own problems
Them niggas ain't gon' relate to school, shit that just how it is
Know what I'm sayin'? And I love education, know what I'm sayin'?

But if education ain't elevatin' me, then you know what I'm sayin' it ain't
Takin' me where I need to go on some bullshit, then fuck education
Know what I'm sayin'? At least they shit, matter of fact my nigga
This whole school system can suck my dick, beeyotch