Values & Social Justice

Teaching music is partly about social change, whether or not this aspect is explicit in a lesson. Songs composed especially to deliver a lesson about social values are sometimes weak choices for children’s music. Here are a few exceptions:

One Little Person from the Southern Poverty Law Center (thank you Jonathan Hardy).

Yo Quiero comes from the Inter-American Children’s Institute. The IIN multimedia page has animated video and lyrics (see “I Wish”) but our translation of  Leonardo Croatta’s lyrics are a little better. There’s also a YouTube version. Both use the recording by Uruguayan candombe star Ruben Rada that’s a little hard to find, but worth hearing.

Don’t Laugh at Me is the centerpiece of an anti-bullying curriculum called Operation Respect.