In education there are a multitude of methods, but one that stands out to me and the inspiration for this song is employed at struggling schools to raise their test scores and remain open. This song embodies the meta-cognitive aspects of trying to "work outside the box" or in the case of a school I worked at- "burn the box."
Sometimes we have boxes for a reason: To carry things, sort out what has value, get our collective shits together. For example: Without a clear and predictable schedule (we changed it every few weeks in order to "keep it fresh") students and teachers alike struggled to keep track of what was supposed to be happening at a given time. To boast and push that we never enter the box robs us (and consequently our students) of discernible boundaries at which to expand and ultimately led to cutting recess, social studies, and the development of critical thinking for the sake of making the appropriate scores on State intelligence testing.
This colored my teaching experience with the despair of telling my students we couldn't have our class outside- Even though they'd earned it as a grand prize through a point system I'd developed to encourage positive behaviors -because the administration had banned them from the playground for fighting in a show of the ineffective Zero-Tolerance approach to school discipline.
We drew all the boxes
Checked all the boxes
Burned all the boxes
Dreamt about boxes
And I'm not even sure where we go
The green outside it beckons us, I know
And as the locomotives thunder by
Her whistle no greater wanting does belie
Ashen sky do mirror sunken eye
But never let the man see you cry
'Cause we voted for boxes
Fit into boxes
Shit into boxes
Dreamt about boxes (We dreamt about boxes)
And I'm not even sure where we go
The green outside it beckons me
It beckons you, it beckons us to know
Lustless lawmen leer at lower scores
"Drain the brain or suffer shuttered doors!"
Fear the smear and teach below the shore
And I always thought for our children we'd dream up something more but no
We drew all the boxes
Checked all the boxes
Burned all the boxes
Dreamt about boxes
And I'm not even sure where we go
The green outside it beckons me
It beckons you, it beckons us to know