Sunscreen by Baz Luhrman
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It’s still one of my favourite songs and I would like to share that song with you now!
The song Sunscreen, which was a global hit in the late 90s was based on a fictitious and humorous college graduation speech that was published in an American newspaper. It was written by Mary Schmich and entitled ‘Advice like youth is wasted in the young’ and was originally delivered to the fictitious Class of 97. This was updated to the The Class of 99 in the song. The advice in the song varies from the humorous to the profound and I have often used it in my teaching. Advice is only worthwhile if it is relevant to your situation so Sunscreen tries to be as wide ranging as possible. Accordingly I used to ask my students to pick out the three pieces of advice that resonated most with them.
It’s still one of my favourite songs and I would like to share it with you now!
https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI?is=PHi0XmH5ZgbLoZG-
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That’s a good one David. As you say, it’s a great teachers song too! I’d forgotten that song.
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I used to use it in a lesson asking the students coming to the end of their course for advice they would pass on to the following year’s cohort.
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You are probably the only person I know who knows this song and I am shocked.
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😂😂 I got hooked on it and got a fair few students hooked as well 😂😂
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That is great! It is a great song! When I listened to it again years later it honestly brought tears to my eyes. Listening to it again as an adult and seeing how much of that advice I have not lived by was hard 😀
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Yes, some of it is still difficult, especially comparing myself to others. I still do that on occasion but less than I used to, and I definitely don’t read beauty magazines 🤣🤣
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Because we replaced beauty magazines with social media which is probably even worse 🙂
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What a clever teaching device, asking students to pick the three pieces of advice that resonated most turns a pop song into real reflection. I’d forgotten it began as Mary Schmich’s newspaper column before Baz Luhrmann set it to music. And the thread here about how much of that advice we haven’t actually lived by, swapping beauty magazines for social media, says it all. A song that still teaches decades on.
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Thank you 😊 Absolutely, it’s relevant to every stage of your life. Glad it still has so much resonance for people.
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I’d agree with this. You can have goals and plans and targets but don’t be disappointed if they don’t happen or happen but not the way you planned. As the late, great Bill Hicks said “life is a ride”.
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I haven’t heard this one in ages! Great advice!
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How did I miss this? I must play it as a prelude to my face to face classes. 🙂
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