In 1970, John Lennon released a stripped-back, almost uncomfortable song called Working Class Hero. No big production. No distraction. Just words that cut straight through.
Most people hear it once, think it’s a bit dark, and move on.
But if you slow down and actually listen, it doesn’t feel like a song at all. It feels like someone quietly explaining your life back to you.
Not the version you tell people.
The version underneath it.
Because “Working Class Hero” isn’t about being working class. It’s about being shaped, guided, and contained … Without ever being told that’s what’s happening.
And the uncomfortable truth is this : Lennon saw the system clearly. He just never finished the conversation.
“As soon as you’re born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all”
It doesn’t start when you get your first job. It doesn’t even start at school.
It starts earlier, in ways so subtle that you don’t question them.
You’re taught what matters. You’re taught what doesn’t. You’re taught what success looks like, what failure feels like, and where you’re supposed to fit somewhere in between.
By the time you reach school, the structure tightens. Sit still. Follow instructions. Don’t interrupt. Don’t challenge too much. There is always a right answer, and someone else already has it.
This is where most people misunderstand education. They think it’s about knowledge.
A lot of it is actually about compliance.
You learn how to operate inside systems long before you ever question whether those systems are worth being inside at all.
Lennon didn’t exaggerate here. If anything, he softened it.
Because by the time you’re old enough to think independently, a large part of your thinking has already been shaped for you.
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