"The Knowledge" by Janet Jackson

“The Knowledge” by Janet Jackson describes how knowledge is necessary to improve oneself and society. She begins the song describing how a lack of knowledge can be hurtful and that educating oneself can put one more in control of their life. In the next verse Jackson continues to state the importance of knowledge, being “the one thing we all need in life” in order to be successful (Jackson 23). Jackson then moves on to the impact of knowledge on larger society. She explained that to “change the way the world is run” one must first educate children to get rid of their prejudice and ignorance (Jackson 38). Knowledge is the key to improvement; many of the world’s problems are a result of a lack of it. For example, climate change is the result of the public’s ignorance of how large an effect carbon emissions have on the environment and the implications that they will have on society in the future. Educating the public and providing them with knowledge about humanity’s impact on the environment is the start to solving this issue. All progress in the world starts with spreading knowledge.

The part of “The Knowledge” that I was especially able to connect with was where Jackson described how knowledge can put one more in control of their life, saying “if you wanna be in control / Ya gotta get yourself in the know” (Jackson 7-8). I had a hard time directly relating to her emphasis on the importance of knowledge in society as a whole, but I could relate to these lines on the basis of helping oneself become individually in control of themself. I have experienced several times in my life where knowledge helped me gain more control. A time that I remember very clearly was in elementary school when my parents started noticing I had some issues with anxiety. My teachers at school began to notice it, so my family went to see a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with anxiety and prescribed several medications that I still take to this day. Since then I notice my anxiety much less, and it does not affect my life nearly as much. In this case the psychiatrist provided my family and me with knowledge about my anxiety and how to reduce it. This knowledge allowed me to gain better control over my life by allowing me to reduce the effects of my anxiety. Knowledge is a powerful tool and providing it to people can have a big impact on their lives.