Now a good friend of mine
Sat with me and he cried
He told me a story
I know he ain't lying

Said he went for a job
And Mr. Man said
Without an education
You might as well be dead

Now don't get me wrong
He said, it's not who you are
But people come to me
From near and far

But I do just what
And I follow the rules
I didn't have an education
So I had to go back to school

Tell me one more time, people now
What do you say?
Without an education
You might as well be dead

One more time
What do you say?
Without an education
You might as well be dead

My friends told all his buddies
That he loved so well
And of their personal troubles
I will not tell

Now those guys didn't seem good
And they didn't seem bad
They didn't seem so happy
And I know they weren't sad

But the point isn't
That they follow the rules
They got an education
And they all been in school

Now underneath his tears
I could see the true fact
When he dropped out of school
He never, never went back

Tell me one more time, people
What do you say?
Without an education
You might as well be dead

Got to, got to, got to listen now, now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

So one day he got tired
Of his little spending change
So he looked up his friends
To check their pay range

When he got there, the crib
He found that he was a drag
'Cause man, they were clean
And his clothes were like rags

One was a business man
With the plenty of dough
He had his thing so set up
You know he couldn't blow

The other had his job so uptight
He had his whole family
And his kids all out of sight

Tell me one more time now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

You got to, got to, got to get a little learning
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

What made him so hurt
That these were his friends and he was a drag
They looked at him
And he was in the same old bag

For his friends they worked real hard
When the work day was through
Now, he realized
He should have done the same thing too

Tell me one more time now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

You got to, got to, got to get a little learning now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

For the last time, I'm gonna say
They kept on pushing
When the going was tough
And now they know
That things don't seem so rough

So kids, stay in school
Don't be no drag
Take a fool's advise
And stay out of that bag

Look here, tell me, Bobby tell me one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

Tell me, The Jewels, tell me now one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

Everybody, tell me one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

You got to, got to, got to, got to get some learning now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

Don't be a drop-out, stay in school now listen to me
What do you say?
Kids, kids
Might as well be dead

No, no
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

Stay in school, have a good time
What do you say?
Don't, don't, don't ever blame
Don't ever blame, don't ever blame, come on