You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught

This passage explores the origins of intolerance. Where does intolerance come from?

What is Intolerance?

“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught” is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific. The Broadway musical won several Tony Awards the year after it debuted and years later, it became a hit movie.

To say South Pacific was a success would be an understatement: it was a blockbuster in its time. However, it also drew critics and controversy. It covered uncomfortable territory: a story of tension based on interracial romance, a strong taboo at the time. Read the lyrics of the song and answer the questions.

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!