On more than one occasion during my teaching career I’ve encountered a sarcastic chant of “Hallelujah” from students for one reason or another. I always respond: “I had no idea you were fans of Handel!” which is always met with blank stares - but at least they stop.

Once I took a football team to an away match where they were, to be fair to them, cheated by a home PE teacher who gave them absolutely nothing and everything to his players. At 3-0 down with a minute to go they were awarded a penalty and a few of them started with the “Hallelujahs” - which I quickly shut down.

I played them the Hallelujah Chorus on the way back in the minibus. A couple of them said they actually liked it.

“Shall I play some more choral music?” I asked.

“Nah Sir, can you put Kiss back on?”

You have to micro-dose cultural capital this strong.

-Bill