[Chorus 1]
Tell me one more time, people now
What do you say?
Without an education
You might as well be dead

[Chorus 2]
One more time
What do you say?
Without an education
You might as well be dead

[Verse 2]
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

[Chorus 1]

[Chorus 2]
Got to, got to, got to listen now, now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Vesre 3]
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
Because 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

[Chorus 1]
Tell me one more time now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Chorus 2]
You got to, got to, got to get a little learning
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Verse 3]
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

[Chorus 1]
Tell me one more time now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Chorus 2]
You got to, got to, got to get a little learning now
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Verse 4]
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

[Chorus 1]
Look here, tell me, Bobby tell me one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Chorus 1]
Tell me, The Jewels, tell me now one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Chorus 1]
Everybody, tell me one more time
What do you say?
Without an education
Might as well be dead

[Chorus 2]
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

[Bridge]
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