"Schoolin' Life" is a song that was recorded by American singer Beyoncé for the deluxe edition of her fourth studio album, 4 (2011). It was written by Beyoncé, Terius Nash, Shea Taylor as well as Carlos McKinney while production was handled by Beyoncé, The-Dream, and Los Da Mystro. Jordan Young, also known by his stage name DJ Swivel, mixed the song at New York's Jungle City Studios. Containing elements of disco and dance-pop music, "Schoolin' Life" is an uptempo R&B song, in which Beyoncé employs guttural vocals and uses her head voice. Having a retro nature, the song is built on a 1980s-inspired dance beat, and is instrumentally complete with old school synthesizers, drum kits, electric guitars, and horns.

Lyrically, the song features Beyoncé schooling everyone from their 20s to their 50s. She gets feisty as she reflects on lessons she learned in her own life and affirms that she hasn't certified as a teacher, a preacher or a doctor, but is willing to perform their various duties regardless. "Schoolin' Life" was well received by contemporary music critics, who noted its aural resemblance to Prince's prime work, praised its production, and coined it as one of the catchiest upbeat songs Beyoncé has ever recorded. It appeared on several critics' lists of the best songs of 2011. Following the release of 4, "Schoolin' Life" charted at number 155 on the South Korean International Singles Chart. The song was used in the eighth season of the American television reality program and dance competition So You Think You Can Dance. It was part of Beyoncé's set list during her residency show Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live.

"Schoolin' Life" was written by Beyoncé, Terius Nash, Shea Taylor, and Carlos McKinney. Production was handled by Beyoncé, The-Dream, and Los Da Mystro. It was made available on the deluxe edition of 4, which was sold exclusively at Target until that edition was released to iTunes Stores on January 2, 2012. The deluxe edition consists of an additional two deluxe only tracks, "Dance for You" and "Lay Up Under Me" and three remixes of "Run the World (Girls)" (2011). Jordan Young aka DJ Swivel mixed the song at New York's Jungle City Studios. Describing "Schoolin' Life" as his favorite track on the album, Swivel told Sound on Sound that he was adamant about mixing the song:

I spent a lot of time after [Beyoncé] left the studio tightening up the rough. In fact, I'm sure she let me mix it just because I loved the track so much! I mixed this in the fantastic penthouse room in Jungle City. This record was, of course, about the vocals — but a lot of it was about the production elements too. Everything had to be audible; there's some interesting percussion, and the hook had to feel nice and big.

Around 100 tracks were used on "Schoolin' Life"; they were roughly split with 50 for the music and 50 for the vocals. As stated by Swivel, musically the aim of the mix was to take a large number of tracks and create a perfect balance. So, he used Waves’ Metaflanger on the percussion and some of the snares, and spent some time EQ’ing. Swivel explained that there was much parallel processing on the lead vocal. The lead-vocal bus was muted to a second bus, and one of them was entirely crushed on a 50:1 compression ratio which was totally limited and with a very low threshold. He elaborated, "It creates a very gritty distorted sound in there, really low to taste, and it fills in the lead vocal very nicely. The crushed vocal runs quietly underneath."

After completing the lead vocals, Swivel decided to rework the 1980s sound on the snares as they were originally very tight. He therefore added a gated reverb for the snap sound which was long and drawn‑out snap sound. He also subbed in an additional kick underneath to add some real oomph to the bottom. Owing to the work Swivel had accomplished during production, the final mix took only a few hours. He said: "There were a lot of tracks, but I just enjoyed it, to be honest. I knew how I wanted it to sound, and it was pretty much the last song we cut; a lot of the mixing was nailed in the production as well, which helped. Dream did a great job producing this track." The bar one guitar track of "Schoolin' Life" was entirely programmed. Similarly, the live drum section in the hook was actually done with programmed drums. Once the mixing was over, Swivel's impression were as follows:

['Schoolin' Life] absolutely had to have its own space. There are percussion elements and a few random sounds in there too, plus the nice guitar track, but certainly the main challenge was for all of these tracks to be well balanced and individually audible. It really is very easy to overlook something like that, which can potentially completely change the sound of a record.

"Schoolin' Life" is an uptempo R&B, which contains elements of disco and dance-pop. Built on a 1980s-inspired beat, the song's instrumentation includes old school synthesizers, 1980s-sounding drum kits wailing electric guitars, and horns. Music critics, including Jamie Peck of MTV noted that "Schoolin' Life" was inspired by the prime work of Prince, particularly because of its lyrical content, the instruments used, and Beyoncé's style of singing on it. Lyrically, the song finds Beyoncé detailing her experiences as she was growing up. In the first verse, she employs guttural vocals to address many life lessons to "20-somethings", "30-somethings", "40-somethings", and "50-somethings". Beyoncé warns them against some consequences, affirming "time really moves fast" and that growing up fast will leave them wanting more. Beyoncé also talks about still excelling in a world where parents try to shield everything, "Mom and dad tried to hide the world / Said the world's just too big for a little girl / Eyes wide open can't you see / I had my first heels by the age of 13".