Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 2005 — Page 7

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

PAGE A7

Hip-hop culture can be used to engage students

Part 1 of 3 By BRANDON A. PERRY Staff Writer

For nearly 20 years, corporate America and markets in other areas of the world have recognized the massive commercial appeal and reach of hip-hop, using rap stars and their music to sell everything from clothes and sneakers to soda and cars. Today more educators are trying to get their peers to also see hip-hop’s potential as a force that can motivate millions of youth - not to buy consumer products but to get the most out of their education and play an active role in addressing social problems. School districts across the nation have implemented various reforms to stem rising dropout rates, raise decreasing graduation rates and reduce the amount of young Blacks being directed from schools and into prisons. But some educators emphasize that reform efforts won’t be successful until the hip-hop culture is accepted as part of student identity. “Black youth culture in most urban communities is often defined by hip-hop,” said Jose Evans, director of the Black and Latino Policy Institute and former director of the Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males. “Thus, hip-hop culture is a highly effective vehicle for engaging Black youth in learning. Music, language, style of dress, poetry, and art can all be effective cultural vehicles to educate youth who have not responded to traditional curricula.” Evans noted that hip-hop culture is simply how many of today’s youth (Black, white and Latino) express themselves and respond to urban problems such as institutional racism, police brutality, economic struggles and family violence. He believes many youth of the hip-hop generation (those born after the civil rights movement) have lost faith in a system that seems to only protect the wealthy at the expense of their communities, and that hip-hop is key to understanding the struggles of Black youth and their possibilities. If more teachers begin to utilize hip-hop culture as a tool instead of a liability, advocates say, they’ll discover that hip-hop music, with its indictments of historic and current contradictions presented by American civil society, can provide a great forum for learning about and discussing problems that effect local communities and the world. But according to Dr. Shawn Ginwright, author of the book Black in School and godfather of the movement to utilize hip-hop cultural concepts in education, the only thing standing in the way is a divide between the hip-hop generation and educators/civic leaders from the civil rights generation who dislike hiphop and have tuned out rap music altogether because of lyrics from some songs that contain violence, drug use and sexual promiscuity. “The cultural disconnect between the civil rights generation and the hip-hop generation is perhaps the single most important challenge in reaching Black youth who are simply not motivated, interested, or inspired by school reform efforts in which their urban identities are not represented,” said Ginwright. Ginwright and other advocates encourage skeptics to look at the positive history of hip-hop, which began in the late 1970s as a movement of disc jockeys and “street poets” using their skills to raise awareness of issues of the day. Duringthe‘80s and early‘90s, artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, KRS-1, X-Clan and Queen Latifah celebrated historic Black achievements when many schools did not, and they promoted economic equality,

Engaging students with hip-hop Here are a few examples of how the hip-hop culture can be used to engage students, as presented by Dr. Shawn Ginwright in Black in School: During a high school social studies discussion about democracy, a teacher plays a video or CD by rappers Dead Prez or Talib Kwali, both of whom have lyrics that talk about social, economic and political issues. Because the students are mostly familiar with these lyrics, the artists' commentary can be used as a springboard to discuss the purpose and functions of American government. an end to gang violence, “safe sex” and proper treatment of women. Also, current rappers such as Kanye West and Nas have provided positive encouragement to youth and called attention to various issues such as opportunities in higher education and the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said rappers might not be as eloquent as Richard Wright, James Baldwin and other past profilers of the Black experience, but he believes they have sketched characteristics of “male angst and moral striving” as haunting and beautiful as anything people are likely to read from social critics of the Black ghetto. “Many Black elders claim that hip-hop is all macho posturing and stylish bluster in the service of social pathology, but it is not merely posing,” said Dyson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind. “At its best, hip-hop summons the richest response

Even the "negative" attributes of hip-hop can be used in education. A teacher might play videos by Ludacris or Trick Daddy which contain sexually explicit (but not pornographic) images of women barely clothed dancing for fully dressed men. Students are then asked about their thoughts on sexism, and male students are given the question: "Would you want to see your sister, mother or aunt in this video?" The Algebra Project, based in Cambridge, Mass., and created by former civil rights activist Bob Moses, uses every day activities such as riding a bus, looking for a job and paying for groceries and CDs to help students understand mathematics. in the younger generation to questions of identity and suffering.” Ginwright encourages Blacks from both generations to work together in collective organizing to change the status quo for the better by creating grassroots community coalitions, such as those in California and Pennsylvania. In 2001 students in the San Francisco Bay Area successfully lobbied lawmakers to spend less money building juvenile facilities and more on better books and improved facilities. Around the same time an organization known as Youth United for Change (YUC) has been promoting better educational opportunities for students of color in Philadelphia. They had the support of an adult church alliance, and rap concerts were used to raise awareness and get youth involved in protecting their schools. Next week in the “Education Out of the Box” series: The Recorder will look at how small schools can maximize learning for area students.

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EDUCATION BRIEF

Park Tudor students attend diversity conference Park Tudor juniors Andrea Grigley and Samantha Moulier, along with sophomores Reshma Kalimi and Jennifer Richardson, are attending the annual National Association of Independent Schools Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in Dallas, Texas from Dec. 1-3. Also attending are Middle School Director Evelyn McClain, Coordinator of Diversity Activities Rhonda Graves and Upper School English teacher Tyra Seldon. SDLC is a multi-racial, multicultural gathering of upper school leaders from throughout the U.S.that focuses on self-reflection, forming alliances and building community.

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