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Hip Hop in the Classroom
Loading ...Education is truly a powerful tool, it can help you advance in your current career or open a door to a new one. Without education, opportunity can slip by like a thief in the night, steal one’s dream and success. However, like all great stories, education has a beginning and that beginning starts with our youth of today. With video games, music trends and peer pressure how do we keep our youth, our next generation of leaders excited about there education.
Have you ever wondered how our youth can remember the words to their favorite Hip Hop song but struggle with reading, writing and arithmetic? Music used in the form of the education process is not new; in 1973 an animated musical education series called “Schoolhouse Rock” aired on the ABC television network. The animated series covered mathematics, grammar, science, history, economics and civics. The idea of the series was created from a commercial advertising venture by David McCall. When David noticed that one of his sons was struggling with remembering his multiplication table but knew the lyrics to popular rock songs, the idea for “Schoolhouse Rock” was born.
Hip Hop is being recognized as an innovative process to engage and educate our youth in different forms and concepts. There’s a public charter high-school in Saint Paul, Minnesota called HSRA, that was founded in 1998 by David Ellis. HSRA is known as Hip Hop High, and provides students access to a professional recoding studio. However, students must earn their time in the studio by completing their academic projects in English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Sciences. For students that have gotten lost in the traditional school system or in society, HSRA is a beacon in the night, guiding these student to take an active and positive interest in there education. HSRA provides students with the opportunity to go behind the music scene and learn the business aspects of the music industry. Students can learn what goes into negotiating contracts, publishing, copyrighting, marketing and distribution. HSRA is more than a high school, it’s an infusion of education, creativity and business.
There are programs that have combined Hip Hop with education were schools, after-school programs, education centers and summer programs can implement them into their curriculum. In 1997 Congress requested a panel to be created to help teach children to read. This panel was the NRP, the National Reading Panel. The NRP issued its report, “Teaching Children to Read,” in April of 2000. The report consisted of information on eight areas for teaching children to read:
- Phonemic awareness instruction
- Phonics awareness
- Fluency instruction
- Vocabulary instruction
- Text comprehension
- Independent Reading
- Computer assisted instruction
- Teacher professional development
One Hip Hop program that received a letter of support from President Obama for the work of Gabriel Benn’s and the programs innovative educational lessons is H.E.L.P, Hip Hop Literacy Program. Gabriel received his Masters in Education from the National Louis University. He is the first rapper know by “Asheru” to win a Peabody award. H.E.L.P is an educational program that uses Hip Hop to teach reading and writing. H.E.L.P. bridges a gap between the student and the teacher while promoting critical thinking and different learning styles. H.E.L.P has incorporated the five essential components of the NRP instructions.
- Phonemic awareness
- Fluency skills
- Vocabulary development
- Reading comprehension
- Authentic writing
Having Hip Hop in a classroom can help generate a student’s excitement about their education. It can help a student that has considered dropping out to stay in school. It can help a student that’s struggling with a subject to have a better understanding. If we want to help our youth, if we want to reach our youth perhaps it’s time to think outside the box and enhance the traditional educational platform. Perhaps one day popular Hip Hop artist will create educational videos and songs just as David McCall did with the creation of ‘School House Rock.”
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