What
Is It?
The
Global Awareness through Hip Hop Culture Program is an innovative “music
and social studies” program designed to assist students in developing their global and social awareness through culturally
responsive pedagogy.
Over 30 years ago, Hip Hop culture
was founded on the ideals of peace, love, unity, and having fun. Through Hip
Hop’s main 4 mediums of artistic expression, urban youth were able to voice their dreams, hopes, ideas, and goals as
well as their concerns and worries. Hip Hop is now widely recognized as the voice
of today’s youth. Based on this understanding, The Global Awareness through Hip Hop Culture Program teaches students
about music, song writing, and creative writing, as well as politics, social issues, history, current events, and self empowerment.
Why It Was Created:
Inner-city schools
across the nation are facing a crisis. In Los Angeles, many schools have been dubbed “dropout factories”. Attendance,
grades, test scores, and graduation rates are dropping at an alarming rate. According
to a study conducted by Dr. Julie Mendoza from the University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (UC/ACCORD), in Los Angeles, the state’s largest district, only
48% of Black and Latino students who start 9th grade will complete the 12th grade four years later. (Source: Harvard University Study, Civil Rights Project, May 2002)
Poverty, unemployment, gangs, teen pregnancy, and lack of parental involvement have all been recognized as contributing factors to this educational meltdown. However, for all of the research and statistical data, the problems persist and the same questions are
asked:
- How can students
be made to understand the need and value of education?
- How can we close
the achievement gap?
- How can we improve
test scores?
With all the
good will in the world, systemic flaws are nearly impossible to rectify without facing an overwhelming barrage of red tape,
budgetary constraints, bureaucracy, and at times, resistance to change from the administrators themselves. And if that weren’t difficult enough, how do we deal with the treacherous psychosocial conditions
that attack the spirits and minds of our youth everyday, beyond the confines of school grounds? From this standpoint, the situation appears hopeless. However,
it is not.
In an early 2005 address to leaders of the
Education Commission of the States, Susan Sclafani, assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education stated that,
“Students must have arts…and that schools must include the arts as part of the curriculum if students are going
to reach the high levels of achievement required by the NCLB federal policy.” (Source:
http://www.amc-music.org/news/articles/left-behind.htm).
In 2006, a
report released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found that almost half of dropouts say they left school because
classes were not challenging and they did not see any real-world, or work-world, applicability to what they were learning. (Source:
L.A. times online editorial “California’s Dropout Problem” July 17, 2007)
The same year, State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell issued a news release commenting on an L.A. Times’ series
on the high school dropout problem in which he stated, “The only way Californians will succeed in this demanding age
is by improving our educational system and finding ways to connect with students who do not feel invested in attending school.”
(Source: California Department of Education website, newsroom section)
One of the ways to connect with students who
do not feel invested in attending school, lies in profoundly understanding the “new urban teen psychology” and
all of its contradictory nuances. This new psychology stems from overexposure
to a combination of modern psychosocial conditioning, pop culture, and mainstream media influence.
Another way to connect with students is to
create partnerships with community based entities that possess a solid grasp on issues affecting urban youth and who have
developed specialized methods, based in this new urban teen psychology, to effectively address these concerns within a school
setting.
Based
on this widely recognized need to overcome the numerous challenges that inner city high schools are up against, the Global Awareness through Hip Hop Culture Program was created.
Program
Description:
The
following is a brief outline highlighting the main themes covered in the program. Using
the most positive and expressive elements of Hip Hop culture, students will:
· Examine Hip Hop culture’s rich history, its effect on society here and abroad, and the unique values,
belief systems, and ideologies which evolved from it.
· Follow the evolution of the culture from its post-civil rights beginnings as an artistic form of protest
and personal empowerment to today’s multi-billion dollar industry.
· Explore the many aspects of Hip Hop culture and Rap music which have escaped commodification and retained
their cultural integrity.
· Analyze early and current Rap songs to identify diverse perspectives of the Hip Hop community on a variety
of social issues.
· Examine Hip Hop as a global phenomenon which transcends race, gender, and culture.
· Study commercial media’s portrayal of Hip Hop culture.
· Identify the reasons why youth in the US and around
the world adopt Hip Hop culture as a medium for personal, social, and political empowerment.
· Explore the many career and entrepreneurial opportunities in the music industry.
· Predict the future of Hip Hop within the next 10 years of the culture.
Throughout this course, students
will also get to experience Hip Hop culture in its purest form through guest speakers and in-class performances from upcoming
and established artists.
Additional
Themes include:
