People are always surprised when I tell them, "I love hip hop." They figure that since I am highly educated, I speak standard English, and I am a teacher that hip hop must be excluded from my consciousness... However, hip hop is the reason why I continue to strive for excellence as a teacher. It provides a mode of expression of injustice and oppression and call to action to make a difference, but it also demands appreciation for the art that it is.
When I break down elements of hip hop in terms of core content areas in a formal educational setting (using refined definitions from the Temple of Hip Hop website) it includes:
emceein= language arts, mathematics, social studies, science
beatboxin= vocal music
deejayin= instrumental music, physical science
graffiti art= visual art, mathematics (esp. spatial reasoning and geometry), chemistry, language arts
breakin= dance, (biological) science
street entrepreneurialism= social studies, mathematics, language arts
Still, there are some (of my colleagues) who argue that hip hop does not have a place in school as it promotes violence, the objectification of women, the glorification of money, drugs and alcohol. There is definitely some truth to their claims, however, this all or nothing mentality is precisely what continues to strip our children (as they are ALL our children- urban, suburban, rural, rich, poor, of all races) of the valuable lessons hip hop has to teach.
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