Dear Dr. Emdin,
I would like to express how moved I was from your address
at Rhode Island College the other day.
Your approaches to fixing education and addressing the achievement gap
were truly inspiring. It has been a long
time since I have experienced an orator such as yourself.
I completely agree with you that youth culture should be
the “anchor of transformative pedagogy” in our schools. I too believe that the hyper-focus on
structure, behavior, and antiquated systemic values that mirror assembly line
production should not have a place in the education system. Instead, basing education within student
interests is more likely to foster engagement and content retention. I particularly liked your comments pertaining
to students standing rather than sitting in the classroom, which promotes
better blood flow. This thought
immediately appealed to my learning preferences, so I can certainly imagine it
would be a great strategy in the classroom.
Although I agree with the intentions of #HipHopEd and the
goals and processes it represents, I am afraid it too can potentially limit
educators’ perception of what students actually need. I understand there is a significant portion
of young people who listen and relate to hip-hop, but students’ interests are
more extensive than one genre of music.
There are also many more aspects of youth culture that define a
generation and have the power to engage their interests such as other types of
music, dance, movies, technology, and fashion. In other words, your concept of
using hip-hop is certainly a great approach, but why focus on one portion of
youth culture? If we are to truly
differentiate instruction, then using hip-hop is only a single attempt in a
vast world of youth interests. Do not
misunderstand me; advocating for hip-hop as a tool for learning can definitely
prove useful. But although hip-hop might
be quite popular, it should not be our sole approach to transformative
pedagogy. I believe in and agree with
all that you stand for, I simply believe a more holistic approach is more
appropriate and necessary.
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