Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Urban Education
Dr. Beth Rubin
4.23.2007
Since the turn of the century, Social Studies classrooms have been dominated by
pro-Anglo world history and white American history. The dominant histories taught in
public high schools are comprised primarily of the teaching of politics and wars. As
college students, we are well aware history is much more than what most high school
classes are exposed to. The historical analysis everything from foods to weapons, from
clothing to sports, are all academically viable and valid. Most high school students are
not aware of the innumerable possibilities within the history “umbrella”, and, not
surprisingly, are generally turned off by social studies classes, and history altogether.
For my internship/project for Dr. Rubin’s Urban Education class, I chose to teach
a curriculum to my Social Studies class which is comprised of 11th and 12th graders. In
subject that was interesting to students and me, while historically and socially relevant to
the lives we live. Teaching in an urban area, Camden, New Jersey, to a class consisting of
teenage, lower-income black and Hispanic students, I decided to teach a class on rap
music.
Although I have been critical of teaching urban high school students about rap in
academic settings, as rap music and its language is widely marginalized and vilified in
mainstream America, I saw an opportunity to use rap as an avenue toward discussion and
deliberation with students about historic and social issues. It was my goal to illicit student
opinion and views about a subject my students knew and were comfortable speaking
about, while concurrently connecting rap music with larger societal issues like poverty,
racism, discrimination, feminism and progress. Taking the analysis of rap beyond surface
subject matter. Between the students’ communicated comments about the music, and my
relating the music to larger social phenomena, mutual education could occur. Within this
The title of the curriculum I taught to my US History II class is Rap and Society.
Rap and Society classes take place every Friday to give students something to look
forward to during the week, and to give the students the impression that this is a day for
With the exception of few instances where writing and note taking is required, the
class is dominated by group, “around the horn” discussion. I stress to my classes that
there is no wrong answer except, “I don’t know.” I want my students to think and
recognize possible connections between what they listen to and the environment in which
they live.
Overall, we’ve had some amazing sessions. Students who usually contribute and
participate continued to do so, but others who were more introverted spoke up as well. At
times I was forced to referee the class telling them they were getting too loud, and to
speak one at a time, but that was a joy to do. Most every student had thoughts and
opinions they wanted to voice and did so during our Rap and Society sessions. On a few
occasions the classroom adjacent to ours would overhear or discussions and join our class
Thursday lessons as a carryover from Friday’s classes. While all of the seven seminars to
date have had lively discourse, the two liveliest discussions came on the curriculum’s
introductory session and on the first Friday after Don Imus’ comments about the Rutgers
University Women’s Basketball team. (These lessons are included and will be distributed
to the class)
capacity to understand social issues, and awareness of how rap music relates to their lived
Also, I felt a sense of longing that education is too often rote and drilled; which
results too often in potentially capable students being turned off by school. Unfortunately,
school is less about student learning as it is competition, and maintaining social status
quo. My Rap and Society curriculum exemplified to me, a teacher and a student, what