Reflections on Hip-Hop culture, values and schools

Cultural Collision and Collusion (2012)  by Floyd Beachum and Carlos McCray

           I had the privilege of meeting Dr. McCray at Fordham University last week to talk about his book.   Growing up in the early days of Hip-Hop, I was really intrigued to read more on the draw this music has on today's students.  Let's face it, it is the music of the young and it surrounds our students' lives.  Music defines a culture, and hip-hop is no different.  And while and I am not a fan of the current genre, this book gave me some insight on the urban student and their background.   This book made me question so many things of my early pre-service education at other schools, and wondered why aren't there more classes offered to learn about the cultural background of students in the classroom, not just theory and subject content.  Not as if theories of Maslow and Bloom are not important for pre-service teachers but books like this one peels away the cultural layers of the learner as well.  It identifies the draw that the Hip-Hop culture has on our students' likes, attitudes and experiences in today's world.  

            Starting from the history of Africans Americans during slavery to today's Hyperghetto's and moving into the criticisms for 'acting-white' and 'Thug theology', minority students have a cultural collision and collusion that is quite different from their White classmates.  Their views of history, economics and education are rooted deeply in their experiences as a whole.  And while teachers are known to be 'color-blind' and give the same opportunities to all of their students regardless of their color, it is still very important to see why a minority Black or Latino student historically does not perform at the same rate as other students. This book also addresses the culture wars of Hip-hop and schools.

             My only criticism of this book is that I would of liked to have read anecdotal situations of students of today and how they view Hip-Hop as a culture of their learning.  I would of like to have read their ideas on how to create a more culturally inclusive classroom that will help them with their learning.