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The Purpose of Education

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The Purpose of Education CHAPTER 1 THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION Schooling or Education? Upon enrolling in the Cultural Studies Program at the graduate level (Master’s and Doctoral Programs) at The Pennsylvania State University, I was given the opportunity to study, reflect, and share the effects my K-12 schooling experiences had on me. I realized that I could use Hip Hop culture and any of its elements, as an educational tool to empower others. Partly, I discovered the potential of the rap element as an educational tool when I took several courses from prominent professors in the field of Cultural Studies who opened my eyes to how media, power, control, representation, and production affect nearly every facet of our social, political, and economic life. It was very disappointing but enlightening in graduate school to learn about, and to be exposed to, the harsh realities and hidden truths about these and other Cultural Studies issues that had not been previously presented to me in my academic career. I understood how hegemony operated within society and education and how it contributed to my own sense of self. Ultimately, I developed a consciousness that made me painfully aware of the social, cultural, and political structures that valued the dominant culture at the expense of marginalized ones. I began to question the purpose of education. Was it to truly educate students and produce active citizens or was it to school students on knowing their place in society? Or were certain demographics of students educated while others were simply schooled? Sadly enough, I felt my real education had just begun in graduate school, with the realization that my K-12 schooling was just that – I was schooled by a technocratic, hegemonic system that produced passive and complying citizens that furthered the interests of the dominant culture. I was indoctrinated to act in prescribed manners, instructed in a way that discouraged me from asking questions or challenging textbooks; in fact, the textbooks were used as tools to sell so-called truths, as the final authority on what was right and wrong, what was centralized and marginalized, or excluded altogether, and ultimately, what was valued and devalued. It must be emphasized that I do not place sole blame or responsibility of the crisis I experienced on the educational system alone. There were many contributing factors that assisted in my struggle with identity, including my own sense of responsibility and that of my family; however, I do contend that the public schools I attended played an influential role in shaping my identity as well as my perception of others. I venture to say that my experiences are not isolated ones and that many students across the nation have experienced similar feelings of marginalization, exclusion, and denigration as a result of being schooled. The introduction of Cultural Studies, Critical Theory and Critical Pedagogy – as well as the open-mindedness of my professors – allowed me the opportunity to use 1 CHAPTER 1 and connect my personal interests in Hip Hop culture and rap music with my goal of arguing for an inclusive, social justice education that is empowering for all. These factors led me to study and argue here for the inclusion of multiple, critical literacies including the incorporation of media literacy as a way to include rap music into the school curriculum. In this sense, media can be used as alternative, educational texts analyzed and deconstructed from a critical perspective. This includes print and non-print forms of media, ranging from newspapers, magazines, comic books, and advertisements to television, films, music, MP3 files, video games, and the Internet. Media representations of race, class, culture (and sub- cultures), gender and sexuality should also be studied and analyzed. It must be emphasized that these alternative texts produce multiple perspectives, meanings, and interpretations depending on a variety of factors including social, economic, cultural, and political affiliations. For the purpose of this text, mainstream media representation of Hip Hop culture and rap music will be analyzed. Rap music, in particular, will also be argued as an alternative text to supplement the traditional school curricula. Rap music that tends to be over-publicized by the media includes rap that expresses violent, homophobic, and sexually explicit viewpoints. In this book, however, I will explore the many other faces of rap that do not garner the media attention and exposure that they rightfully deserve. Conscious or political MCs such as KRS-ONE and others (Lupe Fiasco, Common, Talib Kweli, Jurassic Five, Paris, Public Enemy, Dead Prez, Sista Souljah, Mos Def, Rakim, Immortal Technique, Sage Francis, and The Roots) are/were merely dismissed as being too controversial, simply because the cultural politics they articulate in their lyrics describe the harsh realities of social and economic suffering never before told from their perspective. One rarely witnesses the talents of these artists on a consistent basis on mainstream airwaves. These MCs are viewed as controversial essentially because they are the voice of social critique and criticism, which is precisely why mainstream media has chosen not to focus much attention on them (Ross & Rose, 1994). These “controversial” MCs are sometimes classified as “militant rappers” or “Hip Hop nationalists” (Ross and Rose, 1994) and what I argue as “organic intellectuals” in the spirit of Italian revolutionary, Antonio Gramsci. Some would argue that these “Hip Hop nationalists” represent the voice of the urban poor, exposing the everyday struggles of working-class African Americans through lyrical expressions. As a result, Hip Hop culture and rap music have become the cultural emblem for America’s young Black urban youth (Ross & Rose). The main purpose of this book is to explore further the lyrics of an artist whom I consider to be a “Hip Hop nationalist” or “organic intellectual”: KRS-ONE. My goal of analyzing, critiquing, and interpreting KRS-ONE’s lyrics is to demonstrate how rap music sets itself up as an alternative text, and as a form of poetry, that educators and students can use to challenge hegemony, enhance literacy skills, and invoke student agency. Critics of Hip Hop and rap music may find absolutely no educational value in the incorporation of such alternative texts arguing that they only serve to dumb down the curriculum and more importantly, our youth. For this reason, it is important to fully understand the theoretical framework that guides my argument in 2 .
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