Are America’s Youth Disinterested in Learning History?

A few weeks ago, at my job at a summer camp at a Philadelphia rec center, I overheard a conversation that, word to Krs-One, still has me thinking very deeply. The conversation was with a bunch of my male African American coworkers who are mostly high school students. None of them are older than the age of sixteen.

The discussion was about how one of the workers was unfamiliar with the writings of the renowned writer, Maya Angelou. In fact, he claimed to have never even heard of her. The other workers were stunned by the young man’s ignorance. After all, Ms Angelou is one of the most highly regarded figures of not only African American culture, but also of American culture as a whole.

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Marvin DeBose Jr

Controversy and Criticism without Context

By now, most Americans are familiar with the controversy which surrounded Shirley Sherrod, an African-American USDA worker who was forced into resignation from her position as a Director of Rural Development in Georgia.

The controversy arose when conservative writer, Andrew Breitbart presented a video on his website of Sherrod giving a speech in front of NAACP members. In the video, Sherrod is shown telling a story involving her hesitance to help a white farmer to save his farm.

When Breitbart presented this speech, of course, as expected, an uproar came from FOX News and political pundits like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck. Even the president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous denounced her and said that her words were “appalling”.

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Marvin DeBose Jr

The Message of the Music

On a typical day for me, a 20-year old who is a longtime hip-hop fan, I’ll flick through the TV channels searching for something related to hip-hop music. I flick through the channels and land on BET’s 106^th and Park video countdown hoping to be updated on the new hot hip-hop songs.

While watching, I notice a startling trend in the videos. I see that nearly all of the songs have either violent or sexual content in their lyrics and in their videos. What is alarming about this realization is that a great deal of 106’s and Park’s viewers are young teens.

Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy seeing videos with beautiful women, flashy cars, and not to mention a catchy song. However, when only these types of videos and songs become the majority of what’s played on the radio and TV, that can be a problem.

Within the last 25 years there has been a great deal of discussion of the content of hip-hop music. We’ve all heard the negative words which people commonly associate with hip-hop music and its culture. The words “violent” and “misogynistic” seem to be two of the most commonly used terms when describing the content of the music.

There have been numerous efforts to address and condemn the negative themes in hip-hop throughout its history. One of the most memorable efforts was that of former Vice-President Dan Quayle who spoke against artists such as Ice-T and Tupac Shakur, whose lyrics he perceived to promote violence against police.

Ironically, even people who once considered themselves freedom fighters for African-Americans through the civil rights movement have been vocal in speaking against hip-hop, which is considered one of the treasures of African-American culture. Figures like C. Delores Tucker, Rev. Calvin Butts, and Rev. Jesse Jackson have all at one time or another have publicly criticized hip-hop music for its content

Even some hip-hop artists and fans themselves criticize the music which they perceive to have grown more commercialized, being less about the art and more about the money. Many of these types of hip fans believe that artists should show more complex lyricism, speak on social issues and try to uplift their communities with more positive messages.

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Marvin DeBose Jr

Why Do Our Youth Still Suffer Academically?

As the world’s technology advances and our information highways become revolutionized through the internet, information is easier to obtain now more than any other time in history. These days, teachers can easily incorporate different educational tools into their classroom routines such as websites, online videos, and PowerPoint presentations. With just the click of a button, or more popularly, a simple Google search, students can gain a seemingly unlimited amount of knowledge about whatever topic they wish to learn about.

Today, most children and young adults receive a great deal of information through our ever-changing forms of media. However, despite the overload of information and educational outlets supplied by the media, many Americans, particularly our youth, still struggle academically.

According to the US Department of Education, since 1983, more than 10 million Americans reached the 12th grade with the inability to read at a basic level. During the same period, more than 6 million Americans dropped out of high school altogether.

A dilemma such as this is likely to make people question America’s commitment to education. How can a nation which provides seemingly unlimited educational information to its citizens have undereducated children?

As easily as most people would like to blame our country’s education issues on our school systems, inadequate government funding, or even an overall apathy toward the importance of education in this country we fail to realize that this problem is bigger than a blame game. There are numerous factors which play a role in a person’s academic development. We need to understand what factors develop the attitudes which cause students’ academic failures as well as success. … Continue Reading

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Marvin DeBose Jr

Flash Mobs or a flash of reality? Youth problems are the nation’s problems.

It’s always surprising to see the power of the youth of America. History has shown us that the youth are usually at the forefront of most revolutions and mass movements.

However, that same collective power of the youth has recently made them the latest target in the American news media as a result of the recent “flash mobs” in Philadelphia.

The “mobs”, as news outlets have described them, are groups of teens, predominately African-American, who congregate on the scene of one of Philadelphia’s biggest attractions, South Street.

South Street, located in Philadelphia’s Center City section, is a historic hotspot with a long-running strip of bars, shops, and restaurants.

Lately, the scene on South Street has been dominated by youth who allegedly meet up through social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and engage in rambunctious, and sometimes, violent activity.

The “tsunami of kids”, as one South Street pizza delivery described them, flood the streets where fights and vandalism have been known to occur. Many times innocent bystanders are caught in the melee.

Although the media continues to criminalize the teens involved, these incidents should give light to the many negative factors which may contribute in the teens acting out this way.

Read more after the jump!
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Marvin DeBose Jr