"The Miseduction of Hip Hop Discrimination in Education"

"The Miseduction of Hip Hop Discrimination in Education" is an essay written by  Jamilah Evelyn, a staff reporter for a The Chronicle of Higher Education. It is an essay partly about a 22 year old college senior named Jason Hinmon, who has just transferred from Morehouse college in Atlanta to the University of Delaware. The essay speaks on some sensitive racial issues, about how young students dress as a result of the influence of Hip Hop music. Jason Hinmon experience his first day at the University of Delaware was not as he suspected. His professors, who where all predominantly white did not know how to deal with such a student, "They took one look at me and thought that I was some hip-hop hoodlum who wasn't interested in being a good student"(Evelyn,559). This could not have been a pleasant feeling for Jason or anyone in his position. He said, " I came to class and my professors didn't know how to deal with me"(Evelyn,559). This must have been a cultural shock for Jason being that he came from a university in Atlanta, where the population of students and professors are mostly African American. Dr. Thomas Earl Midgette, the director of the Institute for the Study of Minority Issues at historically Black North Carolina Central University is a big advocate on students form of dressing and behaving, and is against the influence of Hip Hop on young kids. Dr. Midgette thinks students sometimes waste their time on rap music when they should be paying attention to their school work. "You see students walking on campus reciting rap lyrics when they should be reciting something they'll need to know on their next test" says Dr. Midgette(Evelyn,559). He also has strong opinions on how they dress. He says "These rap artists influence the way the dress" he goes on  "They look like hoochie mamas , not like they're coming to class"(Evelyn,559).  These are all good points being that Dr. Midgett is 50 years old, and is way of thinking is more mature than the student he counsels. He states in this essay that when he was young he wore bell bottoms, I'm sure his parents didn't agree with his fashion sense then. I am 28 now, and although I love hip hop music since the beginning, I don't follow it how I used to when I was 22. I feel like I have out grown it. Also the fact that I cannot relate to much of the music plays a big role. I once dressed with my pant below my naval, and had on the baggy shirt to emulate my favorite rappers, but now that I am older and wiser I realize how stupid I must have looked showing my boxer to the world. My mother would always tell me, "Alan pick up your pants". So when it comes to who is write in this instant, it is impossible to say. Only advise that I can give a student like Jason Hinmon is listen to your elders, they are usually right.