I’m all about using current events in school to help enhance the lesson but based on what I read about this particular schools curriculum, I’m not sure they used the best lesson plan. According to Fox News, a Mississippi school is under fire by angry parents for infusing a three-day lesson on rapper Jay Z,  “one of the most successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in the nation. They were also tested on their knowledge about Jay-Z’s “resilience” “. An anonymous parent of one of the  children given the assignment said she was told “the point of the assignment was because Jay-Z is successful.”

True. Mr. Carter is certainly successful when it comes to monetary or material things. He owns a sports team now, did/does (I don’t really keep up with the man) a clothing line, still has a booming music career after decades in the business and is still going strong. While the definition of “successful” can vary, I’m still not sure I would feel comfortable with my child being tested on the life and habits of Jay Z in order to point them in the right direction of success. For one, everyone’s road to “success” is different and I don’t necessarily think pinpointing a popular, public figure as a lesson is the best way to teach someone to be successful. Second, I think parents like this one have the right to be upset over a lesson like this especially if they happen to be conservative (as this parent happens to be) and are teaching their kids a completely different definition and examples on what it means to be successful.

As reported  by Fox News:

The facts are this page represented this thug in a positive way and calls him successful. Success to me doesn’t mean demeaning women, glorifying drugs and violence and flaunting money. Success should be about living decent and having respect for themselves and others….A lot of the kids don’t know anything about the things that surround Jay-Z – it’s something that a lot of parents are concerned about, Fox said. Why make them exposed to it at such an early age?

Fox also reported that school officials have yet to give a legitimate reason as to why the school chose a three day course on Jay Z. Parents are upset and they’re treating it as no big deal. Could this be laziness on the teacher’s part? Maybe they said “hey, a lot of people like Jay Z. He’s rich, Black and makes a lot of money. Let’s turn this into a lesson on being successful”. Fox reported that the kids where tested on Jay Z. I’d like to see a blueprint of those questions. I bet there were 99 problems but not one was a decent one on how to determine one’s success. Some of these kids probably know nothing of a hard knock life, so why jump start them into a lifestyle such as the one Jay Z started out with?

Did these parents go overboard with reporting the school and bashing the lesson? Maybe they would’ve felt better if Mrs. Carter was a part if the lesson plan instead.

Dr. O

Picture Source: http://thatgrapejuice.net/2012/01/song-jay-glory-ft-blue-ivy/