Old School? New School? Kids Rap to Better Grades

A novel afterschool program, developed in Chicago and Cleveland and just now hitting Denver, uses rap music to make kids better students, the Post reports. “They learn about similes, different poetic devices,” the program’s founder said. They “learn to rap a Shakespearean piece.” One decidedly non-Shakespearean result: “I got to go to college to get my education/So I can be in a situation/That's better than the federation.”

A study showed that after 4 years, students in the program “did significantly better in standardized testing” and “attention spans in the classroom,” the founder said. The sessions, supervised by local musicians, seem to have a revelatory effect on students. They “tell us we should stay in school because school is like a big rap, if you put it all together,” one young rhythmic scholar said. “Like math and accounting and stuff.” (More rap music stories.)