"The Miseducation of Hip-Hop- Discrimination in Education"

After reading Jamilah Evelyn’s “the Miseducation of Hip Hop-Discrimination one could understand the meaning behind Jason Hinmon’s and Dr. Thomas Earl Midgette’s thoughts.  Jason Hinmon feels as if he has been discriminated against due to his fashion style.  “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, 2008)  Dr. Thomas feels as though students should change their appearance when they are in a professional environment.  One can agree that most people in the American society will “judge a book by its cover”  Jason was most likely judged due to the experience society has faced when dealing with most people who were dressed in baggy clothes, and had dreadlocks.  It seems as though Jason wants to express who he is without feeling judged.  He might be a decent hard working student, but at first glance, his professors may have seen him as a lazy thug.  “I used to wear bell-bottoms, but I learned to dress a certain way if I was negotiating the higher education maze.  I had to trim my afro” (Evelyn, 2008)  It appears as though Dr. Thomas is expressing his views from his own experience.  One would assume in his younger years, Dr. Thomas had trouble being understood as a serious student and professional.  Dr. Thomas made the decision to change his appearance from his “hippie” look to a more “professional” look, in order to be taken serious and not shunned because of the stereotype.  There are some professions that allow people to dress and look like however they feels is expressing themselves.  On the other hand, in most of corporate society there is a dress code or expectation of what their associates are to look and dress like. 

References

Evelyn, Jamilah. (2008). The Miseducation of Hip-Hop-Discrimination in Education. In

L. Gray-Rosendale, Laura Gray-Rosendale (pp. 559-565). New York: McGraw-Hill.