Chris Emdin Breaks Down What ‘Rachetdemic’ Really Means

By Aziah Siid | Word In BlackDr.Chris Emdin/ photo courtesy of Instagram(WIB) – To young, K-12 hip-hop fans, and hip-to-it educators, the word is self-explanatory. To their parents, and tradition-minded teachers, the definition usually needs justification. But Dr. Chris Emdin, an educator and researcher, says his “ratchedemic” concept — fusing rap culture and street smarts with traditional academic lessons to help Black students achieve — is nothing radical. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be.RELATED:& Kids Bored In Class? Go With The Flo-Cabulary& Emdin, director of the Schupf Family IdeaLab at Skidmore College and an education professor and researcher at Columbia University Teachers College, simply found a way to connect with underachieving Black students in poorly-funded schools by meeting them where they are — absorbing pop culture and music — and using it to help them achieve. In short, it’s about helping kids learn by encouraging them to be their authentic, unapologetically Black selves, then teaching to, and respecting, that identity. It’s teachers using rap battles to memorize a literature lesson, or tying the latest fashion trend to an assignment in art class.& “Ratchedemics initially was a concept that was not just (teaching kids) something in a book” or using old-school...