Second Thought is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating the apathy amongst our teens and young adults. In order to get students to care about life, themselves, and others, they need to learn about their world in a way that makes sense to them. Our organization finds that teaching the whys behind education through hip hop, the arts, and technology piques students’ interest and opens a platform in which honest dialog can take place.
1. The hip hop culture is not just rap music. It’s actually the collection of beliefs, norms, attitudes, and values formulated around rap, dj-ing, break dancing, and graffiti art.
2. Second Thought finds that using hip hop to facilitate education proves very affective when dealing with a culture saturated by the influence of hip hop. It’s all about talking “their,” the students’, language in order to build kinship, trust, and interest in the other issues we’d like them to think twice about. It’s difficult to open up to someone one feels does not understand them.
1. Build an online community, a village, of students and teachers who can interact and discuss real life issues.
2. Create a culture of individuals who are life long learners, able to adapt to changing environments, better critical thinkers, and more effective communicators.
3. Guide students to a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.
4. Learn the importance of cultural sensitivity and how the human race is interconnected.