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Common knows a thing or two about wrestling with tough subjects.  

In his 25-plus years as a Grammy- and Oscar-winning rapper, actor, advocate, and activist, the Chicago native has gone up against racial injustice, social inequality, and poverty with his powerful words and performances.  

But recently, he has taken an active role in another tough battle: education reform.


All photos courtesy of XQ.

In 2006, he started the Common Ground Foundation, a nonprofit that, as he puts it, isn't trying to "preach" to kids, but rather inspire them to lift themselves up.

"I always believed that if we started with the youth then we would be planting the seeds for our future to blossom," says Common in his organization's mission statement. "Give the children a sense of hope, self-esteem, and love that will better the world."

Common's idea for improving education revolves around one simple concept: Education has to evolve.

"I think education has to evolve when society evolves," Common says. "It's like a constant evolution of what the youth may need and what they're attentive to ... and finding out those things and letting that curriculum be something that's progressive."

"I still think about the periodic charts in science that I can still recite," Common says, remembering a science teacher from his youth who made his students rattle off the elements of the periodic table in a rhythmic pattern. He used an engaging and youthful form of communication to teach a lesson that stuck. "His method was fun," he explains.

XQ Luminary: Common

Thanks to one very special teacher, this rapper can still recite the elements of the periodic table.

Posted by Upworthy on Thursday, December 14, 2017

Around the country, more and more schools are helping their students by engaging directly with their interests.

There's Youth On Record, an organization that helps kids catch up on missed high school credits by teaching them music production, and classrooms like Makerspace in Phoenix, where kids can build whatever they want.

If the American education system is to be improved, finding out what kids actually enjoy — and using that to teach — could be a crucial way to do it.

"We have to relate to one another," Common says. "Teachers have to know how to relate. If we can relate as educators, and teachers and school systems to the youth, they will receive it and retain it. And go out and apply it at a higher level."

Whether it's music, fashion, or building robots, there are lessons to be learned everywhere. Common believes that harnessing the power of those natural interests is the key to our future."But I'm just offering my two cents," he says.

"My Common sense. Pun intended."

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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Every day, hundreds of kids in Mexico wake up extra early to cross the border and attend school in the U.S.

It's an unusual commute with border traffic, security checks, and metal detectors all before your first class, but parents jump at the opportunity to have their kids educated in the United States. And for the most part, the schools are happy to have them.

The border in El Paso, Texas. All images via XQ Super School Project.


It's no secret that many of these kids face serious disadvantages in school. There are language barriers and discrimination to deal with on top of the fact that many of the children come from impoverished communities.

Additionally, the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico threatens to tear some of these communities in half and leave kids further behind.

El Paso, Texas, is a city that shares a deep relationship with its twin city — Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The teachers in El Paso welcome Mexican students as their own and recognize that giving them the best education possible isn't just the right thing to do, it's essential to building a better world.

"It's really important for people to understand that Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, we are one community," says Liza Montelongo, executive director of the El Paso STEM Foundation. "Yes, we have a river that divides us, and yes, we are two countries, but ultimately if we are depriving one part of our community, then we are doing a disservice to all of us."

To help bring their community together, one school in El Paso decided to form a group that takes aim at another issue.  

Women entering careers in science, technology, engineering, and math face a multitude of barriers. There are large systemic biases like the gender pay gap as well as smaller, more personal impediments.

For example, young girls who do well in STEM classes are often teased, and their potential interest in the subjects isn't cultivated as much as it might be for a young boy.

That's where the "Chicas" come in.

XQ Rethink High School: El Paso

They may live in different countries, but they tackle science projects together as classmates.

Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Chicas are a badass group of girls who are bridging international borders with their love for science.

They work together building robots, programing computers, and cultivating their love for STEM.

"As girls get older, sometimes it's not cool to be smart," Montelongo says. "So our goal is to try and say, you know what, it's OK to be a nerd."

Not only are the Chicas helping to close the gender gap in STEM, they're creating leaders in a marginalized community.

People in STEM are the leaders and innovators of the future. They're the ones who can use their talents and out-of-the-box thinking to solve the biggest problems facing the world — and research shows that when STEM fields are diversified, they produce better ideas.

For the twin cities of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, the Chicas provide an opportunity to come together and celebrate a common passion.

"It doesn't matter if you live on the north side of the river or you live on the south side," Montelongo says. "We need to be able to give them some type of opportunity to be able to have their dream."

It's a simple idea — bringing marginalized students together to celebrate science — but anyone who loves STEM knows that simple ideas can change the world.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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Think back to high school. What if your teacher had told you to throw out the curriculum and run the class yourself?

What would you have done? Would you extend recess by several periods? Would you turn the class into Watching "Real Housewives of Atlanta" 101?

Or would you pull yourselves together, get creative, and make something incredible like, say, a piano powered by celery and old bananas?


If your answer is the latter, you'd probably love Makerspace in Phoenix.

These students are defying expectations and turning their scientific ideas into reality.

Posted by Upworthy on Thursday, October 26, 2017

"Makerspace is a place for students to make," says Amber Henry, a Makerspace teacher and coordinator. "It's for them to do what they're passionate about. They get to take an idea that's in their head and make it a physical reality."

Students decide what they want to make and are guided by experts into making it real.

Everything from computer games to rudimentary electronics to art projects to a piano powered by celery and bananas is brought to life by the students of Makerspace, and the lessons are self-evident.

All photos via XQ Super School Project.

"When we tell students that there's math in this room, and there's science in this room, and there's English in this room, they see the collaboration," Henry says. "They see the connection."

More than just a lawless play-space, Makerspace lets students take control of their own learning in a really unique way.

Everyone struggles occasionally with the traditional class structure, and sometimes, reading textbooks and staring at PowerPoint presentations isn't the best way to learn.

"A lot of kids tend to think that high school is boring," says Hayden Araza, a Makerspace student, "because they're not given the opportunity to say what they want to do. ... We're gonna make our own rubric. We don't need one of yours."

That shift in thinking is particularly important for Phoenix's large population of low-income and minority students, who often fall behind in a traditional education system that's stacked against them.

Students in Phoenix are "often from low-income backgrounds, and they're often minorities," says Pearl Chang Esau of Expect More Arizona.

"These kids can change the world. The question is whether we are gonna support them and invest in them and give them the teachers and resources that they need to do that."

As more kids enter this existing educational system, it's going to take creative ideas like Makerspace to give them a chance.

With the job market more competitive than ever, kids need every possible chance to get a leg up. One of the best ways to do that is to give them a space where they can discover their own passions for science — and put real-life skills to use.

The "normal" high school classroom isn't always the most engaging or beneficial place for young minds.

Getting kids excited about learning is about giving them control, letting them try and fail, so that later on, they can succeed. Or, as these minds see it, improving education is about challenging what we've come to accept as standard.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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The awesome way one school is helping students broadcast messages to the world.

They're reaching their community on a level above and beyond social media.

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XQ

After the tragedy of Michael Brown, kids everywhere were eager to have their opinions on the subject heard.

This was especially true in Missouri.

Student protest in Ferguson, Missouri. Image via XQ.


In the months following the shooting, there were numerous student protests over racial bias and discrimination. Young people were angry, and they wanted change — both in their hometowns and on the national level.

[rebelmouse-image 19531703 dam="1" original_size="640x480" caption="A Ferguson protest at Stanford University. Photo by Paul George/Flickr." expand=1]A Ferguson protest at Stanford University. Photo by Paul George/Flickr.

Today, the protests and fights for justice are ongoing because the problems are far from over. Many people turn to social media to keep the many conversations around these issues relevant, but that can sometimes feel like screaming into a void of millions of other voices.

The students of Ritenour High School had a special way to get their voices heard over the crowd though: a professional media lab.

Image via XQ.

The lab at the school near St. Louis, Missouri, is outfitted with all the tools the kids need to create fully produced radio shows and television broadcasts about the issues they care about and the news stories that affect them.

"Our school has been very forward-thinking with journalism," explains Jane Bannester, a teacher at Ritenour. "It wasn't just 'I'm doing an assignment and I'm turning it in.' It's 'I'm doing it, and there are people in our community who are hearing this and looking to us to tell these different stories.'"

The students genuinely feel like they're making a difference in speaking to their community at large.

It's also giving them the skills they need to work in media professionally.

The lab allows the students to get hands-on experience producing their own media programs so they can have a sense of how it's done in the real world. This type of training is vital for kids who want to pursue careers in the fast-paced world of journalism and broadcast news.

A student watches a television broadcast taping. Image via XQ.

Anyone can post their opinions on social media outlets, but it takes serious training and skill to get those opinions to reach a major audience. Ritenour's media program is giving its students the means to do just that in a way that counts.

It's no surprise that Rintenour is on its way to becoming an XQ Super School. XQ is helping schools nationwide adapt to an ever-advancing world. Their high-tech classroom is what people running the project hope all classrooms across the country will eventually look like — one that's filled with tools that will better prepare them to take on any career in media they choose.

Today, it seems like there's never not a "breaking news" moment. Thanks to this awesome media lab setup, you know these students will be covering them.

The Ritenour students may just be kids, but their interactive lab classroom has allowed them to be heard on a level that rivals local news stations.

In the not-too-distant future, the skills they're picking up in this classroom will help them rise up in the competitive media business, but right now, it's helping them realize their voices matter and deserve to be amplified.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

Check out their whole story here:

These students are telling stories that need to be told, and their community is listening.

Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, October 18, 2017