John Legend surprises class with lesson on race, education

Mary Beth Marklein

Students enrolled this semester in "Education in Black America" at Howard University got their reward Thursday morning for slogging to campus instead of sleeping in: About 10 minutes into class, singer-songwriter John Legend strode in. No introduction needed.
"Surprise, surprise," Legend said, as cellphones came out and cameras flashed. "I'm glad you didn't skip class today."

Legend, 31, was guest professor as part of an mtvU program called Stand In, in which big names such as Bill Gates and Madonna show up unannounced and teach a class on a subject they care about.

For Legend, a Grammy Award winner who grew up in poverty, that subject is education reform -- a key theme of the just-released Waiting for Superman documentary, for which he wrote a song. So it made sense to arrange with professor Greg Carr to appear in Carr's class, which was discussing the education of ex-slaves when the knock at the door came.

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Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 19, 2010 2:03 AM
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