Originally posted by sophandros
The comments about the merits of attending the college of one's choice are extremely shortsighted, lack basis, and reek of what SEEMS like an inferiority complex. I would recommend not putting down others when trying to prop yourself up. Not every Black student or alum of an historically white school believes that education is "inferior" at HBCUs; in fact, that thought is usually not on their minds. The people whom I know made their choices for MANY reasons, and none of them was "HBCUs don't offer quality education". Some of it is financial, some is the desire to be in an urban (by "urban", I mean in the sociological, not music industry definition) setting or even the city itself, some of it is academic (certain degree program, etc), and other reasons. The point is that an oversimplified rant is not the best way to go in a discussion such as this one. It makes you come across as bitter and petty, and I know that you aren't that type; I've read to many of your posts to think that.
To label statements others make which are derived from their own experiences, interactions, and observations as shortsighted, lacking basis, and as the result of a ?seemingly? inferiority complex is just as presumptuous as you imply those of us who support our statements to be. To categorize statements you obviously disagree with as ?oversimplified rants? just because you disagree with them, especially when you don?t have the knowledge base of the experiences that those of us who have made them have, could seemingly reek of ?hit??.dog???.Holler?. But since I can tell by your keystrokes that you are more enlightened than that, I won?t draw that conclusion.
Instead, I?ll list some of my experiences and insights for you and ask that during your journey through life that you observe responses, attitudes, and mindsets when you find yourself in situations similar to ones that form the opinions I and others share and which you seemingly object to.
First, when you are in a region not in the vicinity of an HBCU (or near one, if you like), talk to the students and parents of young African Americans about the virtues of attending one (pretend you graduated from an HBCU) and note the responses. They usually begin with a hesitancy and then go to a variation of the theme ?man, I don?t want to go to one of ?those? schools????, etc., etc. Or if you talk to the parents, you might hear this chorus usually echoed?.?I want my child to go to a BIG school.? Note, many of the parents echoing this, if not most, have never, themselves, set foot on anybody?s college campus. I have had enough of these types of conversation with AA parents in this area to last 10 lifetimes. So why this attitude, why this perception? The systematic stated and/or sometime implied view of HBCU?s (and I know Pneck, other smaller schools as well, sometimes) perpetuated by those in the media, sports announcers, guidance counselors, coaches, etc. I have coached youth league football and baseball for all the years my children have played. And the actions I?m describing to you are ones that I, and many other HBCU?ers, have witnessed firsthand. I?m sure that if you take me up on this you will bear witness to this also. But if your time won?t permit you conducting this research, simply listen to one Pro football telecast and see how many times the announcers cite the name of the BIG PWC when a player from one of those schools makes a play and how many times the name of the HBCU is cited when a player from one of those schools makes a play. See how many times, if they mentioned the name of the HBCU that they place the adjective "tiny" in front of it. Note the connotation; and then note the "ranting" that goes on about the programs of the other schools. Another simple survey you can conduct is to simply scan the newspapers and categorize the few non-athletic articles you find about HBCU?s into ?positive articles? and ?negative articles?. See for yourself which types of articles are printed more (and PNeck, even small PWC?s generally don?t get this treatment). You might deem this insignificant and as having no bearing on the perception presented to the audience but it makes an impact, especially to young teens. Why else would those who have not even set foot on particular college campuses discount them with no knowledge of what they have to offer. This is an element of the mass marketing persona I alluded to in my earlier post.
Many of us have matriculated in the graduate programs of PWC?s. If an inferiority complex had resulted from our HBCU education, most of us would not have applied to attend those schools. My HBCU education did what it was suppose to do: it allowed me to develop my skills and abilities to the fullest the extent of the undergraduate education capabilities and it instilled in me the confidence in those abilities to compete with anybody in the world. Yes, I, along with others who post here, have attended a PWC and successfully matriculated through and completed their graduate programs. This gives us a perspective that you might not have yet: we have seen both sides of the ?educational fence". And as with Dr. SweetNupe, it was during my time in graduate school at the PWC I attended that I observe the treatment and frustrations of AA undergraduates who, through no lack of effort, could not get over the hump to acceptance in the graduate programs of the institution. I personally counseled many of them, in addition to providing help to them during my office hours and at other times even though they had no classes under me. Their frustrations stemmed from a perceived and/or real lack of support for their educational process, a lack of being able to get into study groups, and other factors that arise and sometimes hamper a student?s matriculation and confidence. But, again, if you are ever in the situation where you interact with undergraduate AA?s in your major as a graduate student, counselor, resource, whatever????observe for yourself how many of those students who ascribe to attend Grad school at their undergraduate institutions fail to get over the hump though they bust every last gut trying to do so. This is not a putdown of AA?s who made the choice to attend PWC?s; this is just what some of us have observed.
These are just a few examples and I?m not going to sit here and articulate all of the types of instances, interactions, observations, experiences, or activities that form the basis of my statements. If you get the time and/or have the inclination, look and see for yourself. I will close with one point of agreement, and that is that it is the student?s choice. I have no problem with the process or the results of it when the student makes an informed choice. My nephew, a recent MIT graduate, chose to go there for both his BS and MS degrees. Do I begrudge him that decision: of course not. But that?s because he made an informed decision based on his desires vs. what MIT had to offer, what Southern had to offer, what Tulane had to offer (he?s from Kenner and they were after him hot and heavy), what LSU had to offer, and what each of the schools he considered had to offer. I take issue when kids and their parents make decisions about the quality of an education that a school has to offer, especially when they disparage the quality of that education, with no knowledge of the school and simply because they have been ?shaped? to believe so by machinations of the mass media and other deeply rooted systems. When this is the cause of misguided opinions of what my school has to offer, I will defend it to the bitter end. Some of these methods have been so interweaved into the standard behavior and practices of persons in this country that many don?t realized how systematically these views are being implanted into their psyche. Now, I would imagine that you would find that most of your colleagues at Tulane (the school I believe you attended) might have considered other factors in their decision. Given the admission standards at the school, I would hope and expect them to do so. But let?s be real, that is not the case with most students, especially those for whom, sadly to say in 2004, are still the first in their families to attend institutions of higher education ? a description that still fits too many of our students.
Regards.
