This is my question. I hear all kind of people lauding the HBCU experience and seem utterly enraptured with the idea that they will be able to spend the four years of their undergraduate experience with people who share their same ethnic background. 1st question: Is this at all representative of real life? From my personal experience I have found that we, or at least in the upwardly socio-economic realm that you high achieving and socially conscious African-American (predominantly) hope to take part in, live in a white world. How will an HBCU where you will be surrounded by people like you and taught be professors like you be at all representative of real life? Or at least the one you hope to be living?
My 2nd question involves personal and academic preference. I have been accepted into a number of Universities and can go anywhere I want. So what would make me want to attend a HBCU rather than a more traditional Ivy League school or one of its equivalents when my goals is to become as educated as possible and subsequently be the most qualified for any future position or work that I would like to pursue. Furthermore, how diverse can an HBCU be and how much can you learn about other cultures/environments when you are surrounded my only one megaculture?
Well stated about the megaculture, Thunder. Put southerners, the westerners, rich kids and poor kids, republicans, africans, carribean-latino identifying blacks, churchgoers, followers of islam, and atheists in the same dorm and you've got a cast worthy of MTV's the Real World.
As far as choosing an HBCU, it really depends on why you're attending school. If you're just in school to get a job, then by all means go with the "name-school". Many HBCU students attend college with aspirations and inspirations that are influenced by family traditions, a respect for the historical significance of HBCU's, a longing to improve social strata or to eliminate the pressure from the academically competitive nature of top white and asian students. Some just go to surround themselves with positive, intelligent black people.
Reading US News and World Report or the Carnegie report, a prospective student would believe that the education at HBCU's is not competitive. However, one must consider that magazines are a form of media and thus are influenced by who is telling the story. The awards of our students and legacy of our alumni proves that HBCU's are doing a great job of educating students and preparing them for success.
I longed to go to an HBCU because the HBCU alumni list at the time was a who's who list of black america and black history:
Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Earl Graves (founder of Black Enterprise), Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Martin Luther King, Jr., Former US Surgeon General David Satcher, Marva Collins, Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Alice Walker, Jesse Jackson, Kweisi Mfume, Branford Marsalis, NC Governor Mike Easley, former VA governor and current mayor L. Douglas Wilder, and countless others.
Currently, the next generation of black leaders is being forged among the younger set. Howard's moot court team just knocked off highly regarded Harvard's team in the American Bar Association Mock Trial Competition. A former classmate from NCCU is on that team.
NCCU's campus newspaper, The Campus Echo, just won several awards in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists, including #1 Online Non-Daily for the mid-atlantic states.
Howard continually produces Rhodes Scholars, including four in the past four years. FSU's Master of Business Administration team has been invited to participate in the International Business Plan Competition sponsored by Moot Corp, whose slots are normally reserved for the most prestigious schools in the country. VUU had a student place first in a recent statewide Phi Beta Lambda conference. Hampton University is building a Proton Beam Therapy Center (this will only be the fourth one in the country). Our legacy continues. . .
Sorry about the length of the post.
That was well said. My mom just told me about an article she read stating that most African Americans in the coporate workplace come from HBCUs.
read the 1st page so far...& so far, i agree with just about what everyone's said...in favor of HBCUs...
wanted to quote this real quick, tho...because i hate the fact that people always look down upon our schools, yet neglect to realize and acknowledge this fact....
most of the big Black names in ALL of the industries...came from our schools...
one quote about HBCUs in comparisons to PWIs...when it comes to Blacks....that i heard a few years ago & i'll never 4get.....
predominantly White institutions will teach you how to live in society....historically black colleges & universities will teach you how to run society...
i sincerely hope that all people - particularly Blacks - get over this destructive mindstate, quit hatin', and realize THE GREATNESS!!!!
Well stated about the megaculture, Thunder. Put southerners, the westerners, rich kids and poor kids, republicans, africans, carribean-latino identifying blacks, churchgoers, followers of islam, and atheists in the same dorm and you've got a cast worthy of MTV's the Real World.
As far as choosing an HBCU, it really depends on why you're attending school. If you're just in school to get a job, then by all means go with the "name-school". Many HBCU students attend college with aspirations and inspirations that are influenced by family traditions, a respect for the historical significance of HBCU's, a longing to improve social strata or to eliminate the pressure from the academically competitive nature of top white and asian students. Some just go to surround themselves with positive, intelligent black people.
Reading US News and World Report or the Carnegie report, a prospective student would believe that the education at HBCU's is not competitive. However, one must consider that magazines are a form of media and thus are influenced by who is telling the story. The awards of our students and legacy of our alumni proves that HBCU's are doing a great job of educating students and preparing them for success.
I longed to go to an HBCU because the HBCU alumni list at the time was a who's who list of black america and black history:
Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Earl Graves (founder of Black Enterprise), Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Martin Luther King, Jr., Former US Surgeon General David Satcher, Marva Collins, Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Alice Walker, Jesse Jackson, Kweisi Mfume, Branford Marsalis, NC Governor Mike Easley, former VA governor and current mayor L. Douglas Wilder, and countless others.
Currently, the next generation of black leaders is being forged among the younger set. Howard's moot court team just knocked off highly regarded Harvard's team in the American Bar Association Mock Trial Competition. A former classmate from NCCU is on that team.
NCCU's campus newspaper, The Campus Echo, just won several awards in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists, including #1 Online Non-Daily for the mid-atlantic states.
Howard continually produces Rhodes Scholars, including four in the past four years. FSU's Master of Business Administration team has been invited to participate in the International Business Plan Competition sponsored by Moot Corp, whose slots are normally reserved for the most prestigious schools in the country. VUU had a student place first in a recent statewide Phi Beta Lambda conference. Hampton University is building a Proton Beam Therapy Center (this will only be the fourth one in the country). Our legacy continues. . .
Sorry about the length of the post.
That was well said. My mom just told me about an article she read stating that most African Americans in the coporate workplace come from HBCUs.
read the 1st page so far...& so far, i agree with just about what everyone's said...in favor of HBCUs...
wanted to quote this real quick, tho...because i hate the fact that people always look down upon our schools, yet neglect to realize and acknowledge this fact....
most of the big Black names in ALL of the industries...came from our schools...
one quote about HBCUs in comparisons to PWIs...when it comes to Blacks....that i heard a few years ago & i'll never 4get.....
predominantly White institutions will teach you how to live in society....historically black colleges & universities will teach you how to run society...
i sincerely hope that all people - particularly Blacks - get over this destructive mindstate, quit hatin', and realize THE GREATNESS!!!!
Cosigns and that's a really good quote I'm gonna start using it.
Yeah, among the top black people of industry, most come from our schools. But the top period, come from PWIs. It's just the disproportionate numbers of blacks in one university over another result in that disparity. If more black people went to PWIs that would change. Besides, as time changes and HBCUs become less neccessary, we'll see more black professionals and in positions of power, and less will be from HBCUs. But as of right now, racism is still alive, separatism still is a deciding factor in our educational choices, and of course the monetary issues still play the biggest roles in University selection.Yeah, among the top black people of industry, most come from our schools. But the top period, come from PWIs. It's just the disproportionate numbers of blacks in one university over another result in that disparity. If more black people went to PWIs that would change. Besides, as time changes and HBCUs become less neccessary, we'll see more black professionals and in positions of power, and less will be from HBCUs. But as of right now, racism is still alive, separatism still is a deciding factor in our educational choices, and of course the monetary issues still play the biggest roles in University selection.
That was a long rant about nothing. You switched sides from "our schools" to talking about the "superiority" of PWIs. Then you made the completely inaccurate assumption that the only reason that black people go to HBCUs is reverse racism and that they're too poor to go to PWIs. If you did your research you'd see that PWI usually offer more money in terms of financial aid and that PWIs are also usually more racist, or at least condescending towards minorities. HBCUs are a more welcoming and comfortable place for blacks. It's not that complicated.
Furthermore, HBCUs have a higher instance of being ranked on a national level than PWIs. If you dont understand what that means, it's that HBCUs can give you a G-O-O-D E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N. But you wouldn't know anything about that would you?
If anything, the only real shortcoming about HBCUs is the money issue. They simply dont have enough. If they had larger endowments they could offer more facilities, research opportunities, financial aid, and scholarships. If you looked around the board, you would see that many people who want to attend HBCUs dont because they dont get good enough financial packages. Very few people turn down full rides to Howard. If that. So anyway, if you have any more "fallacious" statements about HBCUs, the schools you will be attending next year, please let me know.
Oh, and by the way, I go to school in Compton too so which one do you go to?
okay, so now i'm confused :???:
in the original post, venom is downing HBCUs....
but in the most recent one, he is stating excellent truths about it...
so which is it? were you just playing devil's advocate in that 1st one??? or in the midst of those 8 pages of responses, u happened to finally see the light? lol
Yeah, as I said in a different post a few minutes ago, I really needed some feedback to help me decide which school to attend. HBCU or PWI and I wanted responses, rapidity was also a factor, so I posted the topic with very offensive/opinionated views so people would read it and respond.
Precisely why I am superior to both of you. I am much smarter and you are unwilling to admit it only because I misspell certain words and that's all you people focus on rather than the more important fact that I'm right.
