Through the years the Black community has been assessing whether Black students benefit more by attending integrated colleges or Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU’s). Those favoring the latter argue that:
*Some predominantly White institutions of higher learning are becoming increasingly racist and subsequently physically unsafe for Black students. Some Black colleges have been known to have academically short-changed students overcome educational and psychological problems developing in the recently recurring climate of anti-liberal (anti-Black) political rhetoric and other recurring problems.
*Teachers in Black colleges are more sympathetic and experienced in teaching students with cultural deficits and problems peculiar to many Black students.
*Predominantly White colleges and universities being microcosms of the larger society, the Black student usually (or perhaps involuntarily) by the normal flow of campus life.
*This active or passive segregation inhibits maximal academic performance, as the social interaction and peer support needed by most college-age students of all races are available.
Those favoring integrated college education argue . . .
*Equal educational opportunities can exist only in an integrated setting as “separate but equal” educational institutions are “inherently unequal.”
*Predominantly White colleges and universities have and get more buildings, equipment and supplies.
*The curricula of predominantly White colleges and universities are broader and deeper.
*The faculties of White colleges and universities contain more specialists and experts with national and international reputations and with experiences unencumbered by overt or covert racism.
*Minority graduates of predominantly White colleges and universities are better adjusted culturally and psychologically to face the “real world” which today is predominantly White.
Arguments on both sides appear to be generally reasonable. Both types of colleges and universities are attracting increasing numbers of Black students. Role models are abundant on both sides.
On the “pro-Black” side were: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Prof. Barbara Jordan, Andrew Young, Thurgood Marshall, Ben Hooks and Jesse Jackson among others. On the “integrated” side were such role models as Paul Robeson (Rutgers), Jackie Robinson (UCLA), Astronaut Guion Bluford (U. of Penn), NAACP leader Roy Wilkins (Minn. U.); first Black U.S. Cabinet member, Dr. Robert C. Weaver (Harvard); world famous blood plasma developer, Dr. Charles Drew (McGill U. in Montreal; and Bill Cosby (Temple) among others.
It appears that in most cases of Black first-generation college students with modest national test scores and blue-collar upbringing, the predominantly Black college is usually better. Similarly, the homey, “spoon-feeding,” less-taxing “small-time” college is also better for first-generation White students with blue-collar upbringing. Personal attention and compassion from teachers are usually better in these institutions.
In larger, more-sophisticated colleges and universities, students coming from the homes of professionals, executives or high-achieving parents are better equipped to compete because some professors make assumptions about prior, home-supplied knowledge and cater to “cream of the crop” students. However, a talented Black student with good grades, a good outlook and determination can succeed at any college or university!
