HBCU vs. White Schools
 

Now I know that some of you will be very uncomfortable with this topic but I want to know...Which do you think is better for black people Historically Black Colleges and Universities(HBCU for those who don't know) or White schools?

I think that it depends on the person's background. I think that if you went to school with white people growing up, it would be good for you to attend an HBCU.

On the other hand, if you grew up going to school with all black people, I think it would benefit you to go to a white school. That's how I made my decision, and I'm happy with it. Now, while I was there, I was wishing for an HBCU. But now that it's all said and done, I'm happy with my choice. You learn INTIMATELY about white people and how they can be sometimes. It's HARD if it's not something that you're used to, but it's a heck of a preparation for the world. It also helps you to know that not ALL white people are bad. That's what my father had me thinking. Thanks to Wittenberg, he died knowing that what he learned growing up was wrong, they're not all bad. But I digress...

I said all that to say that your prior experiences should dictate where you go to school. If you think you can handle going to an all black high school, and an all black college and still hang with the culture shock, that's cool. I don't think I could've handled it, at least not the way I handled it in college. There's not as much bureaucracy, politics, and red tape on campus as there is in life, you know what I'm sayin'? However, if you went to school with white people all your life, i just think that you NEED to go to a Black school. People end up CONFUSED and NAIVE.

Just my .08 . . .

Let me start by saying that I've been to both. Morgan State University and University of California Berkeley for Grad school. There is no place like a black school. Black schools have more school spirit as a whole. Because of the racial struggle that blacks endured, HBCU's have a "WE ARE FAMILY" atmosphere because of their heritage and tradition. Example-Cal's homecoming was just the regular student body and some university staff. At Morgan's homecoming there were people there from the class of 1942/ In some cases four and five generations of family alumni. There were bands and parties that were for all people.

well, now...
 

While I attended a prestigious PWI for undergrad, I am considering the same school as well as a prestigious HBCU with a top-notch program for grad school. I attended a magnet high school where people from all over the city enrolled so it was not clearly any majority.

However, a cousin of mine who lived and attended grade school (incl high school) in the suburbs got a rude awakening at college. She went from a lily white suburban high school in the north to a land grant HBCU in the south; her entire first year, she suffered from anxiety attacks. She eventually graduated with honors but she still has issues.

The only reason why I didn't go to an HBCU was because of my own immaturity back in 1982. I went to a mixed HS, by the way.
I was a 17-year-old who was extremely attached to my parents, especially my mother. I couldn't see moving to D.C. or the Atl at that time, lol. I eventually moved to the South for four years, but I was 25 when I moved.

Soror Ideal, I also see your point about growing up in a predominantly white environment and how a HBCU would help. But I also think that the parents should make an effort to ensure the child's connectedness before he/she goes to college. A child shouldn't wait until 17,18 years of age before exposure...

Mycrored,

Did you got to school in B-more? I went to Morgan. Why didn't You think of Morgan?

I feel you on that.

I am!! I attended Johns Hopkins for undergrad. My choice is between Hopkins and Morgan for my MBA program.

Re: HBCU vs. White Schools
 

To answer you question plain and simple:
ANY school where one can receive his or her degree, get a job, and NOT have to DEPEND on OTHERS to "take care" of them.

PERIOD! :D ;) :p

I went to an all black grade school. My high school was about 65% white with the rest being black, hispanic, and asian. My last year of high school I lived in an all white neighborhood. When I was thinking about colleges my mom was trying to get me to attend an HBCU. Both my parents attended an HBCU but they grew up in the south so I figured that is really all they had.

At the time when I was making my choice, I didn't see the point in attending an HBCU because the world was not "all" black. I thought that in itself was unrealistic. Well I made my chocie and I went to the Univ of Pittsburgh. I got a good education, and made some life long friends, but when I talk to some of my friends who graduated from an HBCU, they have a totally different experience. They talk about a closeness with teachers and friends that I can't even relate to. Hell even greek life is much different at an HBCU that a PWI.

I have never been back to my school for homecoming since I left, but my mom who graduated from NC A&T goes to her reunions, her CIAA games, and everything else every year. I know it's not about homecomings, but, while I was in school, we road tripped down to the ATL for Morehouses homecoming, needless to say I was totally blown away. This was a homecoming that I could not even start to relate to.

If I had to do it all over again, I still can't say for sure that I would go to an HBCU, but I think I lean more towards going to one now than not.

Education is about EMPOWERMENT
 

Ideal and I went to the same schools aaaaaalllllll our life. Hey girl, we have to go to the same grad school too!!:p

Anyway as she previously stated, we went to an ALL BLACK school system with maybe 10 whites in the whole district.

I value that experience so much. A GREAT DEAL!! I loved it!! We had SPIRIT even when we lost.

I chose Wittenberg for several reasons. Again Ideal touched on one. The world is largely white. Well let me clarify, the professional working world is. I wanted to know what it was like to be UP CLOSE and PERSONAL. I chose Wittenberg because it was the BEST of the BEST for what I looked at. I liked the small numbers and the close interaction with professors.

I only looked at Alabama A&M as far as applying and that is only because this fiiiiine boy from my high school was going there and he dropped out after a couple of babies. I remember saying I was going to go HOWARD or Spelman but I did not.

I told yall a whole just to say this. As a future parent one daaaay, I am going to insure that my child knows WHO he/she is as a BLACK PERSON. I want my child to be mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally fit. I am going to surround my child with BLACK folks but also teach them to interact with whites.

Ultimately I agree with others who stated that EDUCATION is about empowerment. No matter where you go, it is up to you to take advantage of the opportunities available at the institution of higher learning.

What needs to happen is that HBCUs need more alumni support financially. I think back on my college years and the threatened closing of Central STate. Also there needs to be improvement in the percentage of students who graduate in 4 years. The numbers are frighteningly low. :eek:

I agree with you Dexter, HBCUs have some WONDERFUL HOMECOMINGS and BANDS and stuff.

IF YOU ARE BLACK and have a COLLEGE DEGREE, APPLAUD YOURSELF!! There are too many others who are not in the position we are. Take that degree and enact POSITIVE CHANGE!!

Re: Education is about EMPOWERMENT
 

Soror CT4, I agree with several of your points. However, your point about having A degree is the most poignant. We have many programs designed to get our young people to college but VERY FEW designed to help keep them there.

I was almost one of those statistics; I wanted to drop out in my senior year because of several academic and personal issues. Thanks to a very close family friend and the threat from my parents of cutting off my cash flow, I finished my program but a semester late. I am SO glad I decided to finish because I really don't think I would/could have went back. At that time (c. 1990), there were not a great deal of programs offering degree completion options.

However, nowadays, there are a MULTITUDE of programs designed or working adults to complete their degree. Sadly, not too many of us take advantage of these programs, most are employer supported w/ loans and tuition reimbursement.

So I say all that to say, regardless of where you started or where you end up, without your degree, it really doesn't matter.

Personally, I think where you attend school plays some kind of role in whether or not you graduate. Some people choose their schools for the wrong reasons instead of trying to look at which environment best suites their personality. My brother and sister attended HBCUs, but they and my parents knew a HBCU was not for me so I was steered away early on. The college I graduated from was a perfect fit for me. I loved every minute of the experience.

Just my .08!:)

It depends
 

I been gon a grip, so yall be patient with me.

I think it depends on the student's background, what they intend to major in, the strengths of the prospective school, the student-faculty ratio, and of course-cost. I've heard HBCUs are QUALITY oriented; whereas pw schools are quantity/quality-oriented when it comes to assignments. Regrettably, I never attended an HBCU; so I really don't know.

Sorry but I know this will be long.

My boyfriend and I have already dicussed that our future children will be attending HBCUs, unless there is extreme circumstances for them to do otherwise. We definitely want to support our institutions. (And yes I know that a lot of the HBCUs were founded by white people but they were still opened for us at a time when we weren't accepted at "white" schools.) From speaking with people who attended non-HBCUs, I definitely can tell there is a vast difference in experience. Not saying one better than the other, just vastly different.

I definitely had a closeness with all of my professors (white, black, middle-eastern, etc.) that I'm sure I wouldn't have had at the same level at a non-HBCU. No matter my professors' nationality, I liked how they always talked about how "we" had to be a step above everyone else. They kept it real. I believe they made us work harder so that we would be in a position to better compete. My stupid friend (see thread 'Black Think Tank') said that it seemed like HBCUs baby people and that isn't good. Well I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm going to pay for my child's or my own education, then I would rather someone care about me or my child then just see me or them as a number in classroom and a part of their salary. And my professors at Clark Atlanta University definitely treated me better than that.

My senior year, I started slacking in one of my accounting classes. That professor (of Middle-eastern descent) called me out in front of the class. He said that it wasn't like me to be doing so bad. He told me to come to his office after class. I said, "dang, you didn't have to bust me out". But in his office, the first thing he asked was if there was anything wrong personally. He then asked if I was having problems with the class and if there was anything that he could do to help me better understand, if so. At the time I was taking a full load and he told me to slow down and try not to let anything stress me out too much. It made me realize how much our professors really want us to be on the ball but that they actually care as well. I had a lot of teachers trying to hook me up with interships or at least make sure I was trying to get some (which I did). And this is just one of many examples of our professors caring about the students. (Disclaimer: Not that every teacher cared about every student but if you appeared to care about your own future or showed potential, then the professors would go above and beyond to assist you.)

Now as far as classes, my English and history classes were off the hook. We did the same type of work as non-HBCUs (ie critical analysis papers, essays, research, etc.) but we did them about lesser known Black authors, poets and people in history (and not just MLK or other well discussed Black people).

The social side: amazing. I always think of our basketball games. Let's say we'd be playing Morris Brown or Morehouse and either CAU band or the other school's band would be playing the theme to "Good Times" and the whole crowd would be loudly singing along. Or the bands would play some new OutKast cut. Or if the bands weren't playing, then we would have a DJ playing at time outs. I mean, Good Times, DJs, etc. I felt right at home.

Now my Dad just loved the dorm situation my freshmen year. As freshmen, you had a curfew of midnight [although you could some time find your way around it, unless there was a surprise dorm meeting at midnight and you weren't there :eek: ]. I know most college people wouldn't like that. But it wasn't that bad and sometimes it felt good to know people (RM, RA, institution) cared about you.

I went to elementary and high school with a nice amount of Blacks (not a majority but a large amount) but nothing was better than the atmosphere at an HBCU. My stupid friend's Dad (who constantly put down HBCUs although he supported his daughter applying to one but she was not accepted) said that he wanted his daughter to go to a school with all races as if we lived in an all Black town or something :rolleyes:. I'm sorry but that is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Why? Because the rest of the world doesn't cease existing just because you're in college. Meaning, you may see mostly us on campus and in the classroom but that's only one part of your life. You still have to work be it in the summer or after class, go to shopping malls and grocery stores, and do any other day-to-day activities that doesn't just involve Black people. College is like home. You can choose to be surrounded by the type of people who make you feel most comfortable and those you would choose in your personal life but you still deal with others in the other daily parts of your life.

(Disclaimer: I know that one can have just as good a time or good education or anything else at a non-HBCU as an HBCU. This is just my experience.)

to add...
 

As far as the AUC (Atlanta University Center - Clark Atlanta, Spelman, Morehouse, Morris Brown, ITC, Morehouse School of Medicine), we had the AUC Career Center. I mean it was off the charts. The center helped you get your resume together, set up mock interviews, helped you research your career field, etc. There would be tons of companies that would come there to inteview for internships and full time positions. All you had to do was be registered with your school rep at the Center. You could then come in the Center weekly or even daily and thumb through, for example, the accounting/finance binder which listed all the companies coming to interview for the week and what days and times were available. I'm not sure if a lot of non-HBCUs have this but the people I know that attended non-HBCUs didn't know of such a thing (or maybe they were just too shiftless to find out about it :p).

PROUD HBCU GRAD!
 

From day one you are told you are responsible for the future of our community. You sit next to future doctors, lawyers, politicians, entrepreneurs, and it makes you feel good. The support system is incredible. No matter where you are from, there is a crowd where you will fit in perfectly. Your history never begins with ...black folks were slaves. WE WERE QUEENS, KINGS...ROYALTY.

I could go on and on about my classmates and my own wonderful experience being a product of Howard University...THE MECCA! But, you have already read about us in all of the current pop culture and trade magazines.

Those who are quick to dismiss black colleges for fear of receiving an inferior education suffer miserably from self hate. These are the same people who would prefer a white doctor to a black doctor...just because. A sad state of affairs!

Singing..."I'm so glad...I went to Howard U!!!!!"

P.S. My future children will go to Howard!;)

Re: PROUD HBCU GRAD!
 

Even though I went to a predominatly(sp) white School SU TO DA FULLEST I have mad love for HBCU's. I think there is no inferior education it is what you make of it. I think the choice comes down to where you are in your life. Some people need that experience some don't but like one person said a long time ago "It is more impossible for a black person to go through life in america without interacting with a white person than it is for a white person to grow up in america and never interact with a black"

Sphinxpoet :cool:

Re: Re: PROUD HBCU GRAD!
 

Did you see the Real World Lousiana when the mormon girl was like..."there were no colored people where I grew up":rolleyes: I was like...dag, SHELTERED PITIFUL!

Re: Re: Re: PROUD HBCU GRAD!
 

Dang, that was the last RW that I watched, and I can't believe I missed her say "colored." That is some mess in and of itself.

Re: Re: Re: Re: PROUD HBCU GRAD!
 

It was CRAZY! She said it like the first or second episode. I can't remember the brother's name on the show, but he was like...the girl has been sheltered tooooo long. The quasi-sometimes I am a sistah sister got totally bent out of shape and straight checked her. I actually liked the Mormon girl. She went on the show and made a valiant effort to just learn and live.

I certainly agree - - - enough said!

Re: HBCU vs. White Schools
 

i think that you should go wherever you feel you will receive the best overall education...one cannot say that all black people are one way and would benefit more from an hbcu education vs. and education at an institution that isn't historically black...i chose an hbcu because i felt that that was where i would receive the best overall education based on my goals, pre-existing perspectives on college life, and multi-cultural upbringing, that was at times absent of intellectual exchange with people that looked like me...people that were about doing something more than being content with their present existence...so...it is always an individual choice...and in my opinion it would be regressive to stereotype us in that way...but i feel where you are coming from...

I go to a predominantly white university and I always feel like I'm missing something. I'm not sure what... just something. However, I do feel like the black students on campus are closer since there are few of us. Seeing familiar faces all the time makes it easier for us to look out for each other.

Has anyone transferred from a PWU to an HBCU or vice versa? I'm interested to hear what you think.

I don’t want to get too lengthy so I’ll try to keep this short.My situation is an interesting one.
I was born in the south side of Chicago (predom. black), grew up in San Francisco (very diverse) and attended Jr College, transferred to Grambling (GSU rocks the HOUSE!): D then transferred back home to Jr college then to San Francisco State (yuck!), back to Jr. College, (change major & got AA degree) then applied to another HBCU (Howard) but never heard ANYTHING from them (don't ask how many times I called) so I transferred to an art school (where I am now & very diverse) but will apply to Howard for grad school. Whew! What a mouthful!

Anyway, my experience at Grambling was mind-blowing. At the time I wasn't mature enough to handle myself (bad grades) but what I took from the experience changed my life and views. GSU's motto is "Everybody is Somebody". I am SOMEBODY. Deep in my heart I knew that but at GSU , I FELT IT. One of my teachers made me stand up in front of a mirror and SAY IT and MEAN IT. I really cannot put into words the feelings that I have right now as I type this. I can say that the experience is like no other.

If I ever have children, I will STRONGLY ENCOURAGE them/he/she to attend a HBCU. I've already picked them out: Howard, Spelman or Morehouse, Meharry Medical or Howard Medical, Grambling, and Tuskegee. The only non-HBCU on the list is Oberlin.

Historically Black and Proud
 

I attend an HBCU and I absolutely love it. I am having the time of my life and receiving a great education. I could not see myself in school anywhere else.

I went to an all-white elementary school. My middle school and high school were about 50% white and 50% everything else. I liked that experience. But, when it came time to pick a college, I knew I wanted to attend an HBCU.

The environment that I grew up in was not full of positive and upwardly mobile young black people. Sure, I knew professional blacks, but they were all my mother's age. Everyone that I knew and went to school with was doing absolutely nothing with themselves and had even less planned for their futures. The few black students like myself were so stuck-up and "corny" that I couldn't stand to be arond them. There was nobody like me, smart and ambitious, but still cool. I wanted to surround myself with positive black people and I knew that attending a black college would be my last opportunity to do so.

I wasn't sold on my school until I had actually visited the campus. I had narrowed my choices down to UNC, Spelman, and FAMU. Compared to the other two, FAM had the friendliest campus. It was just a family atmosphere. When my mother and I got lost looking for a building, someone walked us to exactly where we need to be. At UNC and Spelman, people barely wanted to point us in the right direction. I still feel the family atmosphere here after some years. I am still friends with everyone who lived on my hallway my freshman year. My friends will tell me that I know I need to go to class. It's like everyone here wants you to succeed.

The most successful people in my family attended HBCUs. My grandparents went to Tuskegee, my parents went to Lincoln (PA), and my sister went to Hampton. These are not the only college educated people in my family, but the ones who attended majority institutions have yet to reach a moderate level of success. I have a cousin who went to Princeton who can barely hold a job, and she has an MBA. It's my mother's opinion that she should have attended and HBCU because she needs that nurturing that a black college can provide.

The one thing that I don't like is the negative connotation that goes along with attending a black college. People think that I go to FAM because it's the only school I could get into. I got accepted to every school that I applied to and those are some of the best colleges in this country. I could have gone to NYU or Georgetown, but I wanted to go to FAMU!!!!

Re: Historically Black and Proud
 

I'm just curious. Anyone is free to answer, not just ClassyLady. She just brought up something I've been wondering about.

I also know of a lot of really, really smart students from my high school that were accepted to predom. white schools (some with scholarships), but chose an HBCU (FAMU, Howard, Spelman, and Hampton). So, it's definitely a myth that you attend a HBCU because you can't get in anywhere else.

However, how do you feel about those students that attend an HBCU because they didn't get into any other college? The ones that I've known usually withdrew, including a cousin of mine. I know how hard she had it in high school, but she really wanted a college degree. I'm glad a school gave her the opportunity to at least try. Our entire family was really supportive and encouraged her to stick with it, but she couldn't. :(

My question is do stories like that help or hurt?

Re: Re: Historically Black and Proud
 

I went to an HBCU. Many of the people that I knew like that withdrew, but some graduated. Still, I was shocked when I was in school to find that some people hadn't taken the SAT, or they scored whatever it is they give you simply for bubbling in your name correctly. I can understand giving people a chance, but I feel like it may also set people up for failure. Real life, post-graduation, does not have very low standards. And positions that do are often positions people can get without going to college. JMHO.

I answering Dexter's question, I agree with Soror Ideal08. I think it depends on what your background is.

Re: Re: Historically Black and Proud
 

Just as many students withdraw from predominately white colleges as historically black colleges/universities. I would venture to say a college's graduation rate black or white does not influence one's decision to attend, stay or leave a college at any point. It certainly did not play a role in my decision to apply and graduate from Howard.

I would venture to say reasons for not finishing are typically very personal. Many reasons are financial. While some students do not return simply because "college life"...academia...simply was not the right choice for them.

Re: Re: Re: Historically Black and Proud
 

I agree!!! College life is not for everyone, but society has taught us that we need to go to college if we want to be successful. But, in all honesty, that's not true. If I like doing hair, then I really don't need a degree to do that. Sure, a few accounting and business courses would help, but they are not a neccessity.

If someone drops out of school, then maybe they just don't need to be there. I think that many students come to school expecting the school to tell them what they should be. If you don't already has some kind of grasp around who you are or what you want to be in life, it doesn't matter what school you go to. A university cannot tell you what to study or what to pursue.

I transferred
 

I transferred from an HBCU (Xavier University of Louisiana) to a PWU (University of TN) after my sophomore year, and sometimes the differences are overwhelming, I went from a predominantly black school with maybe 5000 undergraduates in the middle of New Orleans (with no football team) to a predominantly white school in Knoxville TN, 35,000+ undergrads where the football players are treated like celebrities. There was so much that I had to get used to. On an HBCU campus, we didn't do a lot of "fight the power, we're being discriminated against" because we were all black, but once I got here, every week "we" seemed to congregate/have a meeting because somebody offended us or didn't accept us, or something. You have to get used to the politics, and since I'm from TN, I'm used to being blatantly discriminated against by professors and students..but that was something that I wasn't used to at Xavier. Xavier had tremendous spirit (even with no football team), and we stuck together, we came in as a class in hopes of all leaving together as a class. I miss that "family spirit", one smarter guy at Xavier used to take his own time to hold review sessions for like 50-100 people before a test, even got a room on campus, you don't see people doing things like that here. And the black people here, surprisingly, aren't as friendly or close-knit. (I too thought that because there were fewer of us, we would be closer, but no...) I'm used to smiling at people, saying good morning, but that doesn't happen very often, people looked at me like I was crazy for the first few months I was here.
Now on the plus side, Univ of TN is going to prepare me better for graduate school. I'm a Chemistry Major and we have professors who are top in their field, equipment that I wouldn't have had the chance to work with at Xavier, and research opportunties that I wouldn't have had at Xavier. This may also be because Xavier is a smaller school with not as many alumni, therefore not as many donations, and Xavier is a private school whereas UT is public. Because I am a minority, I do get special priviledges, minority scholarships, workshops, etc. Well, I think you guys get the picture, remember that these are the comparisons of two specific schools, and certainly don't speak for all HBCU's and PWU's, if I had went to Howard, I'm sure my experiences as far as research would have been different. While I appreciate UT, my heart will always be with Xavier, I'm applying to every HBCU with a grad program in Chemistry (only 3), and when I get my Ph.D. I plan on teaching at an HBCU.

Re: Historically Black and Proud
 

Me too, and like AKATUDE said, there are some of us who get scholarships to "White" universities and chose to go to HBCU's.

In my case, I wanted to be around intelligent students and professors who looked like me; who can relate to what I'm saying when it comes to issues like racism and other issues like that.

At the HBCU that I attend, you see the diversity that is within our culture and you are exposed to alot of different things that are part of our culture. Some students get up here and they don't realize or didn't know that not all African Americans believe or do the same things that you did when you were at home. And things are more in the open, but I think that in learning to appreciate all things in ourselves, we learn to deal with people who are different than us.

I want to say that at least 1 out of 15 (I think it is either twelve or fifteen but enough) students at my HBCU is of Non-African American decent so it is interesting to watch them adapt to our culture and for some of them, their "new" surroundings.

112-OneOneTwo

HBCU all the way
 

I was sitting in class one day, when one of my Prof. said "This is the only time in your life, that you will be surrounded by so MANY beautiful goal oriented black people" Then this girl in the back said..."in prison you will" Needless to say i set her staight.

When we continue to proclaim that we should not attend HBCU's because the world isn't all black, we are only hurting ourselves.....keep in mind that the world isn't all WHITE either!

I also have a problem with people who say they can't afford to go to a certain college, or they didn't recieve any financial aid. Other than being a place of higher education...Universities/Colleges are a business. SOMEONE HAS TO PAY! Thats why so many of our HBCU's are in debt. Your parents had 18 years to plan and save!

I attended a private all girls school for 13 years and i am at the BEST school in the country....which so happens to be an HBCU.

NO ONE KNOWS CULTURE SHOCK LIKE ME.

Re: It depends
 

That's interesting, what about those who say that some HBCUs are not the least bit concerned about QUALITY, but moreso concerned about the APPEARANCE of quality. I've also heard people say they didn't want to have to worry about their hair, makeup, and clothes when they went to class (like they were in highschool) which is why they fit in at a pw.
I was educated in a predominently black public school system, but decided to attend a pw university. To me, it wasn't a huge decision b/c I know my people and I had grown up with my people. I think we should seek to be educated in an environment that more closely resembles the world in which we will have to work in (which isn't predominently black). However, I definitely believe that there is a need for an HBCU education. I will say that NOT attending an HBCU led me to need to supplement my lack of daily exposure to my own people, by hanging out at HBCUs. Of course, the black students at pw institutions tend to stick together, but there is less of a support system for our interests and culture. In terms of level of difficulty and educational value, we can't generalize b/c there are many HBCUs that have credentials that far surpass those of pw institutions.

Re: Re: It depends
 

I never understood why people say this. People are still individuals. No matter how many whites, blacks, asians, etc. you surround yourself with, you still have to get along and interact with people on an individual basis. I don't think going to a non-HBCU prepares you any better to deal with other races than going to school with your own. I'm not saying that you(ChaosDST) mean this, but when people make the statement that you made, it makes me think that they believe all Black people are alike, think alike, and act alike. Even at an HBCU, you still have to learn how to deal with a lot of different personalities. And isn't that what best equips one to deal with different people? To be able to accept and deal with the many different personalities of others.

Besides, although we are the majority at HBCUs and despite what others may think, we do have teachers and students of different races and from different countries.

I personally wouldn't trade anything for learning amongst my own.

(Side note: You are right about the fashion thing though. It did get old seeing everyone going half-naked when the sun would come out or walking around campus like it was a catwalk. But, it's up to each individual on whether they fall prey to the "fashion show". I didn't get into that. I liked to look a little classier than most (blouse/nice sweater with slacks). However, if I felt like it, I might wear a summer dress or jeans/shorts and a T-shirt. But whatever I wore on any given day, it was because I wanted to wear it and not to compete with or be like anyone else.)

To add to my previous post...
 

So because it won't adequately prepare them for the "real world, should Black people not live in an all Black neighborhood? Should Black people not attend an all Black church?

I think that is where "we" get in trouble. We start to believe that being around our "own" is somehow wrong or harmful. Well I love living in a predominantly Black neighborhood and I love attending a predominantly Black church.

I graduated from an HBCU and have been working for a couple of years. I doubt that I am any less capable of dealing with "others" as far as work is concerned as someone who attended a non-HBCU. I have a friend who went to a non-HBCU and she can barely keep a job because she doesn't know how to work with people who think differently than she. So she ends up arguing with any and everyone.

Re: Re: Re: It depends
 

Good point, but I think you realize that wasn't the meaning behind my comment. While we all are individuals, there are certain inherent traits and characteristics that people of similar ethnic backgrounds share (another topic). So, we should be equipt to deal with people of various backgrounds and cultures. This goes for white students that attend predominently white schools all of their lives, as well. It is usually the case that people only begin to "understand" other cultures when they are "forced" to interact with other cultures and so forth. If you remain in your niche, you usually have no need or desire to learn anything other than that what you are accustomed to and have been exposed to. That's my point.

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I definitely agree with you as far as people needing to interact with other races. However, just because you attend a non-HBCU doesn't mean you will necessarily have the opportunity to work with a nice amount of Chinese, Indian, French, Kenyan, and all the many other types of people. Going to a non-HBCU might mean only being around a handful of Black people with an overwhelming amount of white people. So one still may not encounter people outside of Blacks & whites at non-HBCU.

My point about HBCUs, all Black churches and all Black neighborhoods is that they are all just a few hours out of each day. Just a fraction of your life. You still will encounter "others" in the rest of your daily activities (except white people, who can choose to only see other whites at their jobs, neighborhoods, etc. :rolleyes: ). I know that I still interacted with a lot of different "races" once I would leave campus for the day.

And as I stated, there are a lot of different nationalities at HBCUs, it's just reverse of predominantly white schools. Instead of mostly whites with a few of everything else, at HBCUs, it's mostly Blacks with a few of everything else.

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Soror, you and I are on two different pages and having two separate discussions.

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Well I thought I was reading and responding to your posts correctly. But I guess we're just misunderstanding the point the other is expressing. That happens ;)!! Sometimes people just need to read/hear something in a different way to understand. So maybe someone else will be able to expound on your post and it will click for me ;)!!