Black Education - An Evaluation

hbcu

The hbcu  of the Negro said that they should be, not so much because of the differences in race as the difference of circumstances in which many African Americans are forced to live. In today's terms, blacks are no longer insulated by the caring communities that segregation necessitated. Black teachers, community elders and neighbors are no longer a sure factor in the extended education of black children. Western education may be the only legitimate hbcu  they receive.

For me personally, I was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana where integration of the school system did not truly begin until the late 1970s. When I began to score well on academic tests, I was placed in advanced classes where I was usually one of perhaps two or three black students in a class full of whites. I learned the Western curriculum so well that by the time I entered college I had no means of articulating what I thought blackness meant.

Here is a very embarrassing illustration.

Although I was a successful high school student, most of my success was due to trial and error. In college, for the subject of a freshman English paper, I chose the Civil War. Not understanding that history books are written to reflect the values of the researchers, the evidence that I used to support my paper promoted the heroism of a Confederate general.



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Quality Education Vs Accreditation

 hbcu

"The act or process of educating or being educated; the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process!"

Inquiries into furthering my  hbcu  aspirations were made to various colleges within my immediate environmental area. Several of the schools contacted required placement exams that I did not challenge, as I am adept and very capable of dealing with college examinations. The thing that got to me was the disparaging remarks from some college recruiters regarding their standards for  hbcu  as opposed to another college. One of the schools that I've attended is a two-year degree school while the other is as well. They hold real estate in the same zip code and competed for students in the same local. They both educated local students as well as out of state and students from other countries and nations.

One school considered itself superior to the other by reason of accreditation. The school that was described as inferior did not have middle states accreditation. The school was described as below standard by the other. The so-called superior school is lead and operated by a non-HBCU affiliation while the other happened to be lead and operated by an African American staff. The self-described superior school has made plans, designs, and did bid for the take-over of the African American school. Albeit, the self-described superior school admits that it does not and will not accept credentials from the so-called inferior school. I have attended both of these institutions and received very good instruction from its teachers as well. While the lessons learned were an invaluable source of information, the education that I received from personal academic research (self-taught) has enhanced my knowledge base. Money was not a factor in my personal research, study, and/or practicum. I would add, the knowledge and information that was derived from the HBCU School proved to be equally rewarding as the other if not better!


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