A while back, my wife and I had a conversation with a friend, and the topic of historically black colleges and universities came up. She proclaimed that she would never want her kids to go to an HBCU. She started spitting out reasons like poor administrations, unorganized processes during registration, the hassle with financial aid and one or two other things. The problem was she never attended an HBCU before.
We tried to explain to her what the HBCU experience was about. The wife talked about how her all-girl HBCU instilled a sense of pride within herself and her community that she didn’t feel she would have received from a mainstream school. She went on to say that the four years she spent there helped to shape and mold the woman she is today.
I tried to talk about how a poor registration experience was peanuts compared to all that you gained. I explained the ability to truly be yourself and the family atmosphere that only an HBCU can provide,. the ability to have one chance in your life where you’re not a minority and the opportunity to learn about the black experience from and in depth perspective.
Post-Obama inauguration I’ve often heard the question asked: are HBCUs still relevant? We would definitely say yes, and hope that our children follow in our footsteps when they have the chance to decide.
What about you – would you send your child to an HBCU?
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