Post of the Week: I borrowed 150k for This?! HBCUs, Affirmative Action and Student Debt
In the beginning, we were not permitted to attend mainstream institutions. Then we made our own, and for the most part did not desire to attend mainstream institutions though we maintained we had a right to. Then we won that right with the blood of our dear saints departed. Some of us exercised that right. Some of us chose to maintain the communities which we built when “American” only referred to us when we were overseas, usually in uniform – and in harm’s way.
For those who are familiar with my situation you know that I travel a great deal. Observationally, and I say that because I do not wish to be inundated with statistics to the contrary (should they exist) I have noticed that those who chose to attend HBCUs were better off financially twenty years down the line. I believe the answer has to do with Affirmative Action, Student Debt and a new “southern strategy.”
Why is an entire generation of African-American elite saying/asking themselves: I borrowed 150k For This?!
Affirmative Action in its infancy was not designed to correct for PAST injustices, it was designed to COMPENSATE for discrimination that is happening CURRENTLY. A good analogy is an airplane adjusting its speed to compensate for a strong headwind. The famous “quota” was based on the following logic: 1) there are African-Americans qualified to attend these universities 2) colleges will only accept the minimum number of African-Americans they are forced to…hence a quota. Following this logic, there were NOT MORE slots than “qualified” African-Americans there were significantly LESS. So a select few would go to the Harvards and Yales, and the rest would go to the Howards and Spelmans or take advantage of the state school systems. So…what happened?
Now, to understand what I am about to say you have to make several pessimistic assumptions which I am not necessarily 100% in love with people. Remember, this is just me. Alpha Man. Not Debtor’s Prison, Alpha Man. If Triforce’s narcissistic diatribes are published and his understudy can brag about an AWFUL 8.5% interest rate on a new car, well don’t begrudge me a conspiracy theory.
But let us suppose the PRIMARY purpose of an ELITE education is to create exclusivity. I will be the first to admit that there is a small fraction of one percent of the population who are true geniuses who actually substantially benefit from this. I have met them. Still, lets make another pessimistic assumption and assume they are 5% or less of each incoming class. Now if the purpose of an elite education is exclusivity, and you, who are not in favor of this “affirmative action” business what do you do? Why, you simply make the African-American experience on campus unpleasant, discriminate against them in the next phase (the job market) and argue they never should have been there in the first place.
Now if you’re with me so far you might say I haven’t said anything new. If you’ve been paying attention so far you will notice that everything I have suggested is more or less passive. But if you’re like me, you’ve been through the recruitment process. These “elite” institutions are actively recruiting minorities…why? Well, Affirmative Action has yet to be struck down by the Supreme Court. It’s also good publicity in certain parts of the country.
But let us suppose that if these well recruited individuals DID NOT attend these “elite” schools they would attend school in their own communities and become leaders. There they would go stronger. There they would plant the seeds to create institutions that would compete with the institutions created by the “elite.” That’s what used to happen. I’ve noticed it doesn’t anymore.
So does this mean I am against Affirmative Action? No. Here’s why: 1) Without it things will revert back to the way they were. If a black student really wants to go a T-14 they should be able 2) Our HBCU system has been greatly weakened by the cherry picking of the best and brightest. The power structure would not stand on the verge of taking away Affirmative Action if it still served their purpose.
Look, technically I am homeless and jobless and not in the best position to be giving advice. If what I said makes sense to you the only conclusion is we are operating on borrowed time. We left our house of brick because the straw and stick houses were closer to the beach and had better wifi.
Finally, a note to the lighter nation. If an African American acquaintance gets into a college you wanted to attend with a lower SAT score or GPA you are not a victim of reverse-discrimination, you are, at BEST, a victim of “ricocheted discrimination.” Same thing on the job. Think of discrimination as a bullet and Affirmative Action as a suit of armor. The bullet ricocheted off its intended target and hit you. Now, ask yourself, should you be mad at the individual wearing the armor (particularly considering they have been shot many, many times over the course of their lives) or should you be mad at the individual firing the gun?
Sounds like a little of DuBois and Carter G. Woodson. Thurgood Marshall attended Howard Law School but only after he was refused admission to University of Maryland, but he’s an example of your theory as he fought civil rights cases and trekked up to the Supreme Court. It’s interesting that you state of the population the smartest are 1% while WEB DuBois theorized it at 10% at least among Blacks. Now he attended Harvard, wrote about the ‘Negro’ experience and the need for certain social and educational programs for upward mobility. He was one of the rare few who attended IVY League and still cared about the plight of blacks in general; even though socially he could not fully relate to them. During slavery the upper class free blacks who were most of the time bi-racial half legitimate heirs to slave owners who bequeathed them land and had connections could care less about their bonded brethen. In fact, it seems that most black abolitionists were grass roots; former slaves or from the make-shift black- Christian religion. The one thing that HBCU’s did do is cultivate a sense of responsibility to help others facing the same plight. As far as IVY League, elitism is elitism for the most part. You don’t see the black millionaires making appearances at HBCUs or even high schools among black middle class, let alone the truly impoverished.
You state why an entire generation of African-American elite asking themselves certain questions, imagine what the blacks and other minorities who didn’t attend elite law schools are asking themselves!
As for the student loans…So you have the government the only provider, and then you have Obama promising to forgive the loans in inverse proportion to the contributions that those who get them ultimately make to society. Those who contribute nothing at all will get the biggest free ride at the end. Those who go to work for government–which may be the same thing–will potentially have their entire loan forgiven
Interesting blog you got here but I can’t seem to find the RSS button.
No matter what others say, I think it is still interesting and useful maybe necessary to improve some minor things
Firstly, to “medical insurance”, there were always loan forgiveness programs, regardless of race: Teach for America, Peace Corps, military, etc. I think this is a pathetic stratgety to name the president as some type of conspirator in offering loan forgiveness programs when they were in existence before he ran for any political office. Also, there are private loans. Clearly you are not educated on this topic; please know what you are discussing before you post.
Now to the blog, I sincerely believe that the undergraduate experience is about building a network for future employment and business ventures. This is a lot easier task for students who attend any college with a smaller student teacher ratio. As a hbcu student and soon to be alumna, I believe that I reaped the benefits of attending such an institution in seeing black faces sitting next to me as well as facilitating the courses (I also had white professors). I really believe it made my connections a lot easier to build, but ultimately it is up to the student, regardless of race to find these opportunities for his or her future.