In my reaction paper last week, I questioned whether it is better to force integration of schools (disregarding the effects of intra-school segregation) or simply to allow some schools to be mainly black so long as they are of equal caliber with integrated or mainly white schools. I think it’s interesting to consider what all-black or mostly black schools could mean for black students today. In today’s mixed schools, even black students who achieve similar testing scores are not placed in the same advanced classes are their white peers. This highly racialized – and racist – practice teaches school aged kids to associate the gifted track (and whiteness) with intelligence. Kids who are not placed on the advanced track, which is more of a status symbol than a real quantifiable measure or intelligence or ability, then are led to believe that they are not smart. Both Tyson and Du Bois presented black schools as spaces where all black students are able to succeed at levels denied to them in predominantly white institutions. Surrounded by their peers and not hindered by misleading beliefs that equate whiteness with intelligence, black students could in fact be encouraged to succeed. It is also important to consider the presence of black administrators and teachers. Black teachers, the adults in closest contact with students, can be highly underrepresented in mixed or mainly white schools. In my own high school experience, there was only one black teacher on my white, suburban campus. While it may not be necessary to have black teachers for black students to succeed, it is encouraging to see a person of your own color succeeding in a place of authority. Further, Du Bois says black teachers can relate better to students and their unique situations outside of school. Integrated schools do not make an effort to do this, either in a distinct attempt to be “colorblind” or simply out of neglect. That lack of understanding in and of itself can account for an achievement gap between black and white students in the same schools. In a black school no racialized tracking exists to equate success with whiteness and students have visible role models for what they can achieve after leaving school. The black school, then, may be the best way to stop the cycle of internalized inferiority and de facto segregation that prevents success in integrated schools. If integrated schools were better at catering to black students – not sticking them in average or below average classes with little regard for their academic potential – the entirely black school might not be a necessity. However, the inability of integrated institutions to properly educate and uplift black students today can prevent them from achieving at their highest level of potential and are the best indicator of why black schools might be needed. Though our society today would like to believe that we are colorblind and should no longer divide ourselves along race, racial divisions exist implicitly everyday and disadvantage nonwhite groups. The black school might be a way to negate this insidious and largely invisible inequality.
2 thoughts on “The Black School”
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The issue of integrated versus black schools has recently become a hot-button topic on blogs and social media in the wake of Mizzou, Yale, Harvard and other campus atrocities.
Some proponents of HBCUs( historically black colleges and universities) have smugly proclaimed that “this is what you get” [racially hostile treatment] for going to PWIs (predominantly white institutions) that “don’t want you and never did.” Yet, there is so much more to the story than the simple equation that all black kids should attend HBCUs and leave PWIs alone. As it was in Du Bois’s day, many HBCUs have significantly less money, significantly less infrastructure, thus often cannot attract top scholars and often have a meager endowment in comparison to PWIs. This is extremely unfortunate. Even as I was deciding on undergrad institutions, one of my first choices was the HBCU, Spelman College, but the financial aid was dismal, so I ended up going with a PWI where I wouldn’t have to pay much as their financial aid package was excellent. I have often wondered what my life would have been like had I gone there instead. I don’t know and I don’t regret my choice at all, but from what I can tell, there are benefits to going to an institution where the people care about you and your community and wherein you don’t feel marginalized. But there are also drawbacks. For example, friends who’ve gone to HBCUs and are now at Harvard or other PWIs for grad school have mentioned it being a complete culture shock and sometimes an alienating experience.
All that to say, history told us that separate but equal is a fallacy. Separate is never equal. Comparing the top HBCU with Harvard or any of the top PWI, there is simply no comparison. The gap in terms of resources, finances and power is exponential. This is not to say that these schools do not offer excellent training, as they do, but the differentials make such a difference. That said, it really goes back to the point many authors we’ve read throughout the semester have made, and that is: true integration is imperative for the uplift of all.
I have a close friend here at Harvard who had to make the same decision concerning where she would attend undergrad. She was torn between Howard and Harvard, and says today that she would have gladly gone to Howard had their financial aid package not been so meager. I personally chose not to apply to any HBCUs simply because I knew that financial aid there would be a risk. While HBCUs have many great features – one major one being that they are institutions created with the specific aim of educating black students when most higher education institutions began with a specific aim of keeping black students out – there are definite drawbacks. Still, though, at PWIs like Harvard there is a definite sense among many students of color that we are still a group on the fringes. This school, after all, was never meant to serve us. Progress has been made, but there are still certain areas lacking.
Overall, Du Bois’ question still stands today without a clear answer. It is interesting, though, to look at it through the lens of today’s culture (especially with the racial protests happening now).