Choose an HBCU
August 5, 2007
This from AOL Black Voices: According to a new study by researchers from Virginia Tech, black men who earn degrees from historically black colleges and universities have higher lifetime earnings than those attending other four-year institutions.“Our study … shows that Black males have no initial advantage from HBCU attendance but that their wages increase 1.4 percent to 1.6 percent faster per year after attending HBCUs compared to Black males who attended other colleges and universities,” says Dr. Bradford F. Mills, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
Though this study showed black males from HBCU had no initial advantage, I will point to some experiences I took away from my HBCU experience that has separated me from some of friends.
School Pride = Work Pride
After I accepted admittance to Florida A&M University, I was invited to a brunch held by the local FAMU Alumni Chapter. The brunch opened with a small but touching speech by the head of the Alumni Association. Though I cannot remember her name, I do remember her speech. In a nut shell, she spoke of FAMU’s history, and talked about some of the great men and women who had come before us. The president then closed the speech with this quote “Pride is an attitude which separates excellence from mediocrity. Take pride in yourself, take pride in your work, and take pride in FAMU and its legacy”. Not the most profound words ever spoken, but pretty inspiring. After entering FAMU, I noticed that the tone of her speech was echoed by most of the upperclassmen and Professors (most FAMU or other HBCU graduates) on campus. It was as if, we were working for more than grades, we were working to leave FAMU better, than the way we inherited it. I and many of my classmates, take that same feeling of pride to the work place.
I don’t recall seeing that type of pride from most of the friends who attended majority institutions. The only time they did have pride was during sporting events, and that was only when their school was not playing against their favorite hometown team. My friends did just enough to achieve their personal goals. If the goal was grad school their GPA was just high enough, they joined just the right organizations, and interacted with just the right people for good letters of recommendation. It was all about self. For most of my friends, I have notice that the same selfish mentality has transfered their workplace. I here them saying things like “It’s not my company”, or “How does busting my hump help my bottom line?”.
Graduation from and HBCU does not automatically equal school/work pride, and not all majority institutions graduates lack pride. But being receptive to my heritage, and my understanding my school’s legacy taught me lessons beyond the classroom. And I truly believe that it’s the lessons outside of the classroom that define you.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL