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DOC’S COLLEGE NOTES By: Dr.Hill

 
 We have all heard the old saying, “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice”, and most likely we have all heard the newer saying, “the blacker the college, the sweeter the knowledge”. I am incline to agree with both statements, and as an educator and a proud alumni of a historically black institution, who also obtained degrees from predominantly white institutions, it was my personal experience that Black is Better. However, there are those instances where historically black institutions are infected with Negroes, specifically incompetent Negroes who are threatened by anyone or any notion of real Blackness. These unfortunate situations are easy to spot as there is usually a lot of mess going on, problems with finances, a steady drop in enrollment, and the institution is not embraced by the Black community because the leadership fails to embrace the Black community.
It was Frederick Douglass who said, “Without struggle, there is no progress. Historically, black institutions have and many continue to struggle, some to increase enrollments, increase capital funding, increase scholarships, and others to maintain effective and honest leadership. Prior to enrolling at my alma mater, I was told by some folk, that it was going to close down soon. Needless to say that was over 20 years ago, and I was there when the institution celebrated 100 years of surviving the struggle. The alumni had to step in a couple of times and let their voices he heard, when attempts were launched to close down our dear alma mater and transform it into a prison. Perhaps the force behind this move was based on a concept of “there are black folk there already, all we have to do is put up the tall wall and the bars”.
Often high school students who are preparing to attend college, are more impressed with the state of art facilities, rather than the high quality of learning. Deciding on which college to attend is a major decision and should not be made based on the nice, new student union. There are some basic things one must know before taking that step, specifically if they are leaning towards attending a predominantly black institution.

1. Make sure you are going to college for the purpose of getting a good education
2. Find out whether the school is under any type of probation.
3. Visit the campus and talk with the students
4. Talk to alumni
Historically Black colleges and universities are credited with producing more students who go on to obtain masters and professional degrees. They are regarded as a family, and more Black alumni return to their college homecoming each year. This is despite not having multimillion dollar budgets and state of the art technology. Such comes from good leadership which often trickles down.
It is unfortunate that some of our Black colleges are being mislead by uppity Negroes who perpetrate as Africans. This will be the downfall of our institutions. However, never forget that there are many historically black colleges and universities that are making a difference now.