black grad

Its finally official, I'm a college senior. I pre-registered for m spring semester classes, took the GRE (twice), struggling with a thesis and the overwhelming process of applying to graduate schools and jobs. As my time as an undergraduate at Amherst College comes to a close I sometimes wonder if it was all worth it - all the self doubt, late nights, stress, homesicknesses, etc... Moreover, being educated in an elite white institution has led me to imagine whether I would have been happier at an HBCU.
Then in my hour of doubt and despair, I came across a quote by an amazing if underappreciated Amherst alum, Charles Hamilton Houston. Known as "The man who killed Jim Crow" because of his integral role in numerous court cases that dismantled legislative segregation, including Brown v. Board once said, "Without education there is no hope for our people, and without hope our future is lost". He couldn't have been more right and his words could not have been more timeless.
I cannot redo my undergrad years, and I have to rest assured that I have been placed where I am for a reason (the lack of staggering student loans doesn't hurt either). Whether attained at a historically black college, majority white school, women's college or at any other type of school a college education is the key not only to black intellectual enlightenment a la Du Bois but should also be regarded as central to the economic viability of our people.

It should come as no surprise that educational attainment correlates closely with education levels. The numbers are stark 24.9% of African-Americans are living at or below the national poverty line and only about 15% of black Americans have a bachelors degree. The old saying that, "college isn't for everyone", shouldn't even be whispered in our households. We can no longer afford to remain undereducated. If so we will continued to be under-served, disenfranchised and impoverished. College or some variety of vocational training a la Booker T. Washington, should be the goal of black young people.Instead of lionizing a child simply for turning 16 and lavishing them with gifts or throwing an elaborate high school graduation party, save the accolades for when the same children earn their bachelors, masters, PhD.'s and beyond.

It would be easy to blame the lack of higher educational attainment amongst blacks on the notion that we don't properly value schooling. However, this view is not historically accurate as in the tumultuous Reconstruction south, former slaves established grammar and secondary schools and universities to educate themselves and future generations of blacks. This legacy continues today, with the majority of black college graduates earning their degrees from HBCUs. There are so many factors at work in this situation: the inhibiting tuition costs, lack of resources in our communities to prepare one for college, lack of knowledge of all the opportunities available to those that are young gifted and black, just to name a few. Then once one arrives on campus, they are bombarded with institutionalized racism, sexism, elitism and the other more pedestrian hurdles faced by every other college kid.

But aren't we a people of overcoming obstacles? In the 388 years after slavery we've managed to declare our humanity even as our fellow citizens vehemently sought to deny it. We owe it to our ancestors and ourselves to secure our future in this nation through making educational inroads.