WSJ Jason Riley Says Historically Black Colleges & Universities are "Academically Inferior"

Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley seems to think historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are inferior. In fact, his exact words are, "once an essential response to racism, they are now academically inferior." Personally, I didn't envision the possibility of getting my college education at a HBCU for the simple fact that I wanted to broaden my horizons and not limit my college education to a black or white school. I wanted to attend a school that was a melting-pot and one that had strong academics. Don't get me wrong. I am in no way ignoring these institutions of higher learning. The reality is, if the same standard was applied to the HBCUs as most major universities, then the ones that aren't at the top of the list would improve tremendously.

Earlier this month, Mr. Obama hosted a White House reception to celebrate the contributions of the nation’s 105 black colleges and to reiterate his pledge to invest another $850 million in these institutions over the next decade.

Recalling the circumstances under which many of these schools were created after the Civil War, the president noted that "at a critical time in our nation's history, HBCUs waged war against illiteracy and ignorance and won." He added: "You have made it possible for millions of people to achieve their dreams and gave so many young people a chance they never thought they'd have, a chance that nobody else would give them."

The reality today, however, is that there's no shortage of traditional colleges willing to give black students a chance. When segregation was legal, black colleges were responsible for almost all black collegians. Today, nearly 90% of black students spurn such schools, and the available evidence shows that, in the main, these students are better off exercising their non-HBCU options.

"Even the best black colleges and universities do not approach the standards of quality of respectable institutions," according to economist Thomas Sowell. "None has a department ranking among the leading graduate departments in any of the 29 fields surveyed by the American Council of Education. None ranks among the 'selective' institutions with regard to student admissions. None has a student body whose College Board scores are within 100 points of any school in the Ivy League." Source

I certainly would not say all the HBCUs are inferior, Florida A&M University, Morehouse & Spelman Colleges, Hampton University, Dillard University and Howard University, are far from inferior. I will admit, when I started looking at possible colleges to attend during my high school senior year, I was given some brochures by a black pastor to some HBCUs and I scoffed at the idea because of the quality of education at a handful of these institutions, specifically the ones he gave me brochures for. Coupled with the fact that I had never heard about some of those schools. I settled on Ohio University in Athens because it was a top 10 university for Journalism. Still, we can't lose sight of why HBCUs came into being in the first place and we can't relegate them to the back of the line in today's world. They should be afforded the same treatment as other colleges and universities in the U.S. and given a chance to improve, particularly those with the most challenges.