The Role Of Racial Discrimination In Higher Education

As I attend my local college fair, I observe my surroundings, noticing that I do not recognize many other students of my ethnicity. I feel as if I may be shooting too far into the stars, thinking that no one like me can ever attend such a top tier institution like the ones that I am visiting today. The tuitions are insanely higher than average, and coming from a low-income family, I wonder how I will ever get to start my future stress free? I am not the only one with these thoughts, for there are many young minorities across the nation who wonder the same thing. Furthermore, universities and higher education institutions across the nation target students from low-income families, or minorities, into not attending while students with high-income
To elaborate, we have seen evidence of racial discrimination within education for many decades. In fact, a prominent era would be the mid twentieth century, or when segregation was most popular. We had seen that minorities were separated from the whites in schools, and there was a grand difference between both institutions. The white schools had books of good quality, a clean and safe environment in the classroom, and overall, a better school. Meanwhile, the minorities were put in schools that were unsafe, crowded, had little or poor quality books. Also, many upper-class students did reach the level of higher education due to the lush resources that they were provided with. Unfortunately, the minorities in the poorer schools were not given the same treatment as the Caucasians, so many if not all did not attend a university or college. With this said, it was not oblivious that this was an intention put in place by the upper-class, or better said, the ones who had a say so in what occurred. This was the case because many minorities were illiterate or not as educated as the whites, so they were not well aware of the grave situation. This is seen today, in fact, many upper-class Americans still believe that “The white and the black didn’t mix then, not like they do now, which I can’t say I like because I don’t think it’s for the best” (Skloot 125). To elaborate, racial discrimination is still seen in
With this said, we see many ivy league schools across the nation with wild expensive tuitions. Because of this, many students that come from low income families, most of which are African American or Hispanic, have lower graduation rates from universities than whites. A research claims that two thirds of minority drop outs do not finish college because of money. They do not wish to be in debt or to put their families in more of a struggle that they are already in; college tuition is simply too much. Additionally, according to an estimate taken in 2013, 64 percent of whites graduated from a higher education while only 50 percent of minorities did (“Where Black… White Peers”). This means that there is a sixteen percent gap between the graduates who are whites to African American graduates. Also, not only do these institutions push the boundaries for low income students, there may also be pressure in the college community. “If black students do not feel welcome or if they experience any sort of racial harassment or discrimination, they will likely drop out of that particular institution” (“Where Black… White Peers”). This author illustrates that there may be situations within the college community that may pressure students into dropping out, essentially not graduating. For instance, if a Hispanic was targeted by a Caucasian with racial slurs or disrespect for a period of time,