G
grant555
Hello,
I have read many posts on this website that have openly criticized the two predominantly African American dental schools, Meharry and Howard. To be fair, this is not the only website or forum to which I have heard negative aspects of African American institutions or their students, and it is true that Howard has organization problems in its medical and dental program. However, there are predominantly white schools that share these problems or other problems as well. I have my own thoughts as to why this is the case: For one, most Americans have mixed emotions about minority health professionals(physicians, dentists, nurses etc) to begin with whether they attended a historically black college or not. Having spent some years working in hospitals and medical laboratories and dentists offices, I can say that with confidence. Second, one must look at the reasons why predominantly african american schools came to existence in the first place. It was not too long ago that african americans were not permitted to attend predominantly white institutions and were forced to start schools of their own without federal funding and that meant with their own limited funds. The relevance of this is that Howard and Meharry and the other minority institutions emerged from meager origins and are still fighting the funding battle as we speak and so are many other institutions in this country. But it cannot be underestimated of how much less those minority schools had to work with in the beginning. Most large and successful predominantly white schools are supremely funded and have been since their conceptions, and the minority schools are no more apt to compete with them as poor, small white schools are. For example, how likely is anyone to compare a predominantly white community college with Tulane(a school to which I have attended), but readily compare Howard or Meharry to Tulane Med School or another prestigious dental school even though the community college may have equal or more funding than the historically black medical or dental school. Not hardly. The answer is obvioius and is a sad commentary on race relations. Just because someone comes from a minority school doesn't mean that they are intellectually inferior or lazy or professionally inept. Maybe they could not afford to attend a white school or wish to attend school where their relatives or parents attended in the past as so many other students do at white colleges.
I know that there is little or no excuse for bad attitudes that students at this panel have had with minority schools and that those problems should be corrected. But I have heard such similar complaints from students here about white schools. Why should the negative experiences at minority institutions carry more weight and positive marks such as board pass rates be so easily dismissed? Just because so one graduates from Harvard does not guarantee a career of accolades and high accomplishments, nor does graduating from Howard or Meharry guarantee a career of dispair and unprofessionalism.
The most troublesome characteristic I have noticed on this forum is that some students want to hold minority institutions to a different standard than predominantly white schools, which sheds light on why the schools exist in the first place. Finally, I think it is counter productive to take shots at schools that are poorly funded and less prestigious because it is easy to do so. I think it is disingenious to take a negative experience at a minority school and place it as an ear mark for the entire program, its students, the communities that they serve, and finally appalling the minority group itself. The fact remains that I find the majority of the information and dialogue on this forum to be of a high calibor and very informative whether I am a minority student or not. When something noteworthy or germaine to dentistry appears on this website, its value is lessened when the information is jaded with comments about race and usually distracts the purpose of the post or comment in the end, which is exaclty why I usually shy away from such conversations, but recent posts and comments on this website (to which I will not refer) have taken a slighted angle towards hate and should be addressed accordingly. I invite anyone to comment on this post using this forum or my personal website or email [email]
[email][email protected][/email][/email]www.blackdentaledge.com
I have read many posts on this website that have openly criticized the two predominantly African American dental schools, Meharry and Howard. To be fair, this is not the only website or forum to which I have heard negative aspects of African American institutions or their students, and it is true that Howard has organization problems in its medical and dental program. However, there are predominantly white schools that share these problems or other problems as well. I have my own thoughts as to why this is the case: For one, most Americans have mixed emotions about minority health professionals(physicians, dentists, nurses etc) to begin with whether they attended a historically black college or not. Having spent some years working in hospitals and medical laboratories and dentists offices, I can say that with confidence. Second, one must look at the reasons why predominantly african american schools came to existence in the first place. It was not too long ago that african americans were not permitted to attend predominantly white institutions and were forced to start schools of their own without federal funding and that meant with their own limited funds. The relevance of this is that Howard and Meharry and the other minority institutions emerged from meager origins and are still fighting the funding battle as we speak and so are many other institutions in this country. But it cannot be underestimated of how much less those minority schools had to work with in the beginning. Most large and successful predominantly white schools are supremely funded and have been since their conceptions, and the minority schools are no more apt to compete with them as poor, small white schools are. For example, how likely is anyone to compare a predominantly white community college with Tulane(a school to which I have attended), but readily compare Howard or Meharry to Tulane Med School or another prestigious dental school even though the community college may have equal or more funding than the historically black medical or dental school. Not hardly. The answer is obvioius and is a sad commentary on race relations. Just because someone comes from a minority school doesn't mean that they are intellectually inferior or lazy or professionally inept. Maybe they could not afford to attend a white school or wish to attend school where their relatives or parents attended in the past as so many other students do at white colleges.
I know that there is little or no excuse for bad attitudes that students at this panel have had with minority schools and that those problems should be corrected. But I have heard such similar complaints from students here about white schools. Why should the negative experiences at minority institutions carry more weight and positive marks such as board pass rates be so easily dismissed? Just because so one graduates from Harvard does not guarantee a career of accolades and high accomplishments, nor does graduating from Howard or Meharry guarantee a career of dispair and unprofessionalism.
The most troublesome characteristic I have noticed on this forum is that some students want to hold minority institutions to a different standard than predominantly white schools, which sheds light on why the schools exist in the first place. Finally, I think it is counter productive to take shots at schools that are poorly funded and less prestigious because it is easy to do so. I think it is disingenious to take a negative experience at a minority school and place it as an ear mark for the entire program, its students, the communities that they serve, and finally appalling the minority group itself. The fact remains that I find the majority of the information and dialogue on this forum to be of a high calibor and very informative whether I am a minority student or not. When something noteworthy or germaine to dentistry appears on this website, its value is lessened when the information is jaded with comments about race and usually distracts the purpose of the post or comment in the end, which is exaclty why I usually shy away from such conversations, but recent posts and comments on this website (to which I will not refer) have taken a slighted angle towards hate and should be addressed accordingly. I invite anyone to comment on this post using this forum or my personal website or email [email]
[email][email protected][/email][/email]www.blackdentaledge.com
