Going to a mostly white or possible Asian college or university helps prepare them for reality. Until I came to Penn State, I never believed that more black men were at the state pen then Penn State. I thought it was a huge exaggeration to try and scare us into acting right but I quickly learned that it is true. I found myself wishing that I had gone to a HBCU where I would be surrounded by more people who looked like me. Thinking about it, I realized that I will eventually be in a situation where most people will not look like me and this is helping me adjust to that.

If a child has been brought up in a predominately black environment and the only people they see look at them, they will think that is normal. If they go to a diverse university or college, they will have time to adjust to bring around and working with people of different races and backgrounds. If they choose to attend a HBCU, they will most likely never get that chance and when they do enter the “real” world, it will be a huge cultural shock and they might not be prepared to working with people of a diverse background. I wanted to attend a HBCU, but I quickly realized that I could not since my major is a “white” major. Even if they would have had my major, HBCUs do not give the opportunities that other schools have. They lack resources and fundings that could farther handicap a student’s chances of competing with other students on the job market. When an African American student graduates and, if it is what they choose as a profession, goes into corporal America, they will quickly learn that most people who they work with will not look like them. In some cases none of the people will look like them.

I think that Historical Black colleges and universities were a good idea when they were needed. HBCU’s were created to provide blacks with an education when they were not allowed into white colleges or universities. Now that African Americans are allowed in to state colleges and universities, there is no longer a need for HBCUs. I am not saying they are bad or that they should no longer exist. I am just saying they are not essential like they were before. That being said I think that they do not prepare African American students for “real” life.

I have heard many stereotypes and I do not agree with almost all of them. In my opinion, as soon as you say that every one does something just because they are apart of a similar ethnic group, it automatically makes that statement false. Unless some one actually goes and gets a statement from every one in an ethnic group and they all agree that a statement made about them is true, then I will not believe it. Even if a million people say it is true about them but only one denies it is a false statement. There are statements that can apply to the majority, but there will always be some one who does not follow their race's stereotype. Since I am from a black family, a stereotype I have heard all the time is that white people think they own the world. This is probably the stereotype I hate most because I have a lot of white friends. Another stereotype I have heard that I hate is that all biracial children are mentally damaged in some ways. When I was in the doctors for a check-up, the nurse was talking to my mom about this and one of them compared them to mutts and basically said that they inherited all the "bad" genes from what ever races they were made up of. Since 911, another stereotype is that all Muslims are terrorist when in fact most Muslims were born here. I have also heard that all Arabians are Muslims when in truth the majority are Christians. I have heard stereotypes that all Asians are good at math when my own roommate admitted she is horrible at it. When I was in my junior year of high school, one of teacher told us that she suspected her family was Jewish, just because her mother and aunt were good in math. She even told is that her family was very religious Catholics. One stereotype that has personally affected a lot of my friends and I is that we talk or act “white.” I have been told many times before that I am not black, even though my skin is dark. Once, I was denied being black because all of the black people in my class had black headphones and I was the only Black person with white headphones. So because Apple makes white headphones instead of black ones, I was “white” instead of being black.

I am Not Jewish. As far as I know, no one in my family has been Jewish since Christianity was created. I Believe that Judaism is a religion and a culture but not a race. It can be a way to identify someone but it is not genetic. I am African-American. I will always be African-American and there will never be a day when i can suddenly stop being African-American. I am a Christian, but at any time i can stop being a Christian and convert to Judaism. Just as at any time any Jewish person can stop being Jewish and convert or be an atheist. That is why I do not believe Judaism is a race, because a person can choose to be Jewish or not but they can not choose to change there physical features. I think Judaism is a culture just like every religion has a culture. They all have rules or at least guidelines of what should and shouldn't be done. They have a certain way of dressing that is acceptable and a way that is not. They have specific music they listen to, a lot of times they have a language unique to them, and they have holidays they celebrate in there own way. In my opinion, Judaism is only a religion and a culture but not a race.