I wouldn’t have feared for the safety of my white kids if they’d have wanted to go to an HBCU, but it seems pretty obvious that some other students would resent them for being there.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/my-beef-with-whites-at-hbcus
Some states have industries (like energy) where moving across the country, or world, is the norm every 3 to 5 years, and those kids are much more comfortable exploring more far ranging options. Ten percent of my daughter’s class goes abroad for college. Nearly 20 % hold foreign passports from 52 countries. I’m not sure how many Californian kids have actually lived anywhere else.
It also seems likely that at least some California kids don’t realize that many universities are demographically similar to schools in-state they are considering. Since UTexas was mentioned, I looked up it’s statistics-not much different than UCLA. A bit more Hispanic, a little less Asian, but overall, quite similar in student body. Diversity thrives in many areas of the US. Of course, maybe not all California students want diversity.
Kids have to use some criteria for picking a college. There are so many to choose from. I agree that they would probably find a Southern school more diverse and welcoming than they may imagine. However I hesitate to dismiss their concerns. Every time I try to be a cheerleader for my home state -the state government does something I find repugnant.
Even if some kids perceptions are a little extreme - I like it that they have principles.
Another nice thing is that kids don’t have to, necessarily, go far for the diversity some may want. A generation or two ago, some wanted to go to NYC in order to meet people from all walks of life and from all over the world. I took my kids there recently (full disclosure-I’m from NY) and they laughed when a relative brought that up as one of NY’s charms-it is, after all, less diverse than the city in which they currently reside. So while there are many fine reasons to consider college in NYC, diversity, for them, wasn’t one of them-it would actually decrease if they moved there.
Well I thought this post was going to be primarily about the weather …
@roycroftmom said “Diversity thrives in many areas of the US. Of course, maybe not all California students want diversity.”
Your point is that there are colleges outside CA that are just as diverse as CA colleges (which no one here has ever disputed) and that leads you to the conclusion that if CA students stay at their “just as diverse CA college” they don’t want diversity…huh?
Actually many of the non-HB public schools excluded black students in the past. That was the reason for private HB schools in the first place. Public HB schools were opened by state governments who did not want to let black students into the then-white-only non-HB public schools, but had to offer “separate but [not really] equal” education for black students.
Now that mandated segregation is gone, people of any race can enroll in all of these formerly segregated schools. But enrollment patterns indicate that there is still considerable self-segregation, perhaps because of a perception (whether or not true) of a school of 80+% some other race being unwelcoming in some way.
What is diversity?
A rainbow of skin colors?
I thought we were all the same?
At the more “diverse” schools people just clump up anyway.
Can one be an “out of the closet” conservative at UC Berkeley?
Or anywhere in CA?
The answer is a resounding NO.
So is a school still diverse without conservative voices?
Oh really?
No @Capecodder2014 , the points weren’t meant to be related. Yes, a student can get diversity at many schools outside California. diversity may be one, of many factors, students consider in college selection. Cost, proposed major, location, weather, ease of transportation and other factors may be as or more important and may lead to choices closer to home.
@ucbalumnus , I think @lalalander111 's point was that thought diversity is more important that racial/cultural diversity. There is no denying that liberals apply immense social pressure and occasional violence - like at Cal recently - to squelch discourse. If you don’t believe it try making a few conservative posts on Facebook and see what happens.
One of the most important factors for many of my son’s classmates in the Bay Area was transferability of DE credit, which is much easier from CA community colleges to UC’s (or CSU’s) than to out of state universities or privates. Sophomore standing is a good thing to have entering a big school. Second was definitely the availability of good ramen and vegan food!
I have seen enough right and left leaning Facebook posts to know that either commonly ends up being a flame fest (with little actual thoughtful discourse) if the posts are exposed to people leaning the opposite way of the original post. But then that is not surprising since politics is now much more heavily poisoned by racism, which aggravates people much more than most other kinds of politics.
Right leaning Facebook?
extremely rare
Conservative=racist?
no
Not rare to see right leaning posts on Facebook.
Not always, but common and noisy enough that conservatives have let racism become the face of conservatism. It does not help that conservatives who may not be racist are willing to follow and support those who make what they consider a “textbook definition of a racist comment”.
Whether or not you agree, it should not be surprising that the mostly non-white students in California have extra reason to hesitate going to college in a place that they see as more likely to be unfriendly to them for what they are and cannot change, rather than for anything that they do. (I do not agree with many such broad brush generalizations, but I am not surprised that they exist.)
Look, I’m no pantsuit wearing tree hugger. I’m not a “liberal” by any stretch. I’m not a “conservative” either. I am a Hispanic mom and a teacher in Los Angeles. My daughter is also in an interracial relationship. The question posed was why don’t California kids look to colleges in other parts of the country. I tried to answer earnestly. I have brought up schools that offer significant merit and full tuition in the South and the Midwest with my kids and their friends. What I have heard back from them is that there is a real fear among these teens over racism, intolerance and hatred. They are not sure they could find their place in many of these areas of the country. If you do not understand where this is coming from, then you’re not paying attention. These are generally upper middle class kids of various races. To give you an idea of the diversity they are accustomed to, on my street alone we have Latino, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Moroccan, Egyptian, Indian, African American, Caucasian, and mixed race families, as well as a mixed race gay couple. We are all reasonably well off. We are not socialists, anarchists, hippies, or anything else. As our neighborhood is economically on the higher end, we are not a particularly liberal area. And yet, our kids are fearful. We are living in a time where there has been an uptick in racist incidents and the alt right movement has found a new voice.
Well said, Dragonmom3. Our last two California kids (out of seven) are attending East Coast schools. Although still outstanding, the UC’s have been gradually losing their lustre since our first graduated from Berkeley 15 years ago. It was tough for various of our children to graduate on time (from UCSB, Cal, UCSC, Cal Poly) due to impacted majors. Lectures were huge and academic advising fairly minimal.
And what I’m suggesting is that my street in a quiet suburb of Houston is just as diverse and welcoming, which your children might realize if they got out of their bubble more. Just as I tell my kids they are unlikely to be attacked by wild mobs in Berkeley, for goodness’ sake.
I try to encourage my kids to actually explore the facts and not rely on social media hype and stereotypes. Their K-12 school has 52 countries represented out of a total population of 1000 students. So it is really quite unlikely yours is statistically more diverse. And I think that is quite common in many places now.
I don’t think any area has a monopoly on diversity or sophistication, and would like adults,at least, to recognize that. The kids may come to understand more as they mature and travel more, but not if they insist on staying in their bubble. It is good to explore different places for yourself.