Even with these difficulties, African American students strive and become successful. These difficulties created by colleges could be avoided if they had a better understanding of African American Culture.
One of the main challenges of being an African American student in higher education is the is the racial prejudice among students and faculty. This prejudice is caused by the in-groups formed within the school based on race. According to the scholarly article “The Effects of Ingroup and Outgroup Friendships on Ethnic Attitudes in College: A Longitudinal Study” by Shana Levin, he describes the in-groups in school causing a hostile environment and prejudice between minority students. Levin states “In fact, when outgroup friendship is used as the contact measure, the negative relationship between contact and prejudice is significantly stronger than when the contact is not specified as being with outgroup friends” (p.77). As an African American student, I have experienced this type of negative view on other in-groups in college. It is not an obvious prejudice like excluding me from the group because of my race. It is …show more content…
Firstly, most African American students do not speak up about the issues of discrimination within the school community. This is one of the reasons why the issues of discrimination don’t get resolved. How can we expect change when nobody is speaking about the issue? According to Kaiser, she states “Third, speaking up about discrimination can create a sense of group value, empowerment, and solidarity; whereas not speaking up can create difficulties for achieving a positive social identity.” (p.771). Slowly but surely, more African Americans are speaking up about the issues of discrimination in school and are making progress. They are setting a precedent for a new member that speaking up about these issues is not only good for the in-group but also the school community. Recently, more African American students are encouraging the in-group to speak out against prejudice and discrimination. Kaiser states “ingroup members who speak up about discrimination might be perceived as ‘‘good group members” who are willing to incur negative personal outcomes in the service of defending and advancing the group’s goals and status.” (p.771). Another problem within the community is not reaching out to other people that are outside of the in-group. Many African American students don’t even try to meet people outside of the in-group which results in only