Oh, You're Black? No Teacher or Professor Will Ever Give You an "A"
Labels:
Africans in Diaspora,
Diaspora,
Education,
International Students,
Nigeria,
Nigerians in Diaspora,
Race,
Study Abroad
Someone actually said this to me just before I started college here in the US.
He worked at Pizza Hut in the university town I would call home for the rest of my undergraduate life. Unknown to me, the college I was enrolled in had a long, negative history of racial prejudice against black people.
So, he felt he needed to tell these "Africans" (I was with my family) the gospel truth. He essentially discouraged us (my sister and I) from attending that college in particular. Apart from the generally awful racial history, he told us (paraphrased):
"If you're black, no professor will give you an "A." They don't give black people "As" in that school."
Now, I don't want to discount what he said and dismiss it casually. I generally believe there is no smoke without fire, and that something must have happened either to him personally or to someone or some people he knew to make him arrive at that conclusion.
But, my own experience was very different.