Let's Talk Saturday--Google for the Win

It's officially February and there's no greater time to celebrate Black excellence than during Black history month. Of course, any time is a great time. But today we will be celebrating Google expanding it's engineering program, Howard West, to not one not two but to all historically Black colleges and universities. I am beyond ecstatic about this. I am a proud supporter of HBCUs. I love everything they stand for, and I think everyone should have the HBCU experience. I went to FAMU briefly, and it was life changing. 

I guess the reason I'm so excited is because a lot of times, HBCUs are seen as inadequate. There is a great inequality in the treatment of predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and HBCUs. I can say that from experience. A lot of HBCUs lose federal funding, which could turn to loss in accreditation, which then turns to a decline in enrollment. Yes, they are being systematically eliminated. It's not because the curriculum is subpar. I can say for a fact, HBCUs teach things that you won't learn at a PWI. I went from a PWI to an HBCU. There were things that I learned there that I never learned at VSU. It shed light on a lot of things that are taboo. It's just that the universities are being judged and evaluated on standards that were never meant for them. 

So for an opportunity like this to be given to HBCUs is amazing. To some extent it evens the playing grounds. Most people  would assume that the majority of people who work at or are interns at Google went to ivy league universities. The reason Google gets so much of my respect is because I'm interpreting this as Google saying, "It doesn't matter that you went to Yale, Stanford, Penn State, wherever. There are people act Albany State University and North Carolina A&T that are just as capable." 

Beautiful music, painting pictures that be my vision
They gon love me for my ambition
Easy to dream a dream, though it’s harder to live it
--Wale

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-expands-howard-west-program-to-attract-more-black-engineers-hbcu/
http://www.businessinsider.com/hbcus-may-be-more-in-danger-of-closing-than-other-schools-2015-3