This piece of news in the Dispatch of today highlights the success of a new kind of special public education in Missouri addressed mainly to black and African-American students with focus on African culture and values. According to the piece, the Missouri example follows the success of similar successful projects in Detroit, Kansas City and Los Angeles. Kinda reminds of specialized schools and institutions around Nigeria offering American-type or British-style education. With a widening achievement gap between white and African-American students, and research showing that the gap is not as much a gap of intelligence as it is a gap in teachers being able to address students’ needs, maybe this is not such a bad idea.
I spent the beginning of Sunday on a foot and drive-through sight-seeing tour of the famous Howard University in Washington DC and its major famous spots. The trip was made possible thanks to a Nigerian friend and a student of the University, who drove all the way to pick me up and give me a tour even in the freezing rain.
The buildings in these photos include the iconic Founder’s Hall, the school gate, the school yard with all the fraternity trees and signs, the Arts and Science building, the medical sciences building, the “Founder’s Walk” area and the Howard Place, a building named after the General Oliver Otis Howard who the University itself was named after. He was an American civil war hero who also became the University’s first president.
The University was founded in the year 1866 as a theological seminary for African-American clergymen, but quickly expanded into a full-fledged University. One of its notable Alumni is Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be elected into the US Senate.