Students must function academically and socially within universities where there are few Black faculty members or Black administrators, where harassment of Blacks by campus police is common, and where the curricula place little emphasis on Black contributions.
Indeed, Feagin (1989:11) suggests that "for minority students life at a predominantly White college or university means long term encounters with pervasive whiteness."
In Feagin's view, African American students at such institutions experience blatant and subtle racial discrimination, which has a cumulative impact that can seriously damage the students' confidence (see also Feagin et al. 1996).
Sometimes schools can seem overwhelmingly bureaucratic, with the effect of stifling rather than nourishing intellectual curiosity in students. This concern has led many parents and policymakers to push for school choice programs-allowing parents to choose the school that suits their children's needs and forcing schools to compete for their "customers."
We'll take a look at this issue in the social policy section at the end of the chapter.