Week 2

Alex Truong
A02

This week's reading, The Mis-education of Hmong Americans touches upon aspects that a lot of minorities share. These aspects include the misrepresentation of their people and the lack of resources in America and education to help them find their truths and history. In addition to that she also ponders about how the education system impacts these minorities and how it has skewed their perceptions. In the reading Kaozong uses her own experiences and researches to better understand her reality. She begins by deconstructing what she has been taught through the American education system and looking for another outlet to learn where she is from and what Hmong actually means and represents. The interview she conducts with her family members allow her to come to a realization that although her family believes that education is the key to achieving a successful life they also believe that the westernization of their culture and history has also occurred.

Although this may be Kaozong's personal experiences this is something that many people share and also feel. Many other ethnic groups are left out of education because it is not deemed important to American history. We see this through the lack of classes or courses in high school allowing students to become more aware of the different types of people, instead they do not get to pick and choose what they learn about. They are forced to learn what the institution has planned for them. The emphasis on school also has a lot of people believing that if they don't obtain an education that they are destined to fail. Our system has engrained this idea into us and for that we feel obligated to continue our schooling for fear of failing and disappointing our parents. People should be allowed to choose whether school is important and beneficial to THEM. Our education system does too little and wants too much.

What can we do to change the way we are taught? How can we learn more about ourselves without the influence of the American educational system? Why does America deem others' cultures and history to be less valuable?

Alvarez, B. (2016, October 13). How One Educator is Taking Ethnic Studies Mainstream. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2015/07/27/how-one-educator-is-taking-ethnic-studies-mainstream/

Mouavangsou, K. N. Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Mis-Education of Hmong Americans.