Children are easily susceptible since they are still in their early cognitive development stages. The material they learn in school can shape and influence how they see the world when they eventually leave the institution. This is why academia holds the arduous responsibility being able to instill desirable social skills and teach a history that will develop into a sense of community. The problem with contemporary lesson plans is that it systematically ignores specific group’s history in order to promote the dominant group’s. In Kaozong Mouavangsou’s paper “Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans”, the author criticizes how the education system is widely believed to be a step towards economic social mobility, however, harms the Hmong community by misrepresenting them in the instruction, thereby causing detriment to the perception of their culture. This deliberate disregard for Hmong ethnic studies in academia causes misapprehension in both non-Hmong and Hmong people alike. Non-Hmongs who go through the education process do not develop a concrete understanding of the history of the people, and how that history impacted their culture. Without this knowledge, it becomes difficult for them to be considerate and accepting of different cultures or ways of life. For Hmong students, they may unwittingly internalize the treatment of their culture as seen in their textbooks. If one adopts the idea that one’s culture is small and unimportant, they may see themselves as unworthy of being qualified or deserving. My question is, how can we raise awareness for the implementation of ethnic studies throughout public education?
References:
Mouavangsou, K. N. 2016. Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans
PHOTO: Retrieved from riseupforstudents.org (2017)
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