Asian American has always been underrepresented among high education even though there’s a stereotype that Asians are defined as a more intellectual group. In this week’s reading, Manee Moua discussed a problem that Women of color are continued being marginalized and oppressed in graduate education. Moua mentioned that Hmong American women are being oppressed because of their culture and skin color, their opinions are not being validated or listened. Especially as a first generation, it’s inevitable to avoid problems that come from an uneducated family. Racial underrepresentation, low academic self-esteem, and difficulty adjusting to college can manifest while enrolled, contributing to a lower rate of college completion than that for students who have at least one parent with a four-year degree (Stephens, Hamedani, & Destin, 2014). Me myself as a first generation, we didn’t have the same opportunity and resource as many other people. The narrative between different generations is a reflection of climbing up to a higher social status. This is also a phenomenon when people with higher status wanting to make everything more exclusive to the people with the same social status, in order to control limited resource and information.This is also why race plays a big role in this picture, because people tend to feel more connected. Moua mentioned in her article that, “For example, having to speak perfect English to avoid being stereotyped as a foreigner or marginalized as someone lacking intelligence.Furthermore, to escape being seen as unproductive, oras invaluable to the team” Being someone who doesn’t speak the same language are in such disadvantage since the stereotype of someone who doesn’t speak perfect English are less intelligent. This is also how I feel, English wasn’t my first language and people tend to ignore or discard my opinions because they think I’m different. It was very tough for me to adapt as people don’t validate my opinions and there is nothing I can do or change about this situation. However, I have came to a realization that if I just keep silent and continue to let them do what they want, I will forever invisible and never be validated. My question for this week is that “For the people who are constantly facing oppression in higher education, what can we do as a group to move forward together?”
Moua. M. Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography. By Manee Moua, in Hmong Studies Journal, 19(1): 1-25
Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. (2014). Closing the social-class
achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students' academic performance and all students' college transition. Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 25(4), 943-953.
Picture Retrieved from: https://universe.byu.edu/narratives/first-generation-college-students-the-struggle-to-graduate/
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