Anika Troeger
ASA 002
Section A03
Week 2: Marginalization and Miseducation
Southeast Asia is rarely mentioned in History curriculums in the United States education
system, except for a section on the Vietnam War, that mainly talks about how many lives were lost, U.S. residents protested against it, and that the U.S. lost the war. Rarely are students educated correctly about the cultures of Southeast Asian countries, and this leads to detrimental effects on both non-Southeast Asian students in the U.S. and Southeast Asian students in the U.S., and these detrimental effects are also seen on Hmong communities in the U.S. according to Kaozong N. Mouvangsou in her piece, “Miseducation of the Hmong”.
Mouvangsou has several key points in her analysis of Hmong education in the United States (specifically in California). Among those points are the following ideas: Hmong communities believe that education leads to financial success, Hmong communities believe in a negative stereotype that young Hmong men do not excel as much in school which leads to division within the community, and higher education and education in the U.S. in general can lead to loss of bilingualism and culture.
I resonate heavily with Mouvangsou’s ideas, as being half of Southeast Asian descent, specifically, I’ve had similar experiences growing up. My Thai mother, whose highest education level was that of high school in rural Thailand, always encouraged higher education, due to believing that higher education was the gateway to a better life through being more financially stable. I also agree with the idea that stereotypes can lead to those being stereotyped actually believing in those stereotypes and being hurt by them. For example, the stereotype that all people of Asian descent excel in math may result in a person of Asian descent who does not excel in math to feel as if they don’t belong to their community. Another idea that resonated with me more than others was the loss of culture through education in the U.S. system. I was close to bilingual before starting elementary school, but once I started learning more English I prioritized more and lost some of my language. My culture was rarely mentioned in any of my history classes, which was disheartening to say the least, but it must be much harder for the Hmong community, whose culture is incorrectly taught about, even to Hmong people.
Hmong history, according to Mouvangsou, is simplified and inaccurate when taught about in U.S. history courses. Studies by non-Hmong scholars lack the first hand experiences vital to learning about culture, and studies by Hmong scholars can be skewed by stereotypes and earlier miseducation. However, Mouvangsou’s piece provides a sense of hope toward the end. The truth can be found if searched for correctly, and miseducations of Southeast Asian (specifically Hmong) communities can be turned around through awareness. Education should always be a helpful tool, and hopefully can return to being one when miseducation is turned around.
Question: What could be one of the first steps involved in making people more aware of Hmong history and culture?
Media:
I chose this video as it is a form of evidence of the pressures of Asian parents, while putting a comical spin on them, but this video also includes positives, and is a fun video to watch.
References:
BuzzfeedVideo (2016). Things Asian Moms Would Say Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBsVKOrJi8w
Mouavangsou, K. N. (2016). The Mis-Education of the Hmong in America
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