Week 2 - Jo Kawabata

Kaozong N. Mouavangsou's "Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation Of Hmong Americans" brought a new perspective into how to perceive the education system in the US. Not only Hmongs, but many ethnicities and cultures probably experience what Kaozong experienced and described in her paper. Being a highly nationalistic and patriotic country, the US drills into children from a young age the pride and joy of being an American. However, this motivates me even more to be proud and value my Japanese heritage even more. Growing up on the east coast where there are far less Asian Americans than in California, I felt my Japanese heritage was part of my identity. While a part of me did have some of the same pride that the kids around me grew up with - being American at the land of the free and the home of the brave - I knew that my Japanese heritage came first in me; this inspired me to study my language more, understand modern culture more, and learn the history more. Furthermore, it was not hard for me to notice that, contrary to what is drilled into our heads, America is not the best country in the world and considering many factors, other countries come far superior to the US. This fact grounded me more firmly in that I knew there are in fact flaws in this country and there is no need for me to completely be swallowed by the native culture and I should rather be proud of my own culture as well. Especially as cultures from around the world are increasingly coming to the US, I believe it will become that much more important to be teaching from a more unbiased stance considering and recognizing cultures from around the world.

George Takei is a Japanese American actor and activists. Though his experiences are very different from what I have experiences as a growing Japanese American, he is still a role model for me for being able to thrive in this country while still holding his homeland heritage, in the most difficult of times. This video is about him explaining part of his experience. I think experiences like what George Takei had needs to be shared more to people growing up in this country to teach about different heritages, histories, and experiences of people with different cultures.

Question: Should education, especially those of younger children, be handled more by those who have experienced and understand cultures different from the American culture?

References:

Mouavangsou, K. N. (2016). The Mis-Education of the Hmong in America (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Davis).

TEDtalksDirector. (2014, July 04). Why I love a country that once betrayed me | George Takei. Retrieved April 09, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeBKBFAPwNc&ab_channel=TED