Week 2
ASA 2 A02
The article, Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation Of Hmong Americans, by Kaozong N. Mouavangsou describes education as both a positive and negative influence on Hmong communities. Mouavangsou describes that although she personally used education as a vehicle to prove her abilities to be equal to a Hmong male, education has also had detrimental effects on her community. She also describes how the American education system has in some ways divided the Hmong community and also is Eurocentric. Since the American education system tends to depict non-western cultures as backwards and "wrong," Mouavansou describes how Hmong history has been misrepresented and taught, which does not give everyone an accurate representation of the community.
As an Chinese-American female, I can especially relate to the point that Mouavangsou makes that many Asian cultures have the perception that males are of more importance than females. From my own experience, by observing my Chinese relatives and my own family, Chinese families more often desire having sons over daughters. As seen in China, while the one-child rule was intact, many female babies were given up, since sons were preferred over daughters. Even in my own family, my grandparents prioritized my brother's education over my own. When we were young, my grandparents required my parents to send my brother to a private elementary school, while I attended a public elementary school.
Mouavangsou's point that the American education system has a bias against non-western cultures also stood out to me. There is a large gap between the depth of history that is taught about western countries as opposed to non-western countries. Although, America is increasingly becoming less white, our education still remains Eurocentric, which can have a detrimental effect on non-western students and communities. Haven taken multiple world history classes throughout my middle school, high school, and college career, there has always been a major focus on the teaching of western culture and a lack of information about non-western cultures.
Sources:
Mouavangsou, K. (2017). Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation Of Hmong Americans.
Gapp, R. (n.d.). Eurocentrism in American Public Education [Digital image]. Retrieved April 9, 2017, from http://ndsuspectrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/historycomic.jpg
Questions: How would a change towards a less Eurocentric education take place?
No comments:
Post a Comment