Week 2

Camille Joy Abutin
Week 2
Section A01

In her article, “Miseducation of Hmong American,” Kaozong sheds light on the effects Hmong history has on the perspective of education in the Hmong family and how American education has skewed the way in which Hmong students perceive themselves, their peers, and their culture. As a Filipino American myself, I can’t help but I can’t help but feel as though I could relate to the people that Kaozong interviewed. The lack of comfort that accompanies being the only Asian in a class, the pressure from parents to do well in school because “financial stability=a good life”, and miseducation about my Filipino culture are all things that I, too, have felt. Even though I knew that I was not alone in these feelings towards my schooling, I still felt alone in the sense that no one could tell me how to maneuver through it and no one taught me that theres significance in being a Filipino American. In my US History class, we were briefly taught about American colonization in the Philippines, but my teacher never talked about the Filipino events in American history such as Delano Grape Strike or the support the US got from the Filipino veteranos throughout the 20th century. Resilience and strong communal ties are important to the Filipino culture, and always has been. Why did I never get that impression of my culture from my classes in high school?

I don’t expect my high school history teacher to help mold the perspective I have of my culture in any significant way without doing the same for every other minority student in the school. However, this leads into why the points about mentorship in “Transforming the Ivory Tower,” by Linda Trine Vo is so important. The great thing about university level is that more teaching can be done outside the classroom by instructors. The only reason why I have become so much more accustomed to my culture is because older Fil-Am students showed me the importance and significance about being a Filipino American in higher education. As great as this is, mentorship by experiences professors and instructors can do so much more to help students find more clarity in their culture. In class, students often ask themselves the question “What does this have to do with our future job?”, when it comes to “What does our culture do with our future job?” instructors of minority backgrounds can help students find the answer. Whether it be how to maneuver through the injustices or to reinforce cultural awareness, instructors can offer the tools we need to acknowledge our culture not just for the present but for the future as well. 

Question: How do we ask teachers to teach US history without skewing the perception of people's cultures.

Bibliography 

1. Avatar [Digital image]. (2007). Retrieved April 9, 2017, from http://www.barriors.com/comics/d008.html

2. Mouavangsou, K. (2016). Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation Of Hmong Americans.

3. Vo, L. T. (2012). Transformative Disjunctures in the Academy: Asian American Studies as Praxis. In Stockdill, B., & Danico, M. (Eds.), Transforming the Ivory Tower: Challenging Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia in the Academy (pp. 120-144). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.