Brian Jahja
ASA A01
Week 3

This week's reading titled Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans is not only an article detailing the struggles of the Hmong American community and conforming to the American education system, but also serves as another concrete point that the current state of the education system is too generalized, and as a result minority groups are left to suffer. Apart from that, we are shown a group whose views on education contrast a lot of Asian views on education, namely how gender plays a part in it. While most Asian communities view men as the smarter gender and therefore give them more opportunities, the Hmong community views educated men as emasculated. With this in mind, it discourages Hmong men to seek higher education and as a result, the community cannot flourish. However, despite these everpresent issues, the education system would not accommodate for it, due to the fact that it is such a small percentage of the population that is affected.

One thing that I've been thinking about is how these issues should be viewed the same way as disabilities/mental illness, as it hinders the progress of individuals. However, because mental illness and disabilities are more widespread in the community, more help is offered. Although mental illness may be significantly worse of an issue, I believe that cultural barriers are also a hindrance to one's development in academia and should be treated the same way so that individuals may better be able to learn.

My question for this week is, therefore: "What is the extent that the current education system is willing to accommodate for minority groups?"

References:

Mouavangsou, K. N. Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans. Retrieved on October 8, 2017.
Klein, R. (2014, July 18). The Education System Is Failing Native American Students. Here's Proof. Retrieved October 08, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/native-american-education_n_5593253.html