Week 3: Amylynn Nguyen

Amylynn Nguyen

Week 3

A02

“Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans” by Kaozong N. Mouavangsou discusses the relationship between the Hmong culture and the American educational system. A recurring theme in the reading is the link between the Hmong culture and gender. Mouavangsou discusses how Hmong males are seen as not being as academically successful as their female counterparts. This idea reminds me of the dynamic of my own family. Being of Asian descent, I have always grown up around the concept that men were at the top and that there were certain things that women couldn’t do solely because of their gender. Males are treated with more leniency compared to women in Asian households. Another prominent theme from the reading is the idea that the US educational system is not tailored for people of color. The author discusses the lack of truthful asian history in the education system. This theme relates to professor Valverde’s discussion about being “woke”. During lecture, she mentioned that being “woke” can be described as “being able to understand that institutions have been set up to oppress, hurt, and discriminate against certain groups”, which is exactly what the author is describing in her writing. The US educational system twists history in such a way that only benefits America, more specifically White America. This also brings me back to a comment that professor Valverde made about the Vietnamese people in today’s textbooks and how Vietnamese people are only ever mentioned when talking about the Vietnam War. This comment along with the reading made me take a step back and look at how Asians are talked about in the educational system. Textbooks talk about Asian history from America’s point of view, and rarely from the Asian point of view.

Question: Do you find yourself still trying to fight the patriarchal male centered system that is embedded in Asian culture?

1. Mouavangsou, Kaozong. (2016). Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans. Retrieved October 7, 2017.  
2. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2017, from http://www.valcomnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hmong-cover-photo.JPG