Week 3-Yiwen Bao

Yiwen Bao

ASA 002 A01

Week 3

For reading of week 3, I read “Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans” by Kaozong N.Mouavangsou. After reading, I feel most connected about the gender disparities in academia within the same culture group. In the reading, Hmong males are assumed to study worse than Hmong females cause more females put efforts in trying to excel in schoolwork to earn higher status in family and culture. In Chinese culture, stereotypes on education of genders also exist. However, in our culture normally, people think male Chinese are better at physics, maths, chemistry, computer science, architecture, and etc. Those are also course weigh more in Chinese exams and ones that could have better financial future in careers. Females are assumed to do better in language, literature and others that the majority believe students who can’t study other subjects well choose to master in. In this example, Chinese are alike Hmong are not only medicated about, but also miseducated of. 

What’s miseducated of is different, but what’s miseducated about is similar as Hmong for Chinese: America is the greatest. I’m studying in the US, so I totally understand and accept to be educated about America is good. But it can be good itself, and others also be great. Why it should be best or even others are all bad? I’m pleased that many courses like ASA 2 are taught by Asian Americans. If professors of all those courses about culture are Americans, we might even not be able to define many cases of education as miseducation and marginalization, from Americans’ perspectives.

The final point is that I already see how courses being instructed by teachers who have related culture backgrounds work for highlighting miseducation and marginalization issues and call for attention. I think I won’t call Hmong “Miao” or “Meo” any more. Before reaching this part of reading, as a Chinese, I read “Hmong” as “Miao” in Chinese in mind. They don’t like this, then I won’t read this way again. If I didn’t read this, I might have no chance to learn about Hmong culture.

Questions:

1. How would stereotypes in which gender could excel academically influence people of that gender’s psychological aspects, self-identity and confidence in their academia?

2. How is education related to financial stability in American culture? Are there any examples of Americans’ being miseducated?

3. How are the courses of UC Davis chosen and decided to be taught? And how do university assess and select teachers to teach courses of different cultures?

References:

1. Mouavangsou, K. N. (2016). Hmong does not Mean Free: the Miseducation of Hmong Americans. Retrieved October 07, 2017.

2. (n.d.). (May 14. 2014). Celebrating Hmong American Day. Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Retrieved October 07, 2017 from

http://smithsonianapa.org/now/hmong-american-day-2014/