Zoua Vang
ASA 2 A02
Week 3 Theme: Marginalization & Miseducation
As a child of Hmong refugees, I am encouraged to pursue higher education. My parents and I believe that “education is a path to financial stability,” just as Kaozong Mouavangsou coined the phrase in her thesis paper, ‘Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans.’” I understand the sacrifices my parents have made to create the opportunity for my sibling and me to receive a better education and achieve the american dream. In Mouvangsou’s thesis study, the two participants, Hue Vang and Chue Lor, discussed their division from other Hmong students in their K-12 education. They highlighted the point that in high school they had taken advanced classes that didn’t have many other Hmong students in them. In my experience, my school was very diverse and had a big population of Hmong students so I was able to meet other Hmong students, in regular and advance classes. However, even though the population of Hmong people was high, I met the same people consistently in either the advance classes or the regular classes, only sometimes overlapping. You could see the division of the classes students took and the amount of Hmong boys in the advance classes in contrast to the regular classes, which was less. There are stereotypes of boys being “too cool for school” which influences Hmong boys to take regular classes rather than advance classes because they want to be cool and masculine.
The image below shows the Hmong Story 40 Exhibit information that happened recently. I included this image because learning about Hmong history is an important part of Hmong youth’s education and may be important in their identity as they grow.
Question: How should we continue to change the stereotypes for boys so that they are influenced to want to pursue education and allow themselves to ask for help when needed? This also goes for girls too.
References:
- Kaozong Mouavangsou. “Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation Of Hmong Americans.”
***Note: Registered on MyUCDavis as Section A02 but registered on Canvas as Section A01. I attend Section A02. For weeks 1 and 2, I had posted being in section A01.
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