Week 3 Anna Bamford A02

Anna Bamford A02
1/20/19

What I found most interesting about the results of Mouavangsou's interviews with Hmong families was the response she got from the families' sons about their experience in high school.  In her interpretation of these responses, Mouavangsou stated that "Academic success equates to emasculation," and elaborated that academic success is associated with female and/or white students, but not male Hmong students, who experience isolation from their peers if they chose to pursue academics.  This strongly contrasts with the widespread stereotype of the Asian nerd, demonstrating how stereotypes are not only misconceptions from an outside perspective, but also blind to the existence of subdivisions within a larger race.  In comparison, the parents Mouavangsou interviewed expressed much higher value of education, describing is as essential for success in America.  Based on these responses, I think it would be valuable to further study how the social environment of Hmong youth has an impact on their academic views and aspirations in addition to studying the impact of the students' parents and family.

I attended a high school that was predominantly hispanic and white, despite being located in a part of the Bay Area with a high Asian population, where the few Asian students were generally categorized as either "Asians" or Pacific Islanders."  More subtle ethnic division wasn't obvious.  However, the low Asian population did seem to impact our curriculum to the degree that it was flexible, with teachers often emphasizing other minorities over Asians.

I feel that more information about the demographics of the community and the school system described in this article would be valuable for the reader by providing context for the data Mouavangsou gathered.  I am curious to know how Hmong students compare to students with other backgrounds, and whether Hmong students tend to interact more with other Hmong or with students from other groups.


I was surprised when Mouavangsou described Minnesota and Wisconsin as two of the states with the largest Hmong Population.



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

(2012) A History of the United States Vol. 2.  Saylor Academy.  Retrieved from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_a-history-of-the-united-states-vol-2/s13-the-cold-war-and-the-affluent-.html.