Matthew Ko ASA 2 A01 week 6

In the article, "Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of and by Hmong Americans," written by Kaozong N. Mouavangsou, the author talks about the unfair treatment of Hmong American students in the American education system. Mouavangsou details how the American education system tries to deceive Hmong students into thinking that their own culture is the reason for their lack of success when in fact that the education system is the one oppressing them. As a result, many of the students are being implied that in order for them to be successful, they must desert their culture and conform to the new American culture, in which it is typically viewed as the more dominant one. Furthermore, the fact that Hmong Americans are also part of the privilege oppressed lowers their chances for academic success because fewer resources are left for them since they are part of the model minority myth. Society are not inclined to believe that there are Asian looking people struggling in academia. I personally find this heart breaking because since many people view all Asian Americans to be either Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, they don’t understand how within Asian American race, there are many different specific ethnicities, and most of them are not as successful as Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. For example, in my community in San Jose, a lot of the Vietnamese and Filipinos at my old high school usually come from families that work minimum wage jobs and the students do not have nearly as high of test scores compared to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Yet, many people view them just as successful as Chinese, Japanese, or Koreans and limit resources for them. Thus, the Asian American minorities do not even have an opportunity to receive aid and in fact their Hispanic or Black classmates has an advantage over them.

One question that I have is how can we take away the stigma that not all Asian Americans are successful, and how can we help these minority groups within the Asian American community? 

Reference

Dennis, Latoya (2018) “A Historian Shares Insight About The Hmong American Experience” [photograph] Retrieved from: https://www.wuwm.com/post/historian-shares-insight-about-hmong-american-experience

Mouavangsou, K. “Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of and by Hmong Americans”. Fight the Tower. Rutgers University Press.