Mattia Sayson ASA 002 A02 Week 6

  In Mouavang's "Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of and by Hmong Americans," the author discusses the idea of education as a double-edged sword and how it affects her own communities. Before reading her article, I was most familiar with the term "miseducation" through the title of an album by the artist Lauryn Hill. However, this term holds new depth and power as I am more aware of how the educational system  in American can in fact miseducate or influence the the miseducation within communities. It continues to shock me how education is manipulated to reflect a flat narrative meant to represent an entire community. As a Filipinx American woman, I am more aware of the miseducation in regards to the Filipinx American community; however, it is disheartening to learn of another Southeast Asian ethnic group fighting through similar struggles. There is a fine line between knowledge and education and before, I was confident that they were one and the same. Reading this article, I recalled the implementation of the  American educational system in the Philippines and how that in itself allows miseducation to consistently cycle through generations of Filipinos. The importance of this system is now upheld to a high standard for the benefit of what used to be the country's colonizers. However, I do agree that when we choose to recognize knowledge as an aspect of learning through life as a whole, it makes it easier for us to separate ourselves from societal constructs and ideas based on the narrative by a dominant group. A quote by Imber mentioned in the article states "Education is the lifeline of both the individual and society." and I wonder "How would the meaning of the phrase change if the word "miseducation" was used instead?


References:

references:

Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

image:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:School_Begins_(Puck_Magazine_1-25-1899).jpg