Academic Barriers Hmong Students Face in the United States
Introduction
The Hmong, an Asian ethnic group, came from an oral culture, where they did not have any written form until the 1950s (McCall, 1999). The Hmong lived an agricultural lifestyle in the hill and mountain areas in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand (McCall, 1999; Tatman, 2004). They focused on physical labor to provide food for the family and lacked formal education, as it was not essential (Lee & Green, 2008; McCall, 1999).
During the Vietnam War, the Hmong helped assist the United States government. However, when the United States withdrew from the war, the North Vietnamese and Laos Communist government declared genocide on the Hmong (Tatman, 2004; Thao, 2003). Thus, the Hmong were left to defend themselves and flee to refugee camps in Thailand for safely (McCall, 1999). This resulted in the Hmong migrating to the United States during the late 1970s through 2007 in waves as refugees. They reside in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Collier, Munger, & Moua, 2012; Lee & Green, 2008).
Upon their arrival, Hmong faced “multiple social, cultural, educational, economic, and institutional barriers and challenges” (Hmong National Development, 2004; Lee, Jung, Su, Tran, & Bahrassa, 2008,
…show more content…
Hmong students who participated in Lor’s research shared that “their parents’ financial resource were not enough to put them through college, as their parents did not have much formal education” (2008, p. 46). In fact, it has been recorded that Hmong are “the poorest and most highly unemployed immigrants in the United States” (Su, Lee, & Vang, 2005, p. 482; Swartz, Lee, & Mortimer, 2003; Yang, 2003). For this reason, Hmong high school students are encouraged to apply for financial aid, work-study programs, scholarships, grants, and seek employment to help pay their postsecondary expenses (Lor,
The Latehomecommer by Kao Kalia Yang is a beautifully crafted memoir. Yang’s distinct prose style is captivating combined with her powerful narrative about the Hmong immigrant experience in America creates an unforgettable and insightful piece. She masterfully captures not only her story as an immigrant, but that of her whole family and to some extent the entire culture. Yang’s use of voice, particularly her use of a distinctly different more child-like voice when depicting her younger self, is a large contributing factor to what makes this memoir so unique and engaging. In The Latehomecomer, Yang captures the voice of herself as a child in a way that is so effective that it inspired me to go back through my memoir and attempt to do the same.
What are the most important aspects of Hmong culture? What do the Hmong consider their most important duties and obligations? How did they affect the Hmong’s transition to the United States?
In The Latehomecomer, by Kao Kalia Yang shares her story and the story of her family’s search for a home and identity. Her family’s story voices the story of the Hmong people and their plight. From every stage of their journey, from the mountainous jungles of Southeast Asia to the freezing winter of Minnesota, Yang and the Hmong were compelled to redefine their identity, willingly or unwillingly. While growing up, Yang’s parents would often ask her, “’What are you?’ and the right answer was always, ‘I am Hmong.’” (Yang, 1) For “Hmong” to be the right answer, then what does it mean to be “Hmong”? From the personal story shared by Yang, and the universal story of the Hmong people, the Hmong identity cannot be contained in
Jean Giddens (2013) defines culture as “a pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and values that can occur among those who speak a particular language, or live in a defined geographical region.” (Giddens, 2013). A person’s culture influences every aspect that person’s life. Beliefs affected by culture include how someone interacts within the family, how to raise children, the types of foods eaten, the style of clothes chosen, which religion is practiced, and the style of communication (including verbal, and body language, slang used etc.) (Giddens, 2013). In addition to these beliefs, health care practices are also affected by culture. The cause
Tachiki, Amy; Wong, Eddie; Odo, Franklin, eds. (1971). Roots: An Asian American Reader. University of California, Los Angeles Press.
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
After the Vietnam War, in 1975, thousands of Hmong refugees immigrated to the United States, granted asylum for their participation in the war and in hope for a better future. Today, the children of those refugees and the first generations born on American soil face a variety of challenges, particularly in our public school system. In order to succeed in the Public School system and beyond to higher education, the complications of their educational situation needs to be addressed and changed.(Vang, 2004) . Little research has been done on the needs of Hmong and Hmong- American students, despite the amount that has been preformed on other bilingual students from a number of different backgrounds like Hispanics. Staggeringly, most Hmong students are classified as Limited English Proficient or LEP students. The academic challenges they face require increased attention as the number of Hmong American students continues to expand exponentially in the US public schools.
The Vietnamese refugees fled to America in a few waves, one was after the Vietnam War in 1975 and was aided heavily by the US. The US did not support Communism and with the fall of the South Vietnam government and Communism taking over, the US did everything they could to help get them out. The US provided military cargo ships, planes, whatever they could do to help. The Vietnamese were transferred to US government bases in Thailand, Guam, Hawaii and the Philippines. When they got over to the US, they were put in refugee camps like Camp Pendleton in California, and one of the biggest Fort Chaffee. At first the American people did not welcome the Vietnamese. Fortunately when Ford passed the Refugee Act of 1980, which assisted refugees who fled from Vietnam and Cambodia, Americans got used to the Vietnamese being in the US. There were about 100,000 Vietnamese that left Vietnam and came to the US. Most who fled Vietnam ended up in California. In California they had one pretty big refugee camp in Camp Pendleton. From there, that’s how the Vietnamese ended up in Orange County.
Share the story of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures.
Throughout their history in America, Asian immigrants have struggled in many different ways to encourage this country to accept and respect the diversity of its citizens. Through efforts in labor strikes and military aid such as that in World War II, the American society has gradually moved to accept racial minorities. Asian today have much more freedom than when they first began traveling across the Pacific. However, many still find that they are unjustly viewed by society and treated as “strangers from a different shore” (474).
Although working Hmong families in the United States typically are self-employed as small farmers or work in the fast food industry, production companies, in the professional field and in the medical field (Vang, 2005). Many working Hmong families remain financially poor due to low wages and large family size. Data collected from the 2000 Census reported that the Hmong and Cambodian families had the lowest median income of all Asian groups. The approximate median incomes of Hmong and Cambodian families are $32,400 to $35,600 (Reeves & Bennett,
She heard about the Hmong through a friend, and so she spent 4 years living in Merced, California and another 5 writing this book. She attempts to stay fairly neutral in her writing, though through her time with the Lees, she confesses that her writing may appear biased toward the Hmong culture rather than toward the Americans. However, in the end she could not blame one side or the other for the unfortunate tragedy of Lia, who got hit in the cross-fire between these two cultures. Her theoretical view is a type of cultural relativism. Neither the Hmong nor the Americans could emerge as the better culture. She does not address any questions about direct unethical practices. The Hmong did not practice human sacrifices, and the animals they did sacrifice were theirs. She does seem to believe that every culture has its weak and strong
Phillips, Delores B. "Quieting Noisy Bellies: Moving, Eating and Being in the Vietnamese Diaspora." University of Minnesota Press 73 (2009): 47-87. Print
Anthropological studies on language and communication would be directly related to Lia’s case for a few reasons: Lia and her family were Hmong, her parents could not read or write, they didn’t give her enough medication. Also, Lia was taken away from her parents because of language and communication barriers that led to her parents not administering her medication at all, as well as interpreters not being clear about what to give her.
Vietnamese Americans experience two cultures making them diverse from the Western society. The Vietnamese American are combined with traditions from the homeland Vietnamese culture and are introduced to the cultures in the Western society. The second-generation Vietnamese Americans are more likely to adapt to the American culture and overlook the traditions of the Vietnamese culture. The second-generation Vietnamese Americans are a result of the refugees from the Vietnam War, often a soldier and Vietnamese woman. These family are likely to experience low socioeconomic status because of the inability to effectively communicate with in Western society. This is generation has a direction reflection of the Vietnamese culture. The second-generation