Ashley Dawson

Professor Traver

EDFD 460

10 February 2017

Research #1 Ethnicity and Race

Vang, C. T. (2005). Hmong-american students still face multiple challenges in public

schools. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 27.

Authors Credibility: Christopher T. Vang is knowledgeable about this topic because he is an

assistant professor of education at California State University, which is located in Stanislaus,

Turlock, CA. He does most of his research based off of the California public schools, since that

is where he lives. Yang is Hmong himself, so he can also relate to this topic pretty well.

Authors Rationale for Writing: Christopher T. Vang wrote this article to inform the public that

Hmong-Americans are still struggling to catch up with the American students in public schools

today. He listed many reasons for why it is so hard for Hmong-Americans to stay on track

academically, so that way teachers and other people involved can help these students so they can

be just as successful in the classroom as American students. With Yangs research, hopefully we

can learn how to better teach Hmong-Americans, and also how their parents can help them since

they are such an important part of their lives.

Authors Central Argument: The authors central argument is to raise awareness about the

Limited English Proficient (LEP) Hmong students in public schools. According to Yang (2005),
36,000 Hmong-American students in America, 85% are LEP students, leaving the other 15% to
be fluent in English. This ratio is not good, so public schools have work to do to help these
students with the challenges they face in their academics. Yang researched this topic, and
provides helpful hints of what can be done in order to improve these poor LEP percentages.
Significant points the author(s)
makes about the ethnic or racial
student groups culture in
relation to the academic learning
environment
1) Point 1: Yang (2005), believes that
schools do not give Hmong-American
students the adequate assistance they
need to succeed in the classroom.
Point 2: Yang (2005), also believes
that Hmong-American students do not
have the best support at home as most
of their parents have a strong belief
that the school system has sole
authority over their childrens
education.
Point 3: Another belief that Yang
(2005), feels to be important would be
that most Hmong-American students
socialize only within their ethnic
group due to the fact that they see
themselves as different from the
mainstream students. This hinders
their success as they are not around
English speakers outside of the
classroom.
Point 4: Lastly, according to Yang
(2005), Hmong-American students
come from some of the poorest
households, and this really affects
their education.
2) Point 1: One value found in Yangs
(2005) research found Hmong-
American families would be that these
families encourage their daughters to
Relationships the author(s) make
between the points at the left and
some of the academic indicators
listed in my Social Construct
Lecture located in D2L.
1) Point 1: After Yangs (2005) research,
he found Hmong-Americans low
scholastic achievement and test scores
have not improved throughout the
years. This proves that schools still
have not found a way to support these
students in their English reading and
writing.
Point 2: Yang (2005) claims that
Hmong-American parents care deeply
about their childs education, they just
do not have formal education
themselves, therefore, they lack the
necessary support to provide at home.
Most of their parents are refugees, so
their lack of an English background is
a major reason they rely on the school
system for their childs success.
Point 3: Yang (2005) found that a
major reason why Hmong-American
students dont socialize with other
students of different races would be
that they feel those students cannot
relate to their Hmong culture. In
classrooms, the focus is on American
culture since that is what the teacher
knows, so this puts the Hmong-
 achieve higher education, but they
would like their daughters to attend
college close to home.
Point 2: Another value held in
Hmong-American families would be
their domestic chores and
responsibilities, according to Yang
(2005). This is huge in Hmong-
American families.
3) Point 1: According to Yang (2005), a
cultural tradition Hmong-Americans
face would be that their daughters are
considered too old to marry if they
attend college before marriage. This
has been a tradition throughout the
Hmong culture, and Hmong girls fear
this to be an obstacle when thinking
about attending college. Although,
U.S. born Hmong girls are attending
college more often in todays world.
American students behind.
Point 4: Yangs (2005) research claims
that Hmong students come from a
disadvantaged home environment are
poorer than any other immigrant or
refugee student. He described Hmong
students as living in poverty and
isolation, lacking healthcare, privacy,
and vulnerable to abuse or
emotionally unstable. This obviously
is not true for every Hmong-American
family, but definitely is a reason for
affected academic achievement.
2) Point 1: This might be a reason
Hmong-American women are held
back from succeeding, since they may
be pressured not to attend their dream
school.
Point 2: Yang (2005) found that these
students are usually very willing to
help out around the house, but it has
been found that it affects their school
grades and is a hinder in their
educational dreams, as they have less
time to do these things.
3) Point 1: Yangs (2005) research shows
Hmong-American girls may not try as
hard in school if they are planning on
just getting married and becoming a
domestic wife after high school, so
this tradition may affect their
education.

After reading this journal article, I now have a much greater respect for these Hmong-American

students. I personally cannot imagine trying to learn a different language in a different country,

meanwhile trying to make friends in a school who are nothing like me. In my classroom, I

would love to talk about different cultures, so that all students can learn about the different ways

people live, and students can feel like they belong with all other students, despite their
differences in race or ethnicity. My public-school background was very much lacking in helping

us learn about other cultures, which is probably why there was different cliques of students based

off of their race/ethnicity. I think it would be very important to have the Hmong-American

students in my class teach the other students, rather than myself since they are the ones who

experience it rather than me. This will also help them make friends since other students will be

so curious about learning about their culture.