dr. ronald e. mcnair acknowledgements - University of St. Thomas

UST McNair Scholars Program Research Journal
American Indian Students were 2 to 5 times as likely to
drop out of school as their White peers over the last five
years. The result also shows White students exceeding the
overall national average of graduation rates by nearly 6
points; in contrast, Minnesota students of color and
American Indian students average 10 to 17 points below
the national average for graduation rates (Minnesota
Minority Education Partnership, 2009).
This is further evidence of what previous studies have
stated about Asian American students fitting into the
model minority ideal. Too often, Asian-American students
have been stereotyped as the “model minority” in which
they performed academically better than other ethnic
groups (Lee, 1994; Um, 2000). This stereotype claims
Asian Americans are not educationally disadvantaged and
do not need any academic assistance (Ngo & Lee, 2007).
Hmong, as a refugee population, presents an important
view on the problems and challenges facing many groups
within this conception of Asian as the model minority
(Xiong, 2008). Hmong is one of the newest Southeast
Asian groups of people within this conception, considering
they have only been in the United States for approximately
thirty-six years. Therefore, it is imperative to understand
all Asians do not have similar values and cultural
background, nor do they share the same educational and
economic opportunity in the United States (Hamilton-
Merritt, 1993).
PARENTS’ AND TEACHERS’ COMMUNICATION
Historically, researchers have found that there has been
a lack of communication between school teachers and
South East Asian parents (Blakely, 1983). These parents
received notices of their children’s grades, opportunities for
students to join sports, and invitations to open houses, but
the majority were illiterate and did not understand these
school communications (Blakely, 1983). The study showed
how refugees in Cascade, Oregon exhibited similar
characteristics of other minorities immigrating to this
country. These refugees’ families were willing to start a new
life and saw formal education as a critical component to
surviving in the United States (Blakely, 1983).
Much research has been conducted on the importance of
teachers, parents, and other school professionals’ ways of
collaboration and communication to better assist Hmong
students in school. Thao (2003) found both parents and
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teachers wanted a well-balanced relationship to better
engage their students at home and school. Parents and
teachers expressed how they want to be able to understand
one another and communicate about the academic needs of
Hmong students. Both Hmong parents and teachers want
to maintain trust, exchange resources, as well as share ideas
(Thao, 2003). Furthermore, Thao (2003) found that
providing a level of parent- teacher conferences would give
parents encouragement, role models, and technical tools to
support Hmong students both at school and home. The
study also suggested for parents, teachers, and adminis -
trators to get together to talk about their different
expectations, home and school, and talk about resources
that exist in the student’s home (Thao, 2003).
HOME AND SCHOOL FACTORS
Many studies have been done on the types of school and
home environments needed to better assist Hmong
students to achieve academic success. Thao (2003) found
the school environment needs to be a comfortable place and
not isolate the Hmong students and their culture. The
school environment must allow Hmong students to explore
the American culture without placing academic pressure
on the students (Thao, 2003). However, the home
environment must consist of loving and supportive parents
in order to motivate Hmong students to succeed in school.
Berger (1995) found students who come from different
cultures bring unique languages, ideas, feelings, strengths,
and weaknesses of their homes into their school life. It is
important that educators provide a supportive and nonthreatening
environment to lesson academic anxiety for
Hmong students (Thao, 2003). Moreover, Thao (2003)
revealed in her study that teaching of the Hmong culture
and history within the school would be beneficial to
Hmong students so they can identify with their culture
and understand its values. Hmong children need to be in
classrooms where they have the opportunity to learn how
to balance cultural differences among their home, school,
and community (Shade et al., 1997). In addition, it is
important Hmong students have a study space along with
parents’ expectations in their home environment (Thao,
2003).
At present, Xiong (2008) found Hmong children are
growing up in economically and educationally disad -
vantaged families. Hmong students are among the poorest