Vietnamese Americans in American Education

Traditionally, ethnic minority groups often faceorder to ameliorate it. It should be said that the
serious problems and Vietnamese Americans aredevelopment of re-education camps was
not an exception. Probably the most serioussupposed to contribute to the faster integration
problems they faced and are still facing inof Vietnamese arriving from Vietnam to the new
education that actually reflects all other problemslife in the US. however, this measure seems to be
this ethnic group suffers from in the US.not very efficient because it merely helped
Problems and difficulties Vietnamese AmericansVietnamese people feel the real life within
faced in the pastAmerican community. Obviously, the closer
First of all, it should be said that ethnic minoritiesintegration of Vietnamese and local communities
traditionally were in a disadvantageous positionwas needed.
compared to the dominant ethnic groups. The USAt the same time, the development of strategy
is not an exception, though a lot of efforts wereof ethnic tolerance was obviously extremely
made to change the situation for better andimportant and the general anti-segregation policy
make American society more tolerant andaiming at the integration of representatives of
provide all ethnic groups with really equaldifferent ethnic groups in the education process.
opportunities. Nonetheless, the position ofHowever, this strategy is not really fulfilled
Vietnamese Americans was quite difficult,because, as a rule, the representatives of ethnic
especially in the past.minorities constituted the overwhelming majority
It should be pointed out that the massin schools, especially in the inner city .
immigration from Vietnam to the US was markedAt the same time, it is obvious that the major
by quite a negative attitude to Vietnamesestrategies, which really aim at the improvement
arriving to the US because of the Vietnameseof the position of Vietnamese Americans, should
war which took lives of many Americans. At thebe focused on the improvement of their
same time, Vietnamese arriving in the US weresocio-economic position. However, there is a kind
really strangers for the local community becauseof vicious circle that is extremely difficult to break.
they had different culture, language, traditions,To put it more precisely, the better social position
mentality. Moreover, the negative past experiencecan be gained due to the better education while
of extremely complicated relations between thethe better education often turns to be inaccessible
US and Vietnam did not contribute to the easierfor the families of Vietnamese Americans
integration of American Vietnamese.because of their poverty. This is why, it is
Speaking about their problems, including thosenecessary to keep developing educational and
related to the sphere of education, it should besocial programs that would help Vietnamese
said that one of the major problems was theAmericans to receive higher education that could
language. For instance, in 1990 Vietnamese childrenopen new opportunities for them and substantially
lived in families where the heads of theimprove their life.
households basically had poor English proficiency .Current issues related to Vietnamese Americans
This was particularly widely spread within thein education
families of the first generation of VietnameseNowadays, the situation is obviously better than it
Americans, i.e. families that just arrived in the USused to be even a decade ago. For instance,
and their children were born in the new countrythere are practically no serious language problems
or arrived at an early age.and Vietnamese American children are practically
Obviously, it was quite difficult for these childrenin the equal position compared to other ethnic
to get integrated into American life and achievegroups. Nonetheless, there are still serious
positive results in the education, i.e. have academicproblems that are really important.
because they lack the knowledge of English whichIt should be said that socio-economic position of
was the basic language used in schools. In fact,Vietnamese Americans did not improved
the proficiency in English was and actually remainssignificantly and often higher education is still hardly
one of the basic conditions of successful learningaccessible to this category of students. Though it
because even though children may have equalis worthy of mention that gradually this ethnic
academic abilities they can be less successful ingroup progresses and their socio-economic
learning because of language problems.position starts to improve but quite slowly.
Not surprisingly, that Vietnamese Americans wereFurthermore, nowadays, Vietnamese American
less likely to have a college education or astudents have to deal with the problem of
professional education than whites . In thisbicultural conflicts between home and schools. It
respect, it is worthy of mention that poor Englishshould be said that to a significant extent this
proficiency was not the only reason. In fact, oneconflicts are provoked by the generation gaps
of the most important factors that preventedbetween children that grew up in American reality
Vietnamese Americans from receiving higherand their parents and even grandparents who still
education was their socio-economic position. It iskeep their traditions, perfectly remember their
not a secret that the vast majority ofnative country, and have not managed to change
Vietnamese immigrants were poor and belongedtheir mentality and get accustomed to the new
to lower classes. Naturally, they could not affordlifestyle.
educating their children similarly to the upperBasically, it is possible to single out four main
classes of American society. This is why manybicultural problems Vietnamese Americans
Vietnamese Americans were simply deprived ofcurrently face . Firstly, parent and children tend to
real opportunities to receive good educationdisagree on the nature and extent of parental
because of their poverty. Moreover, their poorauthority. Secondly, many of the means of
social status also contributed to the negativeenforcing parental authority that were common in
attitude to Vietnamese Americans from the partVietnam are unacceptable in the US. Thirdly,
of other students and lower self esteem ofparents and children have different perspectives
children representing this ethnic group comparedon what aspects of American culture are
to white and black Americans.desirable. And, finally, the role reversal of parents
Finally, they Vietnamese Americans faced a veryand children that frequently occurs in immigrant
serious problem of racism that was reallyfamilies is contrary to the cultural expectations of
disturbing. For instance, in 1992, University ofVietnamese parents about their own roles.
Miami pre-med Vietnamese American studentConclusion
Luyen Phan Nguyen, 19, was chased and beatenThus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is
to death outside a Coral Springs, Florida, collegepossible to conclude that Vietnamese Americans
party by the mob of about 15 young white menfaced a number of problems in education.
who used their fists, feet and beer bottles.Nowadays, some of them are solved but there
Actually, he was slaughtered only because he hadare still a lot of difficulties they have to overcome
protested an insulting reference to his Vietnameseand basically they are related to the low economic
origin earlier at the party. What is even moreposition of their families and to their cultural
shocking is the fact that the party crowd ignoredbackground and contradictions between traditional
the murder .Vietnamese and American cultures that provoke
The strategies used to ameliorate the situationbicultural conflicts within Vietnamese Americans
Naturally, the situation could not remain unchanged.families.
This is why certain steps were undertaken in