Reflections on America’s Higher Education: My Hmong Voice

Abstract Hmong people in the United States of America have started to emerge on the national scene thanks to the recent rise of Hmong politicians winning State representative, senate, and assembly seats. The Hmong-American experience in the United States is a rollercoaster experience. While we have made America our home for the past 45 years, our presence is still largely unknown to the majority of the American people. The struggle of every Hmong person living in a relatively unknown land, unknown culture, and unknown people is very real, it represents that of the whole community struggles to survive. This article focuses on my graduate school experience through the so called multicultural education system. I provide a brief history of the Hmong people, why we are here in the United States, Hmong people’s overall educational experience, and my personal experience in maneuvering through the bureaucratic institution of graduate school. My story represents the larger story of the Hmong people experience in the United States. Portions of this story have appeared as a chapter in the book, Voices of Asian American in higher education: The unheard stories (Obiakor & Hui-Michael, 2018).