By Aaron Ritter

Maybe it’s because it was too painful to write about 45 centuries of betrayal, persecution and dislocation. How could written words attempt to explain why they had been driven from every home they had ever known?

Or maybe it’s because written words couldn’t emphasize essential aspects of their culture like the spoken word could – where to plant crops or how to honor the sacredness of the family.

Maybe that’s why the Hmong people never developed their own written language.

And even when it was given to them by strange Western missionaries in the 1950s, it was never really theirs. Their experiences were far too horrific to convey through written symbols. How could written words explain the betrayal of 1975, when the CIA left the Hmong to survive the wrath of a vengeful communist regime, a wrath so bloodthirsty that one-third of all Hmong people would be killed? And how could written words help those who somehow escaped – those who traded the oppression of the Communist Pathet Lao for the squalid conditions of a Thai refugee camp? The answer is, written words can’t.

For the entirety of their existence, the Hmong people have never had much reason for written language and little need for formal education. Up until very recently, the Hmong have existed for 5,000 years as farmers and hunters. For the Hmong, it was always more important to learn from elders how to trap game or where to plant crops than it was to learn to read. The Hmong developed a vibrant and beautiful culture through the strength of their oral traditions and community learning. From the snowy Siberian plains, to the northern flatlands of China, to the mountains and jungles of northern Laos, the ferocity of their oral tradition sustained the Hmong people and their culture as they moved southward to escape persecution.

This all changed in the 1980s when the United States government offered political asylum tothousands of Hmong and relocated them to communities throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and California. In a new land, learning to speak, read and write one of the world’s most difficult languages has become a major source of the economic and educational problems that often plague Hmong people living in the U.S.

First-Generation Students

“Laaaa … laaaaa … dddd … rrrrrr … ladder,” a small boy slowly sounds out, and then looks up quizzically at the volunteer student seated next to him.

“Good, you are doing great,” says the larger student, with a smile of encouragement. “You are already doing better than you did last week,” he replies, adjusting the nametag with “mentor” printed on it. The quick smile and encouragement seem to betray the frustration that the mentor subtly shows as they hesitatingly launch into the next sentence. It seems as if the mentor only wishes he could make the process of learning English easier.

The problem English as a Second Language (ESL) students and their mentors must face is that learning English is a slow, arduous process requiring many hours of exhaustive study.

“The main thing I try to do is not talk too much, to force them to learn it,” says Alan Paebrzs, a social worker who has helped non-English speaking students with their homework at Madison West High School. “Unfortunately, ESL is a really slow process, and in the amount of time that students are learning English, they are falling behind in other areas.”

As much as students of all origins experience difficulties in learning English, data indicate Hmong students, as an immigrant group, seem to be at an even greater disadvantage than other ESL students. An economic survey conducted by UW-Eau Claire professor Wayne Carroll discovered that the Hmong were the most economically, educationally and linguistically disadvantaged of all recent immigrant groups. According to Census Data, Wisconsin Hmong reported an unemployment rate of 27.4 percent and a median household income of $10,767, as opposed to 5.2 percent and $29,442 for the rest of the state.

Additionally, survey results reveal that an astounding 43 percent of recent Hmong adult immigrants to Wisconsin reported that they had never received any sort of formal education. This last statistic indicates that Hmong children are often inhibited from learning at home, rendering many children completely reliant on the school and the community for their English and educational needs.

“I learned my English at school because my parents don't speak English,” says UW-Madison student Mai Tong Xiong. “Because they did not understand, they were not able to help me or my siblings with our homework. So we just depend on each other. I have to help my sisters with their homework, but no one was able to help me because they did not understand my homework.”

Choua Vang, who was born in Green Bay and saw her Laotian-born brothers and sisters struggle with English, attributes additional difficulty to inherent linguistic differences in the formation of words. “Whenever my Hmong friends or family members talk about trying to speak English we talk about how our tongues have to work differently from when we speak Hmong.”

She also articulated a belief that many Hmong have been forced by their economic status and the difficulty of English to simply, “just learn the basics to get by.”

Hmong and education leaders around the state have cited the language barrier as the cause of many Hmong’s economic and educational disadvantages. A 2000 Census report, consisting of 34 statewide Hmong focus groups, repeatedly points to the language barrier as inhibiting Hmong from occupying desired community roles and from getting the education needed to obtain high-paying jobs. At the same time, the study showed that many Hmong do not believe they have the means to overcome this imposing barrier.

Facing the Problem

As the number of Hmong in Wisconsin continues to soar - with a 106 percent growth rate in 2002 alone - schools throughout Wisconsin are attempting to cater to the language needs of Hmong students.

One of the heavily populated Hmong regions in upstate Wisconsin is Wausau. One-fourth of the school district’s 8,829 students are of Southeast Asian descent, many are first-generation Hmong immigrants. Few first-generation Hmong immigrants speak English, reflecting a statewide trend that shows 27,184 students of all origins, or almost three percent of public school students, don’t speak English. Yet, without an ability to communicate, students are often teased and unable to partake in school events.

Wausau educators are determined to face this issue head-on. They have instituted a variety of measures to cater to ESL student needs. For example, teachers are now required to get their ESL certification, and non-English speakers are integrated into a half-day program of intensive English, a program that can last as long as two years. Additionally, Wausau has begun to implement cultural programs that specifically foster cultural understanding between Hmong and non-Hmong students.

In fourth grade, students learn Hmong immigration as part of their history unit and in sixth grade, students have the option to learn the Hmong language for two weeks.

Efforts to cater to Wisconsin’s ESL needs have also been echoed in the state senate. Legislators from around the state have supported ESL funding and educational reform. Despite a budget crunch, Wisconsin has continued to earmark $100,000 annually for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, which serves to finance the extra cost of ESL programs.

According to the early analysis of the 2000 Census Data, programs such as the one in Wausau, seem to have had a positive impact on the educational and economic status of Wisconsin Hmong. Although still calibrating data from the 2000 Census, Wayne Carroll seems to think Hmong are improving their economic status through better education. “My casual observation of schools in Eau Claire suggests that Hmong kids are getting a fine education and are succeeding remarkably well there; but that’s very unscientific.”

Steve Yang, who grew up in central Wisconsin, feels that the efforts made by the state to cater to Wisconsin Hmong have been successful. “I feel like I received a great education and was pointed towards higher education by a large number of teachers and staff,” he says. “Though I feel that I may have had special circumstances in my educational history, there are now large numbers of Hmong students who are also achieving educationally.”

Yet, as much as these programs seem to be helping, it is important to remember that they are far from perfect.

“Sometimes Hmong students don’t work as hard because they don’t think that teachers will be as hard on them because they can’t speak English,” says Quoa Her, a Wisconsin Hmong who graduated from Wausau High School and assisted in the ESL program.

She insists that high schools in Wisconsin need better and more comprehensive programs, but also indicated that perhaps school days are simply not long enough to support the needs she sees.

Fortunately for Wisconsin Hmong, schools are not the only places where students can learn English and receive help for their homework. A growing number of community centers are assuming important roles in the lives’ of Wisconsin’s Hmong population. These community centers, with their educational and cultural programs, permit students to continue their education outside of school and also allow their parents a comfortable and safe place to get involved in their community.

Cultural Healing

From the outside, the Eagle Heights Community Center is a rather nondescript, rectangular building. On the inside, however, shrieks of delight and the sounds of learning often supercede the buzz of the fluorescent lights that line the ceiling. Signs of happiness are rarely absent within the halls of the Eagle Heights Community Center in Madison, where the therapeutic and often joyous process of cultural healing is taking place.

Community centers across the state have become an important part of the language and cultural integration of Hmong–young and old. Through various ESL and after-school programs, community centers have provided Hmong students the ability to interact with their community. For many Hmong, this is an opportunity they have not previously been allowed to pursue.

Yun-Soon Koh, who coordinates a student volunteer program at Eagle Heights, is often seen darting in and out of the rooms where mentors are helping non-English speaking students with their reading and math. In an effort to accommodate all the parents and students that need help, he is constantly asking for more volunteers and more hours. At a recent volunteer potluck dinner, he reiterated the success of the program but also emphasized the need for more volunteers. “We have 40 tutors and about 80 students,” he told the assembled group of students and mentors who were treated to a dinner of assorted Asian dishes. “But if you guys know of anyone, ask your friends, because we always need more volunteers.”

Slowly and steadily, Wisconsin, assisted by its self-conscious and proactive legislators, teachers and volunteers, is helping to make the process of learning English a possibility for the more than 33,000 Hmong that live here.

And in the process, as the state’s Hmong population begins to show signs that it is ready to thrive, maybe Wisconsin will finally be a place where the Hmong people will be able to use written language to describe feelings of security and prosperity. These are descriptions of life that have been largely absent from both oral and written Hmong history for more than 5,000 years.

For more information, visit the following sites:

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Hmong Population Research Project: This provides a great deal of numerical data on the economic condition of the Hmong in Wisconsin.

Wausau School District: This site offers information about the Hmong culture and language problems mentioned in the above article.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: This site provides information about financial and economic programs undertaken at the state level.