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Added to the external social and economic barriers from the broader community
is the difficulties families face internally. The ability of youth to
acculturate more quickly than parents tend to create a reversal in roles – the
parents become “the children” learning their lessons all over again. This often
leads to a breakdown in traditional family structure. Many parents are unable to
control their children in a country in which they do not understand the
language, traditions, or justice system.
Furthermore, some American practices, often pummeling the family through
endless television commercials, conflict with the traditional parenting methods
of Hmong culture leading to family conflict and the alienation of youth from a
traditional source of support. This lack of connection to family is a strong
predictor of delinquent behavior in youth, including truancy and dropping out of
school. This breakdown in traditional family communication and authority has
direct consequences for the young people. In most cases, we see that youths are
acting out the struggles of their whole family. Truancy, crime, unwanted
pregnancies, drug and gang involvement, and low academic achievement stem from a
breakdown in communication between the generations.
The impact of cultural stress and economic limitations in our Hmong Community
is particularly acute among Hmong youth in 2001. This impact is clear from
school and crime statistics for Hmong youth, assembled by the State of Minnesota
Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans and Minneapolis Public Schools described
herein:
? In the Minneapolis Public Schools, of the projected 49,309 students
enrolled in 2001-2002 at least 7,396 are Asian Pacific (15%) according to “first
language in home” (while by our estimate some 12,000 of Hmong heritage between
ages 5-21 years should be in school according to family counts);
? At least
3,686 Hmong students in MPS (30%) are in English Language Learners in grades
K-12 (although statistics provided are incomplete and suggest 5,002 at the 41%
traditional rate);
? During 1991-92 through 1993-94 school years, Asian
Pacific American drop out rates increased from 9.5 percent to 14.6 percent,
since falling to 6.3 percent among the Hmong Minneapolis Community in 2000,
leaving thousands of young Hmong behind without solid basic education skills and
uncounted for school activity;
? In the 2001 Minnesota Basic Standard Test
for 8th grade only 43 percent of Asian Pacific American students passed the
reading test and only 50 percent passed the math test;
? Only 23.4 percent of
Hmong students passed the reading test in 1998, reflecting new immigrant
challenges;
? Only 31.6 percent of Hmong students passed the math test in
1998, reflecting new immigrant challenges.
Both the school attendance rates and academic achievement levels of Hmong
youth are a major concern for our community. The growing Hmong population is
reflected in the public schools systems, since more than 60 percent of the Hmong
Community living in the Metro Area is under the age of 18. In the city of
Minneapolis, 13 percent of public school students are estimated to be Hmong,
with individual schools reporting more than 50 percent Hmong students, including
Folwell Junior High School and Edison and Roosevelt High Schools.
By the early 1990s, ninth grade Southeast Asian students in Minneapolis
(primarily Hmong) were universally scoring the lowest of all ethnic groups in
city wide benchmark exams. Although scores have risen in recent years, there is
a clear dichotomy between those students who are recent Hmong immigrants and
those born into American-Hmong families. While many young Hmong now score
favorably with their white classmates (the highest scoring cultural group), an
equal number of Hmong adolescents were among the group with the lowest high
school graduation rate: nearly 50 percent of Hmong students who started ninth
grade did not graduate from high school. Of course, much of this failure rate
may be attributed to the late start forced upon many of the youth arriving from
Thailand -- but not all. Schools report a high rate of truancy and school
dropouts for Hmong students, which often begins in junior high school and
includes both those new immigrants and American-born Hmong youth. Between 1981
and 1991, the high school dropout rate for Southeast Asians, the majority of
whom were Hmong, tripled. Truancy from school is often a direct response to the
severe restrictions placed on the social life of these youth by their parents as
well as by falling through the cracks of the school system. We concur with
Co-Chair George Latimer in the remarks carried in the report by the Citizens
League, A Failing Grade for School Completion: We Must Increase School
Completion in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, that “The traditional notion of high
school should be restructured for greater flexibility…. Charter schools and
other alternatives should be expanded to connect large numbers of at-risk
students with the ‘real world’ of work through career exposure and technical
education options.”
In addition to truancy, dropouts and low academic achievement, Hmong youth
involvement in crime has skyrocketed since 1990. Delinquent – and criminal --
activity are now endemic among Hmong youth, a direct result of the combined
factors of poverty, racism, frustration and difficult and traumatic transition
to a new country and life. In Minneapolis, the number of Asian juvenile arrests
increased more than 1300 percent between 1982 and 1991 (from five arrests to
255), and has continued to climb. The latest statistics available from Hennepin
County Community Corrections show more than 100 Hmong youth currently on
probation. The Minneapolis Police Department indicates that more than 200 Hmong
youth (43 “hard core”) are currently involved in five gangs, with an additional
800 Hmong youth, primarily teenage boys and girls, at risk for gang involvement.
These gangs focus their turf and activity around low-income housing areas,
generally recognized in Minneapolis as among the Northside and Phillips-Whittier
neighborhoods.
Many of our youth are considered to be “at-risk” because
they face multiple “traditional” risk factors for juvenile delinquency,
including:
? Living in severely disadvantaged economic conditions;
?
Experiencing discrimination and prejudice;
? Living in a community surrounded
by violence, gang activity, and pressure for gang involvement;
? Experiencing
high rates of physical abuse in the home;
? High rates of school truancy,
school in-completion, and poor academic performance;
? Social and cultural
barriers that lead to a lack of nurturing and support for the young people’s
social and academic development by parents or other adults in their lives;
?
Lack of opportunity for participation in structured/supervised recreational and
social activities, and;
? In a number of cases, the negative impact of a
depressed parent.
Hmong youth are exposed to organized criminal activities in their
neighborhoods, and are having difficult time finding success in the traditional
social structure. They are struggling to assimilate new cultural information; to
make the difficult transition into adulthood; to determine the boundaries of
their personal and cultural identities; to find the tools they’ll need to thrive
as individuals and as members of two cultures. Hmong youth need to develop
rapidly the skills and self-reliance to function in local systems and to make a
positive contribution to the community at large.
The impact of cultural stress and economic limitations in our Hmong Community
is particularly acute among Hmong youth in 2001. This impact is clear from
school and crime statistics for Hmong youth, assembled by the State of Minnesota
Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans and Minneapolis Public Schools described
herein (266,181,182):
• In the Minneapolis Public Schools, of the projected
49,309 students enrolled in 2001-2002 at least 7,396 are Asian Pacific (15%)
according to “first language in home” (while by our estimate some 12,000 of
Hmong heritage between ages 5-21 years should be in school according to family
counts);
• At least 3,686 Hmong students in MPS (30%) are in English
Language Learners in grades K 12 (although statistics provided are incomplete
and suggest 5,002 at the 41% traditional rate);
• During 1991 92 through
1993 94 school years, Asian Pacific American drop out rates increased from 9.5
percent to 14.6 percent, since falling to 6.3 percent among the Hmong
Minneapolis Community in 2000, leaving thousands of young Hmong behind without
solid basic education skills and uncounted for school activity;
• In the
2001 Minnesota Basic Standard Test for 8th grade only 43 percent of Asian
Pacific American students passed the reading test and only 50 percent passed the
math test;
• Only 23.4 percent of Hmong students passed the reading test in
1998, reflecting new immigrant challenges;
• Only 31.6 percent of Hmong
students passed the math test in 1998, reflecting new immigrant challenges.
Both the school attendance rates and academic achievement levels of Hmong
youth are a major concern for our community. The growing Hmong population is
reflected in the public schools systems, since more than 60 percent of the Hmong
Community living in the Metro Area is under the age of 18. In the city of
Minneapolis, 13 percent of public school students are estimated to be Hmong,
with individual schools reporting more than 50 percent Hmong students, including
Folwell Junior High School and Edison and Roosevelt High Schools.
By the early 1990s, ninth grade Southeast Asian students in Minneapolis
(primarily Hmong) were universally scoring the lowest of all ethnic groups in
city wide benchmark exams. Although scores have risen in recent years, there is
a clear dichotomy between those students who are recent Hmong immigrants and
those born into American-Hmong families. While many young Hmong now score
favorably with their white classmates (the highest scoring cultural group), an
equal number of Hmong adolescents were among the group with the lowest high
school graduation rate: nearly 50 percent of Hmong students who started ninth
grade did not graduate from high school. Of course, much of this failure rate
may be attributed to the late start forced upon many of the youth arriving from
Thailand -- but not all. Schools report a high rate of truancy and school
dropouts for Hmong students, which often begins in junior high school and
includes both those new immigrants and American-born Hmong youth. Between 1981
and 1991, the high school dropout rate for Southeast Asians, the majority of
whom were Hmong, tripled (265). Truancy from school is often a direct response
to the severe restrictions placed on the social life of these youth by their
parents as well as by falling through the cracks of the school system. We concur
with Co-Chair George Latimer in the remarks carried in the report by the
Citizens League, A Failing Grade for School Completion: We Must Increase School
Completion in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, that “The traditional notion of high
school should be restructured for greater flexibility…. Charter schools and
other alternatives should be expanded to connect large numbers of at-risk
students with the ‘real world’ of work through career exposure and technical
education options.”(16)
In addition to truancy, dropouts and low academic achievement, Hmong youth
involvement in crime has skyrocketed since 1990. Delinquent – and criminal --
activity are now endemic among Hmong youth, a direct result of the combined
factors of poverty, racism, frustration and difficult and traumatic transition
to a new country and life. In Minneapolis, the number of Asian juvenile arrests
increased more than 1300 percent between 1982 and 1991 (from five arrests to
255), and has continued to climb. The latest statistics available from Hennepin
County Community Corrections show more than 100 Hmong youth currently on
probation. The Minneapolis Police Department indicates that more than 200 Hmong
youth (43 “hard core”) are currently involved in five gangs, with an additional
800 Hmong youth, primarily teenage boys and girls, at risk for gang involvement.
These gangs focus their turf and activity around low-income housing areas,
generally recognized in Minneapolis as among the Northside and Phillips-Whittier
neighborhoods.
Many of our youth are considered to be “at-risk” because
they face multiple “traditional” risk factors for juvenile delinquency,
including:
• Living in severely disadvantaged economic conditions;
•
Experiencing discrimination and prejudice;
• Living in a community surrounded
by violence, gang activity, and pressure for gang involvement;
• Experiencing
high rates of physical abuse in the home;
• High rates of school truancy,
school in-completion, and poor academic performance;
• Social and cultural
barriers that lead to a lack of nurturing and support for the young people’s
social and academic development by parents or other adults in their lives;
•
Lack of opportunity for participation in structured/supervised recreational and
social activities, and;
• In a number of cases, the negative impact of a
depressed parent.
Hmong youth are exposed to organized criminal activities in their
neighborhoods, and are having difficult time finding success in the traditional
social structure. They are struggling to assimilate new cultural information; to
make the difficult transition into adulthood; to determine the boundaries of
their personal and cultural identities; to find the tools they’ll need to thrive
as individuals and as members of two cultures. Hmong youth need to develop
rapidly the skills and self-reliance to function in local systems and to make a
positive contribution to the community at
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