STEM Pushout and Redirection of HMoob American College Students at a Predominantly White Institution
WCER Working Paper No. 2024-4
Bailey B. Smolarek, Matthew Wolfgram, Chundou Her, Lena Lee, Stacey J. Lee, Geboli Long, Payeng Moua, Kong Pheng Pha, Ariana Thao, Mai See Thao, Mai Neng Vang, Susan Vang, Chee Meng Xiong, Choua Xiong, Edward Xiong, Odyssey Xiong, Pa Kou Xiong, Ying Yang Youa Xiong, Kayeng Yang, Lisa Yang, Mai Chong Yang, Scy Yang, and Steven Yang
July 2024, 24 pp.
ABSTRACT: Asian Americans as a group are overrepresented among STEM college graduates and have the highest average college enrollment rate of any racial or ethnic category. Thus, Asian Americans are typically excluded from educational interventions directed at improving STEM education for Students of Color because they are not considered to be underrepresented minorities. However, statistics obscure the individual needs of the more than 20 ethnic subgroups that fall under the umbrella term Asian Americans. Using a participatory action research approach, this paper documents the institutional and sociocultural factors that push out HMoob (or Hmong) American college students from STEM programs at one large, predominantly White university; and the coordinate processes of gatekeeping and transactional advising that either redirect those students toward non-STEM programs or force them out of the university completely.
keywords: STEM Education, STEM Meritocracy, HMoob/Hmong Education, Asian American Education, School Pushout, STEM Pushout, Participatory Action Research
