Similar to other Asian American students, Southeast Asian American students are often stereotyped by the popular press as hardworking and high-achieving model minorities. On the other hand, Southeast Asian American youth are also depicted as low-achieving high school dropouts involved in gangs. The realities of academic performance and persistence among Southeast Asian American students are far more complex than either image suggests. This article explores the various explanations for the struggles, successes, and educational experiences of Southeast Asian students. To highlight differences across ethnic groups, we review the literature on each Southeast Asian ethnic group separately and examine the successes and continuing struggles facing first- and second-generation Vietnamese American, Cambodian American, Hmong American, and Lao American students in the United States.

This article examines the complex relationship between Asian American student identity(ies) and perceptions regarding future opportunity and attitudes toward schooling. The article argues that identity and attitudes toward schooling are not static, as some have argued, but are negotiated through experiences and relationships inside and outside of school. Data for this article were collected as part of a larger ethnographic study on Asian American high school students.

Hmong American youth are often stereotyped by the popular press as either high-achieving "model minorities" or low-achieving "delinquents." In this ethnographic study, Stacey Lee attempts to move beyond the model minority image of 1.5-generation students and the delinquent stereotype of second-generation students to present a more complex picture of Hmong American students' school experiences. The author explores the way economic forces, relationships with the dominant society, perceptions of opportunities, family relationships, culture, and educational experiences affect Hmong American students' attitudes toward school, and the variation that exists among 1.5- and second-generation youth. This article provides insight into how forces inside and outside school affect attitudes toward education, and suggests possibilities for ways in which schools might better serve these students. (pp. 505–528)

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