Education and Career
MR. NGUYEN: Adjusting is challenging overall, because I can notice the culture at home and the culture at school are totally different. I went to the public schools in Orange County. I went to elementary school, junior high school, and high school all within the district that I’m on the Board of now. I also remember in third grade, down here in Orange County, I just moved to a new school and I had made some friends with these two boys who were speaking Spanish. So I learned a couple phrases in Spanish. I learned: “como te ama” and “me amo Bao”. And I wanted to practice that, so I was repeating myself and practicing with them as we were waiting to go back into class. And a teacher came by. It wasn’t our teacher. She pointed in our faces and said, “Speak English”. And I felt the injustice. We weren’t in formal instruction; there was normal chit chat while waiting in line; and I’m learning. I was learning something.
MICHAEL: This was during recess?
MR. NGUYEN: This was at the end of recess waiting to get into class. And our teacher wasn’t there yet. We were waiting in line.
MICHAEL: Is this the first time you experienced racism?
MR. NGUYEN: No, I don’t think I had an idea of racism or what that was at that age.
MICHAEL: Your school was relatively diverse?
MR NGUYEN: It was pretty diverse.
SID: It just didn’t feel right.
MR. NGUYEN: Yeah, it was technically still recess time.
MICHAEL: How can you address these issues to educate people about the past or history in general, about the Vietnam War, about history?
MR. NGUYEN: As a school board member (Garden Grove Unified School District) I help to expand our ethnic studies courses in our district, including Mexican-American and Vietnamese-American history. And we currently do offer that in one of our high schools and it’s a great course. The teacher is very passionate about teaching and the students are very interested in learning, because it talks about the experience that’s relevant to the community here (in Garden Grove, CA). In my role as a School Board Member I’ve been able to bring the California State Seal of Biliteracy (http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp) to our district, which awards students who graduate with demonstrated proficiency in English and another language, (ie) Spanish, Vietnamese, etc. Last month in February I was able to bring my initiative onto the agenda for a vote to establish and expand our world and heritage language programs, and we will be the first district in California to offer English and Vietnamese in a dual immersion program as well as Spanish and English at the Elementary level. The context of my experience of being a refugee and being an immigrant of the United States informs what I do as a community leader and as a policy maker. It helps me connect to the community that I serve. The context of my experience has informed me to make our democratic project better in the United States.