Amy Diaz

Professor S.A. Vang

WRI 01

October 11, 2022

Many institutions, back then and now, don't take into consideration other people's culture.

Due to this it can cause many issues and complications in services. Institutions like hospitals,

schools, and businesses should have resources to help other cultures understand things better. In

the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman talks about how Lia Lee

and her family and how they struggled at the hospital in Merced California with communication

and the doctors and staff not understanding their culture. One thing doctors didn't understand

about the Hmong culture was the soul. A person's soul means a lot at Hmongs and in the story

the doctors didn't understand that. The doctors didn't understand that for some cultures, like

Hmongs, people don't just get sick physically they get sick because of their soul and that caused

some conflict between the Lees’ and the doctors, “The doctors can fix some sicknesses that

involve the body and blood, but for is Hmong, some people get sick because of their soul, so

they need spiritual things. With Lia it was good to do a little medicine and a little neeb, but not to

mcub medicine because the medicine cuts the neeb’s effect. If we did a little of each she didn't

get sick as much, but the doctors wouldn't let us give just a little medicine because they didn't

understand about the soul”. This shows how if the doctors would have just taken the Lees’

culture into consideration Lia could have gotten both spiritual and medical treatment. Another

problem was the miscommunication the doctors and the Lees’ had with each other which caused

the doctors to think negatively about Hmongs. Lias condition was getting worse which caused

the Lees’ to turn to traditional medicine to help her. This caused the doctors to judge the Lees’

and Hmongs because they thought that they didn't care about their children like other parents do,

“In order to keep Lia’s condition from deteriorating further, the Lees stepped up their program of
Amy Diaz

Professor S.A. Vang

WRI 01

October 11, 2022

traditional medicine. I had often heard doctors at MCMC complain that the Hmong seemed to

care less than Americans did whether their sick children got better, since they spurned the

hospital’s free medical care”.

Another service that has problems is the education system as well. Many schools do teach

about other cultures and races but never seem to teach accurate information also many students

tend to face a lot of discrimination because of there cultue and there race from other students and

even teachers. This is a big problem because some schools have students that are from those

cultures that are being taught incorrectly and those students may feel like they don't belong. This

can cause some students to not want to be a part of their own culture due to hearing negative

information about it. Students may not want to be a part of the culture due to being bullied for it.

Students should be taught accurate information and not whatever is going to make other people

(cultures/race) look good. In school we are pretty much taught the same thing over and over

again from k-12 and if the educational system thinks doing that is a good idea they should at

least have their teachers teaching nonfiction not fiction. All schools should have programs or

resources to help other students from different cultures so they don't struggle or feel left out. A

study showed how kids or students who are immigrants tend to experience discimination in

school because of their culture, “young children of immigrants can face discrimination at the

personal ;eve; form staff or peers at school. This primarily takes the form of critical comments or

name-calling about a student’s accent, appearance, or use of home language. Teachers may laso

express impatience when these students cannot fully express themselves or it take longer to
Amy Diaz

Professor S.A. Vang

WRI 01

October 11, 2022

formulate responses”. This shows how immigrant student go through discrimination in the

education system and its something that needs to stop.

Many cultures are also discriminated against in the workplace. Many won't get hired or if

they do they are always in the same positions as when they started. They don't get promotions

like others may get. It's harder to get a hiring position. Some businesses make you change

yourself, depending on how you look. This should happen because sometimes the way people

look or the way they are dressed is because of their culture and no business should have the right

to change that. Some companies use the excuse of company image but i think it looks better for

the business to have other cultures. What a lot of people don't realize is that discrimmination in

the workplace is illegal “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace

discrimination based on religion, national orgian, race, color or sex. At this time, employers and

union should be particularly sensitive to potential sidcrimination or harassment against

individuals who are- or are perceived to be- Muslim, Arab, Afghani, Middle Eastern or South

Asian”. Many cultures don't know about this law and I think it's very important for them to know

because many workplaces tend to take advantage of people from other cultures or races because

they don't know the law.

You can say that all of these services might not have the resources to help other cultures.

Like hospitals and schools not having the funding for translation or companies have a right to not

hire or hire whoever they want. That may be true but having services that are more diverse can

benefit everyone. Doctors and teachers should be taught how to interact with other cultures.

Companies would get more service if they have people from different cultures. Doing all of this
Amy Diaz

Professor S.A. Vang

WRI 01

October 11, 2022

will hell so many people from feeling like they don't belong. Many people from these cultures

already feel different and many of them are immigrants and making them feel welcomed and like

they are different because of what they believe in will help a lot.

In conclusion hospitals all over and in Merced, the educational system, and the workplace

need to make some changes. They need to stop discrimination against other cultures and help

people. I think all of these services are important but there are a lot more that need to change the

way things are done as well.

Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall down: A Hmong Child, Her American
Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Paperback edition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.

“How Young Children of Immigrants Face Discrimination At School.” New America,

http://newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/early-discrimination/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2022.

“Employment Discrimination Based on Religion, Ethnicity, or Country of Origin.” US EEOC,

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/employment-discrimination-based-religion-ethnicity-or-cou
ntry-origin. Accessed 9 Oct. 2022.