ABSTRACT
The American education system plays a large role in assimilating immigrants and refugees (McNeil 1986, 5). Historically this social function was performed for children in K-12 schools, and for adults in high school or adult education “Americanization” classes. Today community colleges also play a role in the assimilation functions. This fragment of an interview with a twenty-five-year-old male Laotian refugee illustrates the complex set of issues that English language learners face at the community college. These students experience tensions between work and school, between supporting a family and trying to realize their dreams. Often they feel inadequate to meet these challenges, yet remain highly motivated to improve their lives. Immigrant and refugee students form an increasingly large presence at community colleges
(Arenson 1998).1 The rise of this population in two-year colleges calls for an examination of their educational experiences-both the overt curriculum they study and the hidden curriculum embedded in “remedial” English as a second language (ESL) and writing courses.2
