ABSTRACT
Through Shou Cha’s lifetime of learning, and his relationships with history, family, community, and school, three themes emerge that imply an important set of values, resourcefulness, relationship, and respect, which I will relate to a new conceptualization of the self. Beyond their alliterative appeal, these 3 R’s are significant in that these values are rooted in Hmong tradition, but they are present in American communitarian traditions as well. Nevertheless, these values are often obscured by a contemporary American culture that is both individualistic and clannish, where participation in civic and social associations has declined (Bellah et al., 1991; Putnam, 1995). Moreover, for many Americans there is a growing fear, fed by stereotypes presented in the mass media, of outsiders, whether they be from across the border or across town. In such a world, in such an era, schools need to renegotiate their role as educational institutions in society.
