This dissertation examines the identity formation of 20 Vietnamese youths in an American High School called West Side High. To explore this topic, the following areas are examined: (1) differences in Vietnamese student school behavior and attitudes toward school, both male and female; (2) teacher-administrator perceptions and practice, as well as institutional practices and contributions to Vietnamese identity formation; (3) Vietnamese educational and occupational expectations, and; (4) family and community attitudes and expectations toward education. Throughout this research qualitative methodology has been used. Ogbu’s theory of involuntary and voluntary minority has been employed to ground this research. In addition, I found Fine and Weis’ theory of “free space” to be especially useful in understanding the Vietnamese use of space in school, unstructured times within and outside of school, and in interpreting the data on community. Major findings in this research conclude that Vietnamese students have a strong pro-school identity that arises from their common immigrant-refugee experiences. Vietnamese identity arises in relation to a majority of poor African-American and Latino students who maintain an oppositional identity to school, thus helping position Vietnamese as model minorities in the eyes of American teachers and administrators. Vietnamese male interviews stressed that their perception of freedom was closely linked to going to school and to college. Vietnamese males also narrated that they were the recipients of abuse by American students thus laying the foundation of future racism between groups. Vietnamese female’s identity was similarly centered around their refugee-immigrant experiences. They differed in that females were less likely than males to have clear plans for the future, created an ideology of romance around Vietnamese males, and were required to balance traditional female’s roles with the more liberating attitudes of American gender equality. Vietnamese families and community also contribute to Vietnamese student pro-school identity by strictly enforcing Vietnamese cultural attitudes toward school and achievement. The triply reinforced expectations of family, community and school created identity for Vietnamese youth that was both pro-school and achievement.
