Summarizes the traditional beliefs about education and health held by Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians and suggests how school health personnel can help refugee children in American schools. Each Southeast Asian country must be examined separately. Vietnam’s educational system has been shaped by numerous forces, from the Marxist emphasis on political indoctrination and economic utility to Western reliance on modern teaching aids; the health system is a combination of indigenous beliefs and Western practices. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the temple schools and purged intellectuals, leaving a gap in teachers’ psychological ability to convey – and students’ capacity to absorb – abstract concepts; indigenous health practices involving good and evil spirits predominate. In Laos, education has been the prerogative of males and urban dwellers; diseases are believed to be the doing of malevolent spirits. Given these different cultures, school health personnel should avoid making generalizations about Southeast Asian students. Health personnel who learn about the cultural heritage of each ethnic group as well as the dynamics of cultural change are better equipped to help refugee families and children adapt to life in the United States, negotiate the school system, and make use of the health care system, including indigenous health practitioners.
