For a number of reasons, U.S. educational policy has failed to integrate the Hmong into the mainstream of American life. First, lacking transferrable job skills, the Hmong were further disadvantaged by the inability of public schools and contracted English-as-a-Second-Language schools to assimilate traditional Hmong culture with new settlement circumstances. Second, the schools failed to keep Hmong adults enrolled. The English language curriculum was not suitable for preliterate adults. Third, the schools lacked sensitivity to the Hmong's poverty and absence of choice. For instance, women with children attended fewer classes because of either prohibitive costs or the relative absence of such services. A reorientation in educational policy toward the Hmong that demonstrates sensitivity and respect for Hmong culture would help to alleviate the social and economic stratification that plagues this new ethnic community. (JAM)