Friday, July 20, 2012

Pacific Islander America: Arkansas Continued

Last week we blogged about a New York Times article regarding the Marshall Islander community of Northwest Arkansas, which is the largest outside of the Pacific.  Those who have been following our posts shouldn't be surprised that the U.S. claims some of the largest communities of Polynesians, Micronesians, or Melanesians: after all, this nation has one of the largest Pacific Islander populations in the world.

One anecdote in the New York Times article was about the fact that Marshall Islanders have trouble with basic language barriers, such as the driver's license test.  This column, from the Arkansas Times, goes into more detail about that: LINK

While driver's licenses are important (especially in rural communities where driving is necessary for work), I wonder how the community is preparing for the higher education needs of this growing population? What higher education recruitment, retention, and graduation programs are in place to help Arkansas's Marshall Islander Americans succeed?

Kawika

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