The paper describes the American immigrant experience, discusses the process of acculturation, and recounts the evolution to a value of cultural pluralism from the melting pot concept, as background to a consideration of the problem of educating the adult immigrant in the U.S., focused specifically on the current U.S. immigration experience with Indochinese refugees. Distinctions are drawn between immigrants and refugees, the latter being defined as immigrants with special needs which are recognized by special allocation of national resources and special initial transition programs. The special allocation on behalf of the Indochinese refugees is briefly delineated, and the Indochinese experience is considered as an application of the acculturation model presented earlier in the paper. The Indochinese resettlement system, based upon (1) a philosophy of avoiding dependency and making Indochinese active community members and (2) a policy of national dispersion of refugees, is outlined and described as working quite well. Beneath the debate which continues over the rate of immigration is a national commitment to the immigrant experience and to the element of discovery, an important aspect of immigration which, when supported by the value of cultural pluralism, is essential to the socialization of a nation. (Author/AJ)