This paper addresses the educational implications of a unique Canadian program of refugee immigrant support and integration--private sponsorship. Individual Southeast Asian refugees and their families are financially supported by groups of five or more private individuals. Many such groups are affiliated with Christian church congregations. The workings of the program are briefly described, and it is argued that private sponsorship was not appreciably more effective than government sponsorship in addressing psychological needs, in introducing refugees to Canadian culture and economy, in developing cross-ethnic reference groups, or in orienting refugees toward formal Canadian education. Several studies are cited to support this argument, and structural weaknesses regarding the relationship between sponsors and refugees are examined. These include the nonprovision of effective tools to bridge cultural gulfs, the dependency of the refugee on the sponsor (producing a weak bond between them), an unclear role relationship making two-way reciprocity difficult, and a bias toward refugee women, viewed as peripheral to the process. This resulted in refugee-sponsor social and cultural conflict, deprivation of the refugees, and the subordination of female refugees. It is suggested that a refugee-centered anthropological approach would realize better results. The paper concludes with 33 references and a figure illustrating the factors affecting refugee-sponsor interaction. (WTH)