Keeping Migrant Workers in the Classroom

Before deciding to enter into education I worked in the human services with Medicaid and Medicare and health outreach programs. My first job out of college was with a community health center in Willimantic, Connecticut. Willimantic has large population of migrant workers, mostly from Latin America, due to nearby greenhouses and a mushroom farm. My primary role was working with pregnant women and families to help the uninsured apply for Medicaid. Secondary I did outreach for health services within the community, including outreach for a Migrant Worker Program. The community health center had monies to help migrant workers with medical expenses and helped to get them services with their own dental van or the University of Connecticut’s mobile clinic for migrant workers.

Based on the stories I have heard, people I met, and things I have seen I can say that migrant farm workers have a tough life. Often times they are trying to make money to support themselves and money to support their family members still living at home. They are subject to injury, illness, and general poor health due to their poverty level and working conditions. Sadly, as I have seen in person and in the video clip from “Stolen Childhoods” on the In Our Backyards Website farmer workers need to work even if they are sick or injured. They struggle enough to pay for food, rent, and other needed living expenses there is not any money left for healthcare. Furthermore, if they missed a day of work it could mean not being able to feed their families or trouble from slumlords for not paying their rent.

While I did not see migrant workers as young as twelve through my outreach efforts, it is not a surprise to me that there are so many young people working in the fields. I did see teenagers working along side elders and people claiming to be a certain age, but appearing much younger working. It is heartbreaking that these young people are missing school, often without much choice, to work hard and dangerous labor that pays so little. I strongly believe that poverty is a cyclical pattern; I have witnessed it first hand. Migrant workers and their children are caught in the cycle. When the parents are stuck in an undesirable low-paying job younger members of the family need to contribute so the family can survive. Their only option is to go to work with the parents. In turn they miss school, fall behind, and eventually dropout. Hansen (2007) says, “For some … earning a paycheck is something real that can make a difference; attending school teaches no trade and promises benefits that are uncertain and many years away (p. 2-3).”

As I have mentioned before I am not yet in the classroom, but soon hope to be. I know that I will have a diverse set of students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, and family settings. At the elementary level I would hope that I would not see children who need to work along side their parents in such rough conditions, but it is a possibility. I lived in Connecticut my whole life and did not know there were so many migrant workers in the area until I began health outreach. It is out there, even if it remains out of the public eye. Groups like Telamon Corporation, which provides services to migrant workers and their families in Tennessee, East Tennessee State University’s Migrant Education program give me hope that I will have resources relatively nearby.

Telamon Corporation has five centers across Tennessee where families receive education, nutrition, health, and social services. They also have several programs for young people including: Head Start for migrant and seasonal workers, Reading is Fundamental book give-away, and a program with 4-H for school aged children. In addition they have several events that celebrate and honor Latino culture. By taking creating initiatives that show respect for a culture while promoting education groups like Telemon are making differences in the lives of migrant children. They are receiving and seeing the importance and fun of education early on. Support and educational services may help to keep children of migrant workers in school longer, out of the fields, and on their way to another way of life.

References:

Hansen, P. (2007). Is there a problem? Farmworker Justice. Retrieved from http://208.106.244.178/pdfs/Part%201C_altview-Is%20There%20a%20Problem.pdf

Mural by Migrant Education Students on Display at Northeast State. (2010, March 11). TriCities. Retrieved from http://www2.tricities.com/tri/entertainment/theatre_arts/article/mural_by_migrant_education_students_on_display_at_northeast_state/42835/

Telemon Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.telamon.org/showstate.aspx?contentid=112&folderid=78

Uconn Makes Health Care Accessible to Migrant Farm Workers (2009, September 8). Health Center Today. University of Connecticut Health Center. Retrieved from http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2009/sep09/farmworkers.html