Long hours underneath the sun, this is what migrant workers go thru. This was my life. Being the youngest of five sisters and daughter of Mexican migrant workers, I knew from the start that I had to work hard to succeed in life.
According to a 2009 report by Pre Hispanic Center, the Latino high school dropout rate is 17%. This is nearly three times the rate of whites and double the rate of blacks.
This is not to say that us Latinos do not value education. While many Latino immigrants come here for a better life for their children, financial pressures often force their kids to cut their education short and start working.
My family always traveled thru the states to wherever the next season of crops was going to be. One year my we stopped traveling and I asked my parents why we were not going up north during certain seasons, they responded, “We need you girls to get an education, so you do not have to do this when you get older.” From that day I knew I had to become someone in life to make my parents sacrifice worth it. Because my parents stopped traveling back and forth my sisters and I were all able to graduate from school. I will be the third to graduate from college.
I did not get off easy though, every day after school my father would pick up my sisters and I and take us to the produce market. On weekends we used to travel to Georgia and pick cucumbers or bell peppers. It was tough, but because they kept on encouraging us by asking us our grades and how was school that day.
If the parents are involved in their children’s education their children will succeed.
A child needs a mentor in their life, and what better mentor then their own parents.
When I go back to the produce market I see how some men and women my age did not succeed and they are still working those extra long hours underneath the sun. There is one thing that they all have in common; their parents did not encourage them to keep trying.
We are in such a competitive world, that even the simplest jobs require a high school diploma or GED.
Latinos sometimes do not realize the importance of education because we look at what is best at that moment, which is money. We do not look at the long run and see what will be best for our children and ourselves.
What I learned form working in the fields with my parents has made me who I am today, a hard worker. My parents always tell me up to this day “Siemplre lucha y nunca dejes que nadien te diga no” (keep on trying and never let anyone tell you no).
Many people think that Latinos are not meant to succeed. If the parents are not involved in the education of their kids then the kids will think this is true and not succeed.
Univision, the USA’s largest Spanish-language media network, in conjunction with Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department of Education, has launched Es El Momento (The Moment is Now). Over the nest three years, Univision will USA public service announcements, special programming and news coverage to promote the importance of parents getting involved in the children’s education and the importance of a college education in the Hispanic community.
This will help parents and children to be united when it comes to education.
