Breaking News in Ziquitaro

After a week of anticipation the news finally arrived as the advertising truck blasted the message it received from the coyote: “Don’t worry... the men have arrived – they have made it to California! Mothers and family members, your worrying is over!” After inquiring with the men’s family members and friends I received a small window into their tumultuous trip.

After making the two day bus drive to the Tijuana border, the men attempted to cross the California desert on foot. About half way through the three day hike they were caught by immigration officers and sent back to Tijuana. While the pre-paid coyote trip guaranteed the men a successful passage into the US – no matter how many attempts are necessary – the coyote’s “all inclusive” package did not cover the extra housing or food required during the additional days at the border. The initial trip cost most of the men their savings – a whopping $3,000. Thus a good portion of the men considered returning to Ziquitaro as they did not have enough money to buy food. While I do not know how they managed to scrape together the money, I do know that they were able to stay the extra night. The next day they began their hike through the desert once again and successfully made it to California.

While the men will scatter throughout the state within the next few days, most will make their homes in Los Angeles, Oakland and Fresno. Although the arrival of these 25 men will most likely go unnoticed in the US, their absence is felt deeply here in Ziquitaro as wives, children and family members do not know when they will see their loved ones again.

A Window into the Border Crossing Industry

Yesterday Ziquitaro lost a good portion of its male working age population as over 25 men packed into buses which were headed to the Tijuana border. These bus trips to the border seem to be linked to a larger network of trafficking services which provide a sort of “all inclusive” deal – transportation to the border, accommodation at the border and a coyote (the person who facilitates the transportation of illegal immigrants across the border). On Tuesday trucks equipped with loud speakers drove through the streets of Ziquitaro and continuously interrupted my classes as they announced “busses are leaving for the border on Wednesday! Meet in the main plaza at 3pm.” Sure enough a large group of men had formed in the main plaza by 3pm yesterday afternoon. Like any other service in high demand, the smuggling of people across the border has generated a highly profitable and complex business venture. As a result rural Mexicans now have easy access to a plethora of professional companies which facilitate every aspect of their crossing.

The priest and I chatted about this recent happening today at breakfast. He commented that the networking of smugglers is so complex and specialized that the smugglers began building tunnels between San Diego and Tijuana as talks of “the wall” brewed within the government years ago. Thousands of migrants today use the tunnels and actually cross the San Diego Tijuana border today literally under the praised wall. And why are so many Ziquitarans leaving their birthplace to cross under, over and around the wall – why are they risking their lives crossing the Rio Grande or the Arizona desert. Because there are no jobs here. There is nothing but dried fields… and frankly, many townspeople would much rather work in US fields making two times their weekly Mexican wage in a single day. So they leave. We are not talking about one or two men, but about 90 percent of the working age male population of this ranch town and those like it.

One of my students got on the bus yesterday headed for San Diego. I printed out an English guide packet I created for him which consisted of dialogues and vocab related to topics he was interested in: how to ask for certain products in the store, how to call for help in an emergency, how to ask a girl on a date, how to ask for directions. He is not sure when he will return – he guesses in about three years. I wish him the best of luck.

First roadblock to hinder the project

This past week I gave my second and third year Junior High students what I considered to be an easy test which was to serve as a culmination of our first unit on numbers, family member vocabulary, basic phrases and days of the week. The results were shocking – the majority of the class failed. While there were a handful of students who scored exceptionally on the test, at the opposite end of the spectrum some students received grades as low as 10 %. Although I used a curve and awarded half points, their achievement was so low that the majority of the class scored bellow 60%. While these substandard results truly astounded me, I should have known better as I have read a plethora of articles and reports detailing the extremely low quality public education in rural Mexico.

As for public education in Mexico goes, the overall quality is devastatingly low. According to a study conducted by RAND Corporation, as of 2005 the Mexican government was spending 5.9 percent of the total GDP, on public education. These numbers are bleak when compared to the 8 percent of GDP suggested by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the minimum amount that developing countries should invest in education. RAND Corporation also notes that when compared to other developing countries which are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexico’s annual public education expenditure per-pupil (1,305 USD) ties with the Slovak Republic for last place. As a result of this dire lack of funding, Mexico’s public education is in shambles as Mexican students sore far bellow other Latin American students in international achievement tests. While the public education system is extremely poor, some students fare worse than others… and in Mexico the most marginalized students are those living in rural communities. Please take a look at the following chart detailing the discrepancies between rural and urban achievement levels.

What accounts for these much lower achievement levels is a combination of factors such as lack of funding, high rates of teacher absenteeism, poor quality teachers and lack of a communal or familial emphasis on education. The statistics speak volumes for the lamentable rural education phenomenon as average rural schooling totals a mere 4.3 years while the average Mexican holds 7.9 years of schooling. In addition, while 55.6 percent of the rural population has obtained only a primary education, 22 percent of the rural population has no education at all. Only two percent of the rural population has entered into higher education (RAND).

Unfortunately, the students of Ziquitaro are living this sad reality. While their tests scores alluded to the poor quality of their education system, it was the simple survey I gave the following day which made me realized how limited their educational opportunities are. Extremely disappointed in their performance on the tests I asked each student to respond in Spanish to two simple questions written in Spanish: 1. Do you think it is important to go to school, why or why not? 2. Do you think that it is important to study, why or why not? It was not their answers which shocked me but their grammar as the majority of the students had major errors in their answers. There were even a few answers which were unintelligible as most words were spelled phonetically rather than grammatically. One of the most telling responses attempted to answer “It is important to go to school in order to not be illiterate (analfabetismo)”, yet the majority of the sentence was rendered unintelligible due to improper grammar and spelling. Thus it took me a few minutes to figure out what the student was trying to write.

In addition to the school being a “TV Junior high” (see town profile) a myriad of other problems haunt the students. For example, when I arrive at school teachers are often not in their classrooms and even off campus. This past Friday I arrived to my first year class only to find the teacher missing once again. When I asked where she was the students informed me that she had gone to the nearby town in order to “look at property for sale”. As a result the kids left school after my class, and thus only attended school for a measly 2 hours. Due to teacher absenteeism lunch often drags on for hours. In addition, around five to eight students are kicked out of school each day for petty offences such as “wearing too much makeup”. As a result they wander the streets. And finally, there is little emphasis on education in the community as work and ultimately migration is often seen more lucrative and realistic than the long road through academia.

This situation has presented me with a very difficult roadblock for in order to progress with the classes I need the students to pay attention in class and study after class so that they retain the basic information. In an attempt to mold the situation I have acted in a few ways. First, I gave the students an opportunity to raise their grades by bringing me their tests completely corrected. In addition, Michel and I gave an hour long presentation to each class regarding education and its correlation to poverty, immigration and the quality of life in the Mexico and the US. We used a lot of concrete stats to paint a vivid picture of the difficult life that awaits them in Mexico and the US if they turn their backs to their studies. I can not progress with the classes until the students learn the most basic material, thus another test on the same subject matter will be given on Tuesday. The kids know that this is their chance to show me that they are interested in their futures, so we will see how they do.

Student of the week competition: 1st year winner

Martin Gomez Moreno won the student of the week competition with his detailed family tree. Martin is 13 years old and enjoys drawing and playing soccer. In the future he hopes to become a professional soccer player.

Martin Gomez Moreno gano la competencia de mejor estudiante de la semana con su árbol genealógico sumamente detallado. Martin tiene 13 años de edad y le gusta dibujar y jugar futbol. Su sueño es convertirse en jugador de futbol profesional.

Students of the Week

I have designed a student of the week competition as a mode of sharing the work of my students. The competition is as follows: every week or two I give an academic yet creative homework assignment. While the academic aspect is quite black and white - I expect little to no errors- the students have the opportunity to tap into their imaginative side by embellishing the assignment with art and their imagination. The student with the most creative assignment and little to no errors wins. Every time a creative assignment is given I will upload a picture of the 1st place student and their work as well as a short profile about the student. My goal with this competition is to provide an incentive for students to excel as well as a connection point between the students of Ziquitaro’s Jr. High and the readers of this blog.

This week’s assignment is entitled “My Family Tree”. The academic part of the assignment consisted of writing a series of sentences describing the makeup of the students’ families. The sentences allowed for the students to practice forming the possessive tense, making nouns plural, family member vocabulary and numbers. The imaginative aspect of the assignment was their creation of a family tree. In addition to drawing a creative tree students wrote the title of the family member in English with their family members’ name bellow. Students then presented both the written portion of the assignment as well as the family tree to the class in an oral presentation. Erick Daniel Ojeda Vargas won the assignment for the third year students and Berenice Alvarez Linarez won the assignment for the second year students. The second year teacher – Rocio – is also taking the class. Her tree and presentation were stellar yet I decided to give her an “honorable mention” as to not discourage the kids in her class. The first year students are a few classes behind and have not yet finished the assignment.

Erick Daniel Ojeda is a third year student at Ziquitaro’s Jr. High. He is very interested in cars and especially stereo systems. His dream for the future is to work in Forth Worth, Texas fixing cars and installing stereos.

Erick Daniel Ojeda es estudiante de tercer año de secundaria en la Telesecundaria de Ziquítaro. Le gustan los coches y tiene un interés particular por los sistemas de sonido que se pueden instalar en estos. Su sueño es trabajar instalando estéreos de coche en Forth Worth, Texas.

Berenice Alvarez Linarez is a second year student at Ziquitaro’s Junior High. She really enjoys school and learning and is especially interested in the English classes. She enjoys basketball and her dream for the future is to become a Psychologist.

Berenice Alvarez Linarez es estudiante de Segundo año de secundaria en la Telesecundaria de Ziquítaro. Le fascina la escuela en general y las clases de inglés en particular. Le gusta jugar básquetbol y su sueño es convertirse en Psicóloga.

Rocio's family tree. Rocio teaches second year students at the junior high. She is taking the class to improve her English as well as assist her students with the homework and assignments.

El árbol genealógico de Rocio. Rocio es maestra de segundo año de secundaria. Ella está tomando las clases para mejorara su Inglés y poder asistir a sus alumnos con las tareas.

These first two weeks in Ziquítaro have been truly fantastic. The classes have surpassed my expectations as all age groups are not only advancing but also exhibiting an intense gusto for learning. Their enthusiasm has allowed for the classes to become fun and interesting while simultaneously dissolving my lingering doubts regarding the worth of the classes. Many children attend extra classes as well as stay after class to learn additional material while members of the adult classes often attend the teens’ classes and vice versa in order to maximize their practice time.

My exposure to townspeople over the past two weeks has increased thus facilitating my integration into the town’s social life. This has simultaneously allowed me an enhanced exposure to the migratory phenomenon for new friends have begun to pour out stories about their families and lives – and in Ziquítaro, town member’s stories often revolve around the migration of immediate family members or their own migratory experience. A few members of my teen group and adult group have been particularly friendly and through our conversations they have given me rich insight regarding Ziquítaro and migration. According to this group of females one of the most serious consequences of the massive out-migration has been the creation of broken families as husbands often leave wives and children behind for years, while in some occasions both parents migrate to the US and leave their children behind with family members.

When I mentioned my prospective research proposal – exploring how the large waves of predominantly male out-migration in these small towns has changed the traditionally patriarchal familial and communal relations as women have assumed the formative role in both the household and the community – the women immediately became very excited and began sharing their thoughts about the topic. One woman explained her perspective quite concisely when she stated: “Here in Ziquítaro women are in control. We are mothers, carpenters, cooks, workers and we even run politics, for we are the ones who vote and influence public opinion while the men are away in the US. And when they return they expect things to be running in the same patriarchal way they were before they left. They could not be farther from the truth”.

Thanks to an invitation by this group of women to a community-wide religious celebration, I was able to observe the interactions between the town’s women and men. The celebration, which involved about a half an hour of communally sung prayers around a nativity scene, was entitled a “levantamiento” or “the raising up”. The town’s women and children all actively participated in every aspect of the celebration- from the preparation of the ritual to the actual praying. In contrast, the men were physically separated from the celebration as they sat in the garden and talked loudly, often interrupting the prayers. They even remained separated during the meal which took place after the ceremony – the women, teens and children ate and chatted on the porch while the men ate in the garden in a self-contained group. When I asked my friend who had invited me to the party why the men separated themselves she replied “that is what they always do”. She said that they generally do not actively participate in community ceremonies such as “quinceañeras” (fifteenth birthday parties) and other similar festivities. When I asked the priest about this occurrence he explained that the lack of male participation could be attributed to “machismo”, the intensity which varies among families. Hopefully my interviews and community experiences will give me a more concise view of this seemingly muddled occurrence.