"They can't be patient. They can't wait. They have to fight." : How migrant youth experience identity, policy, and learning at a Michigan summer migrant program

Summary

The children of migrant farmworkers are a population of young people with very unique lived experiences. They travel with their families multiple times a year in search of agricultural or fishing work opportunities. This consistent uprooting often causes interrupted educational experiences as their moving patterns do not necessarily align with the academic calendars of schools. The lack of curricular consistency between states, districts, and even schools often translates into a disjointed... Show moreThe children of migrant farmworkers are a population of young people with very unique lived experiences. They travel with their families multiple times a year in search of agricultural or fishing work opportunities. This consistent uprooting often causes interrupted educational experiences as their moving patterns do not necessarily align with the academic calendars of schools. The lack of curricular consistency between states, districts, and even schools often translates into a disjointed education causing migrant youth to fall behind academically from their non-migrant peers. Without the assistance of supplementary support systems, it is no surprise that migrant youth are one of the most educationally deprived populations and has one of the highest high school drop out/push out rates in the United States. Due to their extreme marginalization from dominant society living in the campos and working in the fields for tremendously low wages, migrant farmworkers and their children often live in poverty and have high rates of malnutrition. Furthermore, a large percentage of migrant farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, leaving them in very vulnerable positions when it comes to work, education, and even access to health care. Migrant farmworkers are hard workers and dedicated people, and with the help of additional support systems, such as summer migrant programs, are able to provide their children with an aptitude for resiliency. This study explores how migrant youth make sense of their identity as Mexican and indigenous migrants in U.S. schools and society. Furthermore, the study addresses how Migrant Educational Policy is structured at the Federal level, interpreted and implemented at the State and local levels, and then how such policy is experienced by migrant youth in a summer migrant program called Van Buren Intermediate School District’s Project NOMAD in Michigan. It is a case study of emergent bilingual migrant youth as they experience and engage in education in a summer migrant program, how they experience policy as it reaches them at the local level, and how they identify themselves and understand their unique experiences as migrant youth.Based on findings from this study, I come to several conclusions: (1) migrant youth are unique individuals with unique needs and an incredible amount of strength and resilience; (2) migrant youth deserve powerful, excellent, and humanizing educational opportunities that help them not only overcome any academic gaps but also help them grow to be the critical thinking leaders they are capable of becoming; (3) programs like Project NOMAD provide a range of invaluable support for and empower migrant youth and their families; and (4) programs for migrants and educators of migrant youth must continue to reflect on how they can provide humanizing educational experiences within the constraints of educational policy. Show less