Teaching Story 4

This is about Juan (name has been changed). Juan was the oldest child of illegals from Mexico. I knew him when he was in HS. His brothers and sisters were born in the US, so they were US citizens. His parents had lived in the US for 15 years and worked on farms.

Juan and his uncle would go out every 4 hours and change irrigation pipe for a local farmer. (His uncle would do it while Juan was in school.) They would switch off on the middle of the night changes. They had this job for a few months.

One day, Juan came to me and told me he wanted to beat up the farmers son. We talked and this is why he was mad. When Juan went to get his monthly pay for work already done, the son, also a high school student, told Juan, "You won't get paid for doing that this month." He went on to call him wetback and I will call immigration if you say anything. Juan wanted to quit school, beat the boy up and move because a migrant worker could get a job at lots of places at that time. Juan was a senior, the other boy was a junior. Juan could have easily crushed the farmers son.

Another teacher an I talked to Juan about finishing school to set a good example for his brothers and sisters. If he dropped out, the liklihood of them dropping out increases greatly. Juan made it through his senior year! He and his parents went on to become legal shortly after graduation.