[Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind

[Pat Kraut]

I gotta tell ya that I think that this is one of those programs that needs
to fail. Paying them to stay in school proves nothing because they are
passed through the grades without really learning anything. If they have a
real desire to stay in school they can without being paid for it. I know
that you all will have lots of comments and complaints about my attitude but
I stayed in school even with bad circumstances and made it out on my own. I
know they can do it and appreciate their education even more. I am also
tired of paying ingrates to go to schools that are only keeping them in to
pad their funds and not really teaching them anything.
Oh, here it comes!
Pat
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey at msn.com>
To: <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 11:22 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind


> I found this news extremely disturbing . . . I hope others who do so will
> contact legislators and express their concern.  If the Bush tax cuts have
> been so beneficial to the economy, and if we are indeed in an economic
> recovery, why are we reduced to cutting educational programs for extremely
> vulnerable children--programs which would enhance the earning potential
and
> productivity, and hence the tax base, of our nation?
>
> Melynda Huskey
>
>
> AP Wire:
>
> DES MOINES, Iowa - Funding is being eliminated for a federal program that
> pays the children of migrant workers across the country to stay in school
> instead of working in fields.
>
> The Department of Labor program pays some young people minimum wage to
stay
> in school while migrating with their parents, who travel across the
country
> looking for seasonal farm work.
>
> Coordinators in 31 states and Puerto Rico were told there was no money to
> operate the program this year, leaving them to find alternate sources,
> petition Congress or drop the program.
>
> "This is a remarkable abandonment of the most vulnerable youth," said
David
> Strauss, executive director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity
> Programs. "I don't know what's going to happen to those kids."
>
> Repeated telephone messages left this week for Labor Department officials
> weren't returned.
>
> The Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Youth Program is designed to combat
> extraordinarily high dropout rates among seasonal migrant youth workers
and
> the children of adult seasonal migrant workers. It also attempts to end
> cyclical poverty and low socio-economic levels plaguing that population.
>
> The school dropout rate is understandable, Strauss said. "If you look at
> their lives they're in multiple schools because their families travel to
> work."
>
> Dropout rates among migrant youths are estimated at 60 percent, according
to
> the federal Office of Migrant Education in the U.S. Department of
Education.
>
> Students are pulled from school early because their parents move to where
> work is more plentiful, disrupting their academic progress and causing
many
> to fall behind or become discouraged.
>
> "They're pulled out of school or start back late," said Terry Meek of
> Proteus Inc., a nonprofit organization that oversees the Iowa program.
"Some
> of them are here for June, July, August and part of September because
> they're coming to work with seed corn."
>
> Despite the stipends, most of the young people still work because their
> families need supplemental income. The average income of an adult farm
> worker is less than $10,000 a year.
>
> Nationally, more than 2,500 youth ages 14 to 21 participated in the
program
> last year. Many came from California, Texas and Florida.
>
> The program also provides job placement, tutoring, mentoring, vocational
> training and career counseling services. It also funds child care and
health
> care.
>
> Four years ago, programs across the country were dividing a healthy $10
> million a year. This year, all funding was eliminated and coordinators
were
> told to use money from last year until it dries up.
>
> ___
>
> On the Net:
>
> U.S. Department of Labor:
>
>
>
> http://www.dol.gov/
>
>
> U.S. Department of Education:
>
> http://www.ed.gov/
>
> Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
>
> http://www.afop.org/
>
>
> Melynda Huskey
>
>
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