[Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind

Wed Jul 21 17:07:53 PDT 2004

Diving in as someone who spent 1990-2001 working with Mexican immigrants in Western Washington, many of whom were considered migrant agricultural workers by the government . . . 

I am sad but not surprised that this program would be cut.  I am sad but not surprised that Ms. Kraut would voice her support of cutting programs that benefit migrant farmworker families.  I am sad and astonished that Ms. Kraut would say the things she says without apparent shame, and I trust that she receives this in the spirit in which I intend it:

Pat, how hard a heart can you have while still professing to worship God?

Given that you are almost assuredly a citizen of the United States, are obviously literate, very likely didn't grow up in a family of illiterate and perhaps undocumented migrant farmworkers, and seem to have grasped a kernel of education from the husks of poverty, it is beyond my comprehension how any dire circumstances of your youth could compare with those experienced by the thousands and thousands of children who would have benefited from this program.  You have my sympathy for whatever hardships you undoubtedly suffered and my sincerest regrets that your education and subsequent adulthood left you with a paucity of argument and a parched spirit.  Perhaps some things cannot be cultivated by government help after all.  

I would love to meet with you and try to understand the bitterness you've evinced toward the poor, and I would be happy to tell you the difference education has made in the lives of scores of my friends and acquaintances in Washington who have entered adulthood with options other than picking berries or milking cows for a living.  No need to debate programs and policies -- I just want to hear from you, and I invite you to contact me off-list.  And for those of you wondering how I, as a Christian, could avoid the model of Matthew 18 in my response to Ms. Kraut, I would point out that public comment often calls for public rebuke, particularly when the public rebuke might serve as an apologetic for (defense of) the Gospel.  

How ironic that we don't use the word "ingrate" to describe someone who has benefited utterly from the mercy of her Savior, and yet delights in hurling invective at the poor He weeps for.

keely emerine mix

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Pat Kraut 
  To: vision2020 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 2:48 PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind

  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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