The relationship between the US and Mexico has in the recent past been dominated by a single term “the Wall”. The Wall in this perspective is not just a structure that is meant to stop Mexicans from crossing to the US, but a euphemism of how the current government handles the subject of migrants generally. The macro-approach to migrants has a micro-effect of individual Mexicans who for some reason need to regularly cross the US-Mexico border. Prominent among this group of migrants are students who reside in Mexico but study in the USA and have to commute on a daily basis to attend classes (Semuels, 2016). Most of these students are Mexicans who, for a variety of reasons need to pursue an American education. There are also children of American citizens who work in Mexican border towns and send their children across the border daily to gain an American education (Brown 2012). Education is very personal as it is individual to every pupil and student but in most cases, the larger macro-issues such as government policy, crime, and economics have a great impact on an individual child’s education.
Among the fundamental bearing factors on the subject of border pedagogy at the US-Mexican Border is the issue of security, from a cause and effect perspective. The lack of security in Mexico is among the reasons why many Mexican children will elect to endure the vagaries of crossing the border daily so seek an education in the USA. Despite the fact that the Mexican economy is among the fastest growing in the world, security remains a major concern (Bada & Feldmann, 2017). Children come to study in USA because they either do not feel safe within their own borders or because they intend to escape the lack of safety in their country by emigrating to the US altogether. Security is also another bearing factor from the perspective of an effect, since in most border points, entry is closely regulated due to security concerns. Some of the children have to use circumspect means to cross the border due to the security concerns on the side of the USA owing to the insecurity across the border. Finally, security is also a major factor for the children as and when they come to school or travel back home from school. Children who live a distance from the border and have to travel a long distance to the border so that they can get to their American schools have raised concerns over their safety. The perennial fears of attacks affect their ability to concentrate and focus on their education.
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Cultural differences is also another major macro-issue that has a direct and individual impact on students who cross the border daily to study in the USA. The children are born and spend most of their infancy in Mexico where the culture is exponentially different from that of the USA. When they commence school, they have to deal with the cultural differences between the society they are used to, and the dominant society in school. The children, however, cannot fully adjust to the new culture as they have to keep on going back home daily. They are caught between associating with the dominant culture where they spend most of the day and sticking to the culture at home where their loved ones are.
An argument can be made that culture cannot be an issue between the USA and Mexico at the border due to the close proximity. Almost the entire border between Mexico and the USA comprises of areas that less than two centuries ago belonged to Mexico. There is a manifest fallacy in this assumption as reflected in Dickson (2018). Crossing the border between the USA and Mexico comes with a massive cultural shift based on the social and anthropological differences between the two countries. Over and above behavioral attributes, another cultural challenge is the language of use between the two countries. The predominant language of use in Mexico is Spanish while English is predominant and in many places the official language of use I the USA hence, the language difference presents another hurdle for the students and a challenge for their teachers. These differences create strives and challenges on a personal level on individual students.
The subject of health is also another important bearing factor to border pedagogy between the USA and Mexico. The USA has invested a lot of money and resources to develop the concept of herd immunity from many communicable diseases. The healthcare standards within most of the USA do not conform to those in Mexico (CDC, 2017). There could be some communicable diseases that may be considered as having been conquered in the USA that may still be a challenge in Mexico. Further, some of the areas of Mexico that border the USA can be considered as among the least developed in Mexico due to inter alia their distance from Mexico City, the devolution of state power, and finally the proliferation of organized crime. A poor state of governance will almost always be accompanied by a poor state of public health. The health-based disparateness between Mexico and the USA is a challenge for the children who travel daily to study in the USA, the local children, and the teaching and support staff that have to interact with them (CDC, 2017). It is inter alia for this reason that some schools take careful measures to ensure that all their students actually reside in the USA in spite of their nationality. Among extreme examples is a school district in California that has hired Daniel Santillan, a photographer as an enforcer who takes photos of any children who cross the border to come to school (Dotinga, 2008).
Border pedagogy has played the role of both a subject of research and a means for researching cultural, political, sociological, and anthropological subjects. Among the research subjects relating to border pedagogy that has been the subject of research include why border pedagogy should be encouraged and/or discouraged depending on the perspective of the researchers. Perspective is important to the subject because like most social issues, border pedagogy has been the subject of a lot of political debate leading to the development of several schools of thought. Some of the groups support the concept of border pedagogy, a good example being scholars such as Henry Giroux (Wilson, Ek & Douglas, 2014). Freire (2018) for example compares limiting education to borders as being similar to limiting education to social classes which have the effect of perpetuating social stratification. The commentator vehemently oppose conservative groups who consider national borderlines to be sacrosanct and almost sacred hence should not be breached under any circumstances (Rubin & Kazanjian, 2018). Commentators such as Giroux have made arguments based on the concept that information is perhaps the only actual gift that one individual or group can give to another. In this regard, the USA should be generous with information through educating its poorer neighbor, Mexico so as to assist the poor communities to overcome their social challenges.
On the other hand are the schools of thought that engender the concept that border pedagogy should be discouraged at all costs. Among the areas of research upon which this concept has been based include issues such as security where it has been argued that border pedagogy compromises security on the US side. Other arguments are based on research about health and social problems created by border pedagogy akin to similar arguments that have been made about immigration from developing countries to America. There is, however, also some objective researchers who, from a non-political perspective have argued that border pedagogy is good for education on the US side of the border (Walsh & Townsin, 2015). The world is increasingly becoming demographically homogeneous as global immigration is on the rise. Education is supposed to be a means of enlightening children in preparation for their future lives both professionally and socially. Border pedagogy is thus a positive means of exposing children to a heterogeneous community hence making them ready for a future in such a world. From a different perspective, Wilson, Ek, andDouglas (2014) evaluates the pedagogical benefits of the interaction between dominant groups and marginalized groups. According to the research, the dominant group can learn positively from the marginalized group, even as the marginalized group learns from the dominant group. Based on the research, border pedagogy can be considered as an avenue for education for the locals over and above being a means of providing education to the foreigners.
Border pedagogy in general and particularly the issue of students who commute daily to study has been used as an avenue for evaluating border security systems and how to advance them. According to Nguyen (2015), educational administrators across the borders have been using advanced and in some cases, very innovative means to regulate the movement of students who cross the border to study. Among the advanced means include the use of biometric systems and information technology-based monitoring. Among the simple but highly innovative approaches include the one that had been outlined above where a school district hired a cameraman to spy on students crossing the borders to go to school. Experts have been studying the means used by schools and administrators to regulate and control the movement of students as a means of understanding how to regulate illegal immigration.
Border pedagogy from the perspective of children crossing the border daily to study in the USA, then go back home in the evening is a reality that continues to happen in spite of the grayness of its legality. The concept can be divided into two groups, the majority being Mexican students who are hunting for an education across the border to the USA. The minority include students of Americans who live and work in Mexico and prefer to commute to the USA daily to earn an American education. The two groups face similar challenges to some extent based on macro-factors affecting the two countries. The proverbial wall is being continually touted by the current US president as a means of keeping Mexicans out of the USA. The philosophy behind the wall is a major bearing factor for Border pedagogy between the two nations as students from Mexico are often treated as unwanted miscreants across the border in the USA (Rubin & Kazanjian, 2018). This philosophy also affects the process that the children undertake in crossing to the USA to study then find their way back in the evenings. Security and safety are also critical factors in border pedagogy. It is mainly because of security and safety concerns that many students brave the borders repeatedly to study in America. Yet, security and safety also remain a concern as and when traveling to study both for Mexican and American students who have to commute and study in American schools. Border pedagogy has also been both a source of critical debate and a means of research. The debate is mainly based on whether or not the US should open its borders to commuting Mexican students. On the other hand, border pedagogy has been a source of information about how well to regulate the movement of immigrants across the wide Mexico-US border. The nature, effect, and impact of border pedagogy as defined in the instant essay is an area that needs further study and effective policy development.
References
Bada, X., & Feldmann, A. E. (2017). Mexico’s Michoacán state: Mixed migration flows and transnational links. Forced Migration Review , (56), 12-14
Brown, P. L. (2012, January 17). Young U.S. citizens in Mexico brave risks for American schools. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/us/young-us-citizens-in-mexico-up-early-to-learn-in-the-us.html
CDC. (2017, September 15). Gateway to health communication & social marketing practice. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/toolstemplates/entertainmented/tips/us-mexico-health.html
Dickson, M. L. (2018). The power of identity forged through border crossing. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1156&context=english_symposium
Dotinga, R. (2008, May 23). Border schools get tough on Mexican students. Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2008/0523/p01s05-usgn.html
Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed . New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Nguyen, N. (2015). Chokepoint: Regulating US student mobility through biometrics. Political Geography , 46 , 1-10
Rubin, D. I., & Kazanjian, C. J. (2018). Finding place in displacement: Latinx youth and schooling along the borderlands. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis , 7 (2), 25-37
Semuels, A. (2016, January 25). Crossing the Mexican-American border, every day. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/crossing-the-mexican-american-border-every-day/426678/
Walsh, C. S., & Townsin, L. (2015). A new border pedagogy to foster intercultural competence to meet the global challenges of the future. Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) 2015 Annual Conference , At Freemantle, Australia
Wilson, C. M., Ek, L. D., & Douglas, T. R. M. (2014). Recasting border crossing politics and pedagogies to combat educational inequity: Experiences, identities, and perceptions of Latino/a immigrant youth. The Urban Review , 46 (1), 1-24
