Maggie Salinas
El Paso is a city filled with some of the best authentic Mexican restaurants, humble and trying people, and it’s a city built by hopeless romantics seeking the American Dream. As you enter into the small city located in the grand landscape that is Texas, you are transported into a community of passionate and welcoming Spanish-speaking individuals. The city is defined by a stunning 403’x300’ star that lays atop the Franklin Mountains, a decoration formerly lit up solely to signify hope during the holidays.
The unique thing about El Paso is the stories of the people. While everyone may share similar cultures and ethnicities, 82% of them being Hispanic, we all have different experiences and even live in different cities. For other American schools, students from other countries are usually foreign exchange students who only visit for a year or so. In El Paso, however, students from Mexico cross the border daily for a better and more affordable education. Though it may seem weird for many, our proximity to the country has made it such a common occurrence that many students are no longer surprised when peers reveal they live on the other side of our border.
So why exactly do students go through the struggle of crossing the border, especially when it can be illegal if a school requires proof of residency? The short answer is better education and improved opportunities. The long answer includes factors such as poverty, social constructs, and budget cuts in Mexico.
The sad truth is that in Mexico, students face extreme poverty, and it often serves to discourage many from completing their education once they become teenagers, believing employment to be more effective. And as if this weren’t enough of a struggle, educators in more rural communities often face budget cuts that mean less training for effective teaching. Students are thus unprepared to succeed when there is a lack of qualified instructors. Lastly, the most harmful factor has to do with gender norms. The mentality in countries like Mexico basically consists of viewing women as stay-at-home mothers and men as employed. The lack of access to education with the formerly mentioned struggles only helps endorse the idea of young women giving up on education, especially post-secondary school as it can then become expensive and seen as a waste of money, as it is easier to marry or become a mother. For men, if their family is struggling financially, they are automatically seen as the head of the household, the provider, more so when they’re young and strong, so their priorities are shifted from education and eventual career to immediate financial relief.
This form of encouragement is not necessarily enforced in the United States, it’s essentially frowned upon as the expectation is for citizens to have a career and avoid working at fast food locations unless it’s temporary. Mexico’s problems as a country essentially provide only for the wealthy, and while the same can also be true for the United States, the US is motivated to help students because it costs them money to see them fail. Although the reasons are not the best, the fact that there is more effort in the United States to improve and help low-income students is privilege enough for people to take the opportunity and cross the border for school.
There are flaws in the Public School System in the United States, but in contrast to Mexico, it’s an improvement. For example, both countries offer free public education as a right, but while the access is present in many areas of the United States and it’s illegal for minors to miss school, Mexico does not provide the access across their country. There may be schools in the area for students past Junior High, but they’re not always public and public schools are the only free option. Sadly, in areas such as Baja California, only independent general education and general schools are present, both options requiring tuition plus expenses like school supplies, and because it’s not always affordable, students are discouraged to continue.
In essence, a border city such as El Paso helps students from Mexico access education with more ease, especially when there are 71 public high schools in El Paso County alone and when the country is more motivated to help schools thrive so as to avoid further debt. It’s astonishing to think that a simple fence and a river path determines the education of a student.
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