Aid Makes Future Brighter for Migrants : * Programs Provide Worthwhile Educational Opportunities for Children in O.C.

The once-common sight of migrant laborers picking beans and strawberries in Orange County fields grows more rare with each passing year. But migrant workers still abound, the life is still difficult, and the federal government fortunately still is helping with education money in an effort to make the children’s lives better than their parents’.

It is summer when the help for the children is most needed. Those from more affluent families may go to camp or travel on vacations that double as learning experiences. The teachers of the most impoverished students set their sights lower, hoping that the children don’t slip backward too far in the months out of school.

That’s why programs like the Migrant Education home tutorial and an introduction to college life on the Cal State Fullerton campus are so valuable. They can help keep students from falling behind academically, or maybe even help them get ahead.

Federal help to migrants dates to 1966. To qualify for assistance, a family must move to a new school district and take a job in agriculture or fishing. But job changes are allowed, and in Orange County the aid that began when parents were picking oranges can continue when they work in construction or on an assembly line. In fact, many families have moved from fields to factories and live not in labor camps but in apartments.

Home tutoring in subjects like English, mathematics and science is especially helpful in households where children can’t go to summer school because they have to be home to care for younger children while both parents work. Migrant Education serves nearly 7,000 children in Orange County, a nearly three-fold increase in five years. The program serves 13 school districts from Westminster south to Newport-Mesa and Irvine.

A separate program known as Project BEST (Basic Education Skills for Tomorrow) this summer has taken 38 students from Orange and San Diego counties and put them on the Cal State Fullerton campus for three weeks. The students will be high school freshmen in the fall, and are getting a look at the academic life beyond high school. The program wisely targets parents, as well, emphasizing the importance of college and showing that it is in the grasp of even the poorest.

Federal funding for migrant education in Orange County has increased in recent years, but not as much as the number of students. The programs are well worth the money, recognizing that education is the best path to a better life.