Children of Farm Workers - Blog Entry #5

The link I chose to discuss was the information pertaining to child labor laws and children of farm workers. Last semester, I read a book titled The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. This novel opens doors into the life of an immigrant child from Mexico. In this novel the author, Jimenez, provides opportunities for the blinders to come off and see into the world of an immigrant family through the eyes of a child. He shares his experiences with having to constantly move around due to the fact they were migrant farmers which meant moving to where the work needed to be done. What kind of life is this for a child? What type of education can these children receive? Though they had each other, there was no stability in having a home or stability of a school environment which for many white American families is something they have never had to experience. He even shares the excitement of actually living in a place which had walls and floors which would be lost to a fire along with a notebook which he cherished. Jimenez has shown me not to be so quick to judge when we see on a child’s cumulative record how many times they have moved within a school year. Does the child or the family have a choice? This novel allows you to experience the life of a migrant child through the eyes of the child.

As I read through the information concerning children of farm workers, a part of me was amazed at the fact this still takes place in any country in this world. It is only within the past few years that I feel I have truly had my blinders removed and seen the world for what it truly represents which seems to not include an education for all. It seems as though many have forgotten all children deserve an education.

As a child as well as a young adult, I assumed all children had the same opportunities for education as I did. I never thought of young children having to go out and work the fields instead of going to school. Even the shows I watched as a child like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons showed children going to school and receiving an education. I never really thought of children having to choose between school and working to help to feed their family. I assumed that was the parents job not the child's.


American Federation for Teachers. In Our Own Backyard: The Hidden Problem of Child Farmworkers in America. Retrieved on October 11, 2009 http://www.ourownbackyard.org/

Jimenez, Francisco. (1997). The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.