A blurred border
In the eyes of border crossing students
By Ximena Paramo
By Ximena Paramo
There are a lot of people who are too surprised with the fact that thousands of student of all ages cross the international border everyday to go to school. They wake up no early than 4,in the morning to go to school after a long night of homework. The actual time that you get to school doesn’t really matter, just the fact that you're there is important, right?
A student that crosses the border everyday to receive a better education usually doesn't concentrate on the work they are actually working on because they are tired and the only thing they are thinking of at the moment is sleep and going home. For Nearly sixteen years, Alexandra lived in two worlds. She has lived in Tijuana, Mexico since she was born. Alexandra has been crossing the border into the United States since she started kindergarten. Everyday, She goes to an all girls private catholic school by Fashion Valley called Academy of our Lady of Peace. She wakes up at 5 a.m in the morning, eating a plate of eggs and bacon for breakfast, to embark the two hour journey it takes for her to get to school on time. She feels that crossing the border will give her the chance to receive a better education and it would give her an opportunity to learn a second language. During the two hour long journey Alexandra is quietly sitting on the back seat of the car finishing her math homework with her headphones on. Meanwhile, her brother is sitting in the front seat eating his breakfast burrito since he didn’t have enough time to finish it at home. Her brother gets dropped first at St. Augustine High School, that is about 15 minutes away from Alexandra’s school. Once Alexandra gets to school by 7:45, she feels tired, but is still able to work. After a seven hour long day of school, Alexandra’s mom picks her from school at 2:30 in the afternoon. The ride back home was a very quiet. It was so quiet that you could hear a pencil being used . Alexandra thought it would be a good idea to start her homework ahead so that she could have sometime to rest when she gets home from school. "Yes, it is really tiring and you will never get used to it" said Rosina, Alexandra's mom. Waking up at 5 in the morning can be very exhausting, especially when you have younger kids because you have to make sure they don't forget any homework assignments at home and you always have to wake up to make sure their uniforms are cleaned and ironed and ready to go and also making them breakfast and making their lunch for later. Alexandra's parents believe that there's more opportunities in the U.S. and more academic preparation for the future. They would know, they've had three of their four children go to school in San Diego. Except that one decided to go back to Mexico. So, I asked why don't Tijuana residents send their children to Tijuana schools, is the education system in Mexico so bad that teenagers all across the border feel forced to study in a foreign country? For nearly four years, Diego Espinoza lived in two worlds. He lived with his family in Tijuana, and he went to high school across the border, in the United States. Every day, he woke up at 4 a.m., eating a plate of eggs for breakfast, to embark on a three hour journey to get to school by public transportation. He played Soccer in high school and graduated with honors, and today he’s a sophomore at California State University. Diego crosses the border everyday to receive a better US education. He also worries that Mexico isn’t offering stronger education programs, forcing some students to look for educational opportunities in other countries. He also worries about the number of people that come to Tijuana looking for opportunities: "Tijuana isn’t developing as fast as it’s growing." But, he will continue his studies. "Why do I keep crossing? It’s my interest to finish my studies, and get a degree." Many parents filed complaints against the school because their child was late. In Calexico, measures such as these cost the district 300 students and nearly $2,000,000 in state funding. But why are so many students crossing the border from Mexico to go to school in San Diego? Surely, there are many schools in Tijuana? |