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Tuesday Oct 7, 2008

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Comments on: Classroom in the Cherry Orchards

By Angela on 08-06-08

This is a very well written story about alternatives to traditional education and a group of hard working families! Kudos!

By JD on 08-06-08

This has been going on for a LOT longer than I can remember.  Where I grew up (in Montana) we had migrant workers work our sugar beet fields.  Their kids went to school every day while they were here.  The kids were fed two meals a day there.  Their parents made good money for their work.  When their work was done on our farm they moved on to where work was waiting on another. They went from state to state, crop to crop, season to season.  They drove brand new cars and pickups.  We didn’t. It was a way of life that they did well at.  But they weren’t afraid to work hard in the hot summer heat, and our government took care of their kids.

By sharpshoot'in tony on 08-07-08

“Our government took care of their kids” has a REALLY nice anti-immigrant ring to it. Probably the same kind of ring that the men from Marion had as they yelled racial slurs and threw beer bottles at the migrant workers trying to make a living for themselves.

By JD on 08-08-08

Actually, Tony, I think we took better care of our workers than they do in Marion!
The migrant workforce I grew up with were provided housing (the guest house on the farm) and we gave them a nice barbeque picnic on Sundays.  Their kids were my friends during the weeks they were with us. 
But they didn’t work.  I did.  They went to summer school.  I didn’t.  Their parents’ chosen occupation made them damn good money.  Wish my parents’ and grandparents’ did. 
It’s a shame that the family farm can’t make it anymore.  It was starting to go downhill in the late seventies.  Migrant workers aren’t needed there anymore.  There’s nothing to do but watch weeds grow nowadays. 
Yes, the government took care of their kids.  They didn’t take care of me, and they don’t take care of mine. Everybody at my house works hard to “make a living for themselves.”

By sharpshoot'in tony on 08-08-08

It is a shame that the family farm can’t make it anymore. I have a long line of dairy farmers in my family, and today, they are hardley making it. This is a problem with our government, not the workers that arrive every season to take advantage of the work.

By JB on 08-12-08

This is an excellent case of government making an actual difference in people’s lives - something really good to see in an age of government overspending and porkbarrel bloat.

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