Thread: Children miss school to learn holiday customs of Mexico

December 20, 2007

Children miss school to learn holiday customs of Mexico

By ROSA RAMIREZ
Staff Writer

DELAND -- Sabina Zapien, who was born in Mexico, wanted her son to know firsthand about her hometown's Christmas traditions even if it meant he'd miss school.

"I can teach him to read (here)," Zapien said. "But I can't teach him what it's like to be with (his grandmother) and her way of life. That's only something she could do."

Every year about this time, teachers in one Pierson school start noticing more and more children, particularly Mexican immigrants, missing from class.

This trend, which advocates say has happened for years in schools with large immigrant populations across the country, has affected the school system, not to mention the education of the children.

Parents, it appears, take their children on extended trips to Mexico to celebrate the Christmas and New Year's holidays, which typically start Dec. 16 and extend to Jan. 6.

Pierson Elementary School Principal Kate Godbee said students risk falling behind.

"We'll say to parents, 'Your child is affected when they lose 10 days of learning,' " Godbee said.

But parents see the travel as another form of education, a nontraditional method of teaching their children about family values, religion and cultural traditions. It further opens children's minds to see that a world outside their neighborhood exists, parents say.

"They can spend time with their grandparents and with other relatives. The children get to see what a Christmas celebration there is like," said Zapien, 38, who lives in Pierson.

Christmas celebrations in Mexico and other Latin American countries typically include Posadas, a nine-day celebration symbolizing the rituals which Catholics believe Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place where Jesus could be born.

And on Jan. 6, many celebrate Three Kings Day.

In 1997, Zapien's family drove for nearly a week to Michoacan, a state in Mexico known for its carved wood crafts and fine guitars. They spent a month there. She figured her U.S.-born son would eventually catch up with the missed schoolwork.

The trips are costly and families sometimes save for years to take one. Those in the country illegally rely on human smugglers to get them back into the United States.

"For those who don't have papers, it's more costly because they have to save the money to pay for a coyote," said Pierson resident Roman Lopez. "It takes $2,000 to take your entire family to Mexico and $3,000 to get one person back."


Eight to 10 children were pulled from Pierson Elementary School last week because they were scheduled to travel to Mexico, Godbee said.

"They want their children to learn and to go far in life with an education," Godbee said. "But they don't want their children to lose their culture."

Teachers often send off the children with two weeks' worth of homework. They also encourage parents to bring books for the trip, Godbee said.

Still, children are missing out.

"Doing busy work on a trip is not the same as getting new instruction from a certified teacher," Godbee said. Yet missing school for family vacations isn't particular to this group. The Travel Industry Association's Web site reports that one out of five parents who took trips in the past year let their children miss school to join them. Those with master's degrees are more likely to let their children miss school to travel.

Locally, schools are trying to discourage long absences. And they have seen them diminish, partly because of school-implemented policies.

Students who miss more than five days per year are required, along with their parents, to meet with the curriculum coordinator and the assistant principal, said Robert Marty Schmidt, principal for T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson. .


But not all parents take more than the two weeks of school vacation.

Juana Romas, owner of Novedades Jalisco on West Beresford Avenue in DeLand, said she and her husband take their three U.S.-born children to Mexico regularly. But she won't pull them out of school.

Last year, the family started the journey to Florida from Mexico on New Year's Day and arrived the same day the children were scheduled to start school.

"I made sure they didn't miss one day of school," her husband, Jesus Figueroa, said in their store. "I arrived home at 6 a.m. and they were in school by 7 a.m."

www.news-journalonline.com

This must be the New... "No Student Left Behind in Mexico" Holiday Rendition... Lock the Borders Please

At least they are not changing the vacation schedules to accomodate the Mexicans! Many, many schools in CA have changed their Christmas vacation schedules to accomodate hispanic families who return to Mexico for the holidays. They are getting an extra week in Jan. and tacking on an extra week in June! This is sooo infuriating!

"It takes $2,000 to take your entire family to Mexico and $3,000 to get one person back."

A tax paying American family can't afford to take that kind of Christmas vacation.

I recommend home schooling of these tots--year round in Mexico.

"First of all, the so-called War on Terror isn’t a war on terror at all, it’s a war on the Constitution and Bill of Rights; a war on the rights of the American people." ~Lynn Stuter, researcher, analyst

This is so pathetic. My father's family live in Mexico City. As a child we would go to Mexico every 2 years and my father always schedule his vacation time on the school schedule. Like of course, we would get 3 months off during summer I believe June-September and of course Christmas where if I remember vaguely we would get 2 weeks off, and it was during those period we would head south. Never did my parents allow our trip to Mexico to disrupt my school schedule.

The parents of these children can do the same, but they are probably looking for excuses. This is wrong, and I believe all Federal Funds should be held back. Having your kid get to know his or her culture is no reason being absent.

I know for my part, if I ever have a child, I want to homeschool.

Last year our schools moved their start date up 2 weeks only giving parents a month notice. We already had made plans for a family reunion during this time. In order to attend the reunion we had to take our daughter out of school the Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday of the first week of school. We let the school know and got her assignments before leaving. A week after we returned we got a letter in the mail from the school. They considered this an unexcused absence, would not except her work that she turned in and told us we were in violation of State Law and if this happened again we would be turned in for some law about truancy and contributing to the delinquency of a child.

Of course I went straight to the school in an outrage. I found out if it is for 3 days lie and say your kid is sick. Anything over 3 days you have to check your kid out of school and say you are home schooling them.