| Blurr Borders: Table of Contents |
Education
 |
|
| What’s the issue? The cross-border impact on education is often masked by the fact that the education systems of San Diego and Tijuana remain largely disconnected. Yet the high mobility of the region’s migrant work force and trans-border residents presents primary and secondary schools in both communities with common issues and challenges: school over-crowding, lack of resources, unique education needs of immigrant and migrant children and youth, drop out rates, educational performance, and the degree of parental involvement. Additionally, the growing inter-dependence between San Diego and Tijuana demands a bicultural/bilingual workforce that has a greater appreciation for the binational region, so more must be done to promote cross-border educational exchanges aimed at better preparing the region’s future leaders in the public, private and non profit sectors. |
Why Should You Care? Since the future economic prosperity for the San Diego-Tijuana region will depend greatly on a productive, globally competitive workforce, addressing the region’s education needs on both sides of the border will be critical and should be a key priority for parents, educators, policymakers and funders alike. Given San Diego’s changing demographics, particular attention needs to be placed in addressing the unique needs of immigrant and migrant students as these students are often the most underserved. As San Diego’s present workforce ages, it will be heavily dependent on today’s immigrants and their children. That makes the quality of their education, both before and after graduation, a lot more than an issue of fairness.25 Just as important is preparing a future generation of San Diego and Tijuana leaders that are both bicultural and bilingual and have a broader appreciation of the importance of this unique binational region. |
