Document Type
Article
Abstract
A recent nine-month field study considered the relationships among school-sponsored and community forms of literacy practices in a migrantsending area of rural Mexico. While many teachers in rural Mexico argue that students should remain in school rather than migrate to the U.S., this study demonstrates the ways in which schools in rural Mexico often do not recognize the needs of the communities that they serve. As a result, students in these schools often develop a pragmatic orientation toward formal literacy. While many of the skills that they learn help them navigate commercial and government bureaucracies, these students do not adopt the values embedded in formal education. Rather, they implicitly question the promise of education as a neutral means to social and economic mobility.
Recommended Citation
Meyers, Susan V. “So You Don’t Get Tricked: Counter-Narratives of Literacy in a Rural Mexican Community.” Community Literacy Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, 2009, pp. 19–35, doi:10.25148/clj.3.2.009467.
