Rural areas face 'urban' problems plus their own
While many people associate ethnic diversity with urban inner-city schools, rural California is catching up with the rest of the state. Nearly 30 percent of California's rural student population is identified as minority, and that number is growing.
"Rural schools are a lot more diverse than most people think," says Maria Gasca, a member of the Ceres Unified Teachers Association.
"Rural schools are receiving an influx of immigrants leaving rural areas in their native countries. When they arrive here, they tend to gravitate to rural areas."
 Participating in the Rural Issues Conference are CTA-Retired member Hal Christy, NEA Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Van Roekel and CTA Board member Larry Carlin
The biggest misconception, she adds, is that these students are all from Mexico. "In my case, I have students from Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama." Other teachers report an influx of Hmong and Laotian students in rural areas.
"Diversity Issues Specific to Rural Chapters" was just one of many topics discussed at CTA's Rural Issues Conference in Los Vegas last month. The session on diversity offered some eye-opening statistics on rural areas becoming melting pots, and the huge impact that can have in the classroom. Among the findings:
Statewide, farming provides 6.6 percent of income and 7.4 percent of jobs. However, in the San Joaquin Valley, farming is 30 percent of income and 37 percent of employment. The area between Stockton and Bakersfield is rural and impoverished.
Rural populations in California may double in the next 40 years.
Forty percent of the San Joaquin Valley's population is Latino.
Unemployment for farm workers in the off-season is 20 percent.
Tulare, Fresno and Kern counties are paying welfare recipients to leave.
In Visalia, where there is no public hospital, untreated diabetes is rampant, often resulting in blindness and the need to amputate limbs by the time the disease is diagnosed.
Poor minority students in rural areas have lower SAT-9 scores than other students.
Children in farm areas often can't get to school if it rains more than an inch.
 CTA President Wayne Johnson, State Assembly Education Chair Virginia Strom-Martin, CTA Vice President Barbara E. Kerr and CTA Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez
"There are a lot of realities here that need to be addressed," said David Loucks, a member of the Empire Teachers Association who lives in Modesto.
"We have many of the same problems that urban schools have. We also have unique problems."
Poor and minority residents from cities are moving to rural areas, impacting communities and schools, he said. "Families were paid to move from Santa Clara to Modesto, just so they could get them off welfare in Santa Clara."
While some rural areas face declining enrollment because families are moving away to the city, other rural areas are experiencing just the opposite.
 David Loucks from Empire TA and Lenora Gerber from Salida
"In my area, the agricultural population is being displaced by housing," said Lenora Gerber, a member of the Salida Teachers Association. "This is leaving agricultural workers even more poverty-stricken - and they are already at the bottom. Unless farming becomes more respected, the minority rural population will suffer even more."
Disadvantaged and minority students in rural areas may perform worse than their urban counterparts on tests because they lack exposure to cultural experiences. Nancy Whelihan, a member of the Tracy Rural Educators Association, says she tries to meet the challenge of offering enriching cultural experiences to her students to increase their general knowledge of the world, but it isn't easy. "One student had an IQ of 80, but when I exposed that student to different cultural experiences, it went up to 100," she said.
Kathy Wood, president of the Bonsall Teachers Association (BTA), said that teachers in her area are working hard to help Native American students succeed. In fact a new charter school, staffed by BTA members, has opened on the Pala Indian Reservation. Attendance has increased, she said, but there are other concerns.
 Jenni Cesarin from Susanville and Charlie Young from Modesto
"When school comes to them, attendance goes way up, because they rarely get off the reservation," she noted. "But are they mingling enough with other students? I worry now that students are not mixing into the rest of the community."
Teachers at the conference grappled with the issues of diversity and poverty in rural areas. Many teachers discussed ways to maintain agricultural industry and still provide economic mobility for immigrant students.
The answer, teachers agreed, is providing an education that respects and values student of all ethnic, cultural and economic levels.
Along with that, teachers agreed they must have high expectations of all students. Rural teachers, like their urban counterparts, need CLAD training in order to meet the needs of English learners, but they noted that getting the training can be difficult when the nearest university may be more than 100 miles away.
Gasca, the Cerres teacher, said that unlike previous generations, today's immigrant students want to keep their culture and identity rather than completely assimilate into American culture. She tries to incorporate her students' culture into curriculum by bringing in translated literature from their homelands and using references from their culture in classroom lessons.
"Educators have to be very sensitive to make sure students retain their identities and customs," she said. "When students are proud of who they are, their self-esteem is higher. When their self-esteem is higher, they will tend to be better students."
Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
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