On the Border of Opportunity: Education, Community, and
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Pugach, Marleen / Pugach / Pugach, Marleen Carol, PUBLISHER: Routledge, In , the author set out to try ong>anong>d gain some understong>anong>ding about school ong>anong>d community in Havens, New Mexico--a place where she had the opportunity to be immersed in border culture, where she could learn how the border figured into everyday ong>lifeong>, ong>anong>d where she could pay uninterrupted attention to the issues as they occurred in the personal ong>anong>d professional lives of those who taught in ong>anong>d administered the schools--ong>anong>d in the lives of the students who studied there. This book offers ong>anong> interpretation that is disciplined by the long hours, days, ong>anong>d months spent in Havens, ong>anong>d by the personal stong>anong>ce the author brings to the study of a place ong>anong>d its people. This book tells the story of Havens ong>fromong> the perspective of what it is, of the present in all of its complexity, ong>anong>d as a window on what might exist in the future in this border community. It begins with a description of Havens ong>anong>d its inevitable interdependence with its Mexicong>anong> neighbors, followed by ong>anong> introduction of three cultural mediators--two students ong>anong>d one teacher ong>fromong> Havens High School. Focusing on the relationship between the use of Spong>anong>ish ong>anong>d English, the long>anong>guage long>anong>dscape in the community ong>anong>d in the schools is laid out. This is followed by a specific description of the development of bilingual education programs in the district, ong>anong>d ong>anong> introduction of the social structure of the high school, describing the students' interactions across cultural lines. The final chapter presents ong>anong> alternative metaphor for thinking about the border ong>anong>d identifies markers of opportunity that already exist in Havens as it works toward defining what it meong>anong>s to be a bicultural ong>anong>d binational community.