{"id":6063,"date":"2017-02-21T09:42:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T15:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6063"},"modified":"2017-02-21T13:51:33","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T19:51:33","slug":"dont-dreamers-dream-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html","title":{"rendered":"Why don’t “Dreamers” dream of Mexico?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ABiblioteca_Central_UNAM_M%C3%A9xico.jpg;<\/p>\n

That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education?<\/p>\n

I did a little bit of research on this question just now, though it is a difficult question to find the answer to.<\/p>\n

In terms of the admissions process, the process doesn\u2019t seem that onerous, from what I can tell. \u00a0There is an admissions test<\/a>, as is typical outside the U.S. \u00a0How easy or difficult is it for an American-educated Spanish speaker to do well? \u00a0A few comments on a discussion forum<\/a> suggest that it\u2019s not an issue, or, rather:<\/p>\n

I got into a state school in Mexico. It\u2019s not hard to get in, the test is SOOOOOO easy compared to the SAT. It only appears hard because the students are all on the same low level (not trying to offend them, it\u2019s just true). It sounds insulting, but it\u2019s true. It\u2019s easy to get in if you did honors classes in the USA.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In terms of tuition, it is far cheaper to attend school in Mexico, at least at a public university. \u00a0One university with an English site<\/a> lists tuition as MXN 2,700 per semester \u2014 which at the current 20:1 exchange rate, is virtually free.<\/p>\n

So why don\u2019t the consulates, which are spending so much energy on helping Mexicans in the U.S. fight deportation, help Mexican-born American high school graduates study in Mexico?<\/p>\n

I have a couple guesses. \u00a0Perhaps the system in practice admits few of its applicants due to lack of capacity, and there\u2019s no money, or no interest in building capacity. \u00a0(Though there exist\u00a0private universities, which seem to have very low tuition as well.) \u00a0Perhaps the social inequality is strong enough that the government, and the university administrators, simply don\u2019t want to welcome the children of the poor, regardless of their education level, and want to reserve higher education for the upper class. \u00a0Perhaps, despite the frequency of claims that \u201cDreamers\u201d are \u201cthe best and brightest,\u201d too few of them have actually done well enough in high school to make it into a Mexican university (which you can bet isn\u2019t going to be offering remedial classes), for transition assistance to be worth it. \u00a0Or perhaps Mexico just doesn\u2019t want to add to its population, wants to keep those who have left, out, under the premise that pretty much any body, even if (prospectively) educated, is a drain on the country \u2014 which, so far as I can tell, is its perspective, that jobs are created not by innovation and entrepreneurship but by a combination of natural resources and getting outsiders\u00a0to come in and hire workers.<\/p>\n

Readers, what do you know?<\/p>\n

UPDATE: \u00a0Here\u2019s an article I found, while trying to find information on Mexico\u2019s \u201cdemographic dividend,\u201d \u201cMexico\u2019s New Demographic Dividend<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0This is old (2014), and pre-DACA, but it discusses returnees, including those who have gotten college educations and have sparked growth in call centers and other industries which\u00a0use of their English-language skills.<\/p>\n

As families have become smaller, the number of young dependents relative to the number of working adults has declined, producing what is known as a \u201cdemographic dividend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, when this happens, economic development accelerates; but previously Mexico was not able to leverage this change because so much of its working-age population was migrating north. With waves of people coming home, the equation has changed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0library at UNAM \u2013 National Autonomous University of Mexico. https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ABiblioteca_Central_UNAM_M%C3%A9xico.jpg; By Scanudas http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/scanudas\/ (http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/scanudas\/4127627011\/) [CC BY 2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this question just now, though it is a difficult question to find the answer to. In terms of the admissions process, the process doesn\u2019t seem that onerous, from what I can tell. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":6064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[569,539],"class_list":["post-6063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dreamers","tag-mexico"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy don't "Dreamers" dream of Mexico?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why don't "Dreamers" dream of Mexico?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-21T15:42:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-21T19:51:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/02\/800px-Biblioteca_Central_UNAM_M\u00e9xico.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"559\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html\",\"name\":\"Why don't \\\"Dreamers\\\" dream of Mexico?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-21T15:42:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-21T19:51:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why don’t “Dreamers” dream of Mexico?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why don't \"Dreamers\" dream of Mexico?","description":"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why don't \"Dreamers\" dream of Mexico?","og_description":"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2017-02-21T15:42:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-21T19:51:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":559,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/02\/800px-Biblioteca_Central_UNAM_M\u00e9xico.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html","name":"Why don't \"Dreamers\" dream of Mexico?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-02-21T15:42:30+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-21T19:51:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"That is, could Mexican-born American high school graduates return to Mexico for their university education? I did a little bit of research on this","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/02\/dont-dreamers-dream-mexico.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why don’t “Dreamers” dream of Mexico?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}