EDUCATIONAL RETARDATION AMONG CHILDREN OF MIGRATORY AGRICULTURAL WORKERS.

A study of families with children attending special summer schools for agricultural migrants during 1962 and 1963, as well as previously published data, show that families enter migratory farm labor to improve the family income through employment of the children. The parents' low evaluation of formal education contributes to their willingness to engage in this work, The consequence for the children is severe educational retardation, which is supported indirectly by farmers who have integrated migratory families into their operations and by laws dealing with farm labor. The factors leading to youth employment in agriculture are similar to throe that led to youth employment in industry at an earlier period. The short-run educational outlook for migratory children is bleak, but long-run prospects are more hopeful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]