The Opportunity They Never Had

The idea may be catching on. Tanganc?cuaro, a town near Indaparapeo, recently launched a similar program. Mexican government officials have talked about taking the migrant-funded scholarship initiative nationwide, but so far they have made no concrete moves. "It's clear that the Indaparapeo project is necessary and that they're pulling it off," says Rodolfo Garc?a Zamora, a migration expert at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, in central Mexico. Nevertheless, he warns, such initiatives won't get far until Mexico starts putting more government money into secondary schools in addition to university scholarships. Passing the hat in Chicago and Napa can't fix all of the country's educational problems, Zamora says.

And there's no guarantee that college degrees will keep young Mexicans from taking their skills north—especially not if Mexico can't create jobs for those better-educated youngsters. Tovar only hopes the scholarships can "tip the scale against leaving." Germ?n Ortiz, 22, says he's planning to stay. As one of the program's first graduates, he wants to earn a master's degree in agronomy and launch a greenhouse-tomato business in Indaparapeo with his brother, another scholarship student. "It won't be easy," says Ortiz. "But we refuse to let our town disintegrate." Indaparapeo needs people with his spirit. So does Mexico.

© 2007