Better education for better jobs

It was early afternoon and 312 students at Estado de Mexico Primary School in the Mexico City suburb of Tultitlan were just beginning their school day. Some students had been working all morning at their families' businesses, Principal Juan Humberto Benítez said. "How many kilos of tomatoes do you sell in a day?" he asked 11-year-old Pedro Miguel Martínez, who works in his family's vegetable distributing company. "About 120 kilos," or roughly 265 pounds, Martínez answered immediately. The principal chuckled. "The ones who work," Benítez said, "are really good with numbers."
Their exchange helps illustrate the challenges and the promise of Mexican schools, where many students must balance education with their family's economic needs. The poor quality of public education here has become a growing concern as Mexico embarks on a new push to modernize and create better paying jobs that could slow the flow of migrants to the USA.