A man makes a 20-mile round trip to fill three plastic 55-gallon barrels with water for drinking, cooking, bathing and flushing. 

July 1998

A 23-month-old boy ambles toward the outhouse under the mesquite trees and roses at his grandmother’s house.  The outhouse door is usually locked, but someone had failed to secure the latch.  His mother finds him drowned in the shallow hole.    

November 13, 1992

Nearly 400,000 people live in the poorest areas.  Life for them is a daily struggle with leaking septic systems, open-air cesspools, inadequate drainage, foul or nonexistent tap water and elevated rates of hepatitis and other diseases associated with poor sanitation.

The quotes from the articles above are not referring to a "third-world" country, but to the United States of America.  The stories are referring to conditions in the State of Texas, in communities along the Texas-Mexico border known as colonias. While the word "colonia" means "neighborhood" in Spanish, in the border region it has come to represent a subdivision lacking adequate water supplies, sewers, drainage systems and paved roads.  Texas has the largest colonia population on the U. S. side of the border.  Colonias developed due to unscrupulous developers, weak regulations and poor enforcement, according to the Austin-American Statesman.  Developers took advantage of Mexican immigrants eager to have a home in the United States but who had little money and could not qualify for a bank loan.  Developers sold lots to the immigrants for $100 down and $50 a month.  However, no one ensured that the sewers and water supplies were installed.

When I read this series of articles, I had to ask, "How is it possible that anyone could be living in such conditions as these in the United States?"  This series of stories on colonias published in the Austin-American Statesman the summer of 1998 is a powerful example of the unequal social stratification which exists in America today, a potent proof that oppression is alive and well in the USA, a definitive example of the racial and class marginalization and oppression which exist in our democratic society.

This series of articles written by Ralph K. M. Haurwitz, the environmental reporter at the Austin-American Statesman, are a prime example of how the media can serve as an effective tool to raise awareness and create personal and social change.  Since these articles were published much has been done to correct or improve these conditions;  actions have been taken by the state legislature.  Noted filmmaker, Hector Galan, of Austin, Texas also produced a PBS documentary entitled The Forgotten Americans about the colonias. I encourage you to visit the excellent web site Las Colonias.  Also, view a map on the web site of the Texas Water Development Board, which illustrates the counties in Texas with colonias.

Critical pedagogues believe that the oppression, suffering, marginalization and silencing of voices suffered by certain groups of people in the United States can be changed.  Critical pedagogues look to the schools as the institution in our society to bring about the desired changes - equality, social justice, prosperity and happiness for all citizens.

As we enter the new millennium educators are faced with horrific conditions and problems that need to be addressed as well as many vigorous and exciting challenges.  Witnesses to dramatic and rapid changes all around us, we know that life in the 21st century is going to be radically different than life in the previous century.