Caldwell, Connie. August, 1982. - EDUCATION AND THE MIGRANT FARMWORKER: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Abstract: This thesis is a study of the value of education for migrant farmworkers as a means to a better way of making a liv- ing. It is based on an evaluation of a Comprehensive Employment and Training Act program, conducted by the author in the spring of 1981. The evaluation consisted of analysis of demographic data and report card grades of students in the program, impressions from observations of and interviews with program participants, and a survey. The survey entailed prioritizing possible objectives for a program of dropout prevention for migrant youth, and rating the program's achievement of these objectives. Scales for prioritizing the objectives and for rating their achievement were compared to discern any significant differences among the types of respondents: students, parents, program staff, and school teachers. The findings show the four types of respondents to be agreed upon the relative importance of academic assistance and also upon the relative unimportance of asking parents to help make decisions about the program. The respondents formed two opposed groups in regard to the remaining objectives. The youth and their parents were more concerned about benefiting from education in terms of getting a job or getting into college after graduation. The staff and teachers were more concerned about raising students' self esteem and communicating with parents about the program. There was also disagreement about the kinds of assistance needed by participating families. Students and parents preferred economic assistance; staff and teachers considered other types of assistance for families to be more important. These findings align with sources from literature on migrant farmworkers and on minority education, leading to the conclusion that migrants' difficulty in getting an education lies in the U.S. social, economic, and political systems rather than in the migrants themselves. The concluding chapter presents recommendations for a program of education for migrant youth that is aimed at these wider, societal causes. These recommendations are designed to impact the underlying, external causes of the high migrant school dropout rate. .