The path to professional success in Mexico is clearly marked by English language proficiency, according to Mary Carmen de la Torre. After 20 years of sending students overseas, she shares what Mexican students look for in a study experience and how damaged the US’s reputation is among parents.
The PIE: Tell me about the history of your agency?
MC: I have been in this industry for 20 years. I started with my eldest daughter who wanted to travel abroad, so I founded the exchange program from the Benedictines Mission. She went to the US when she was 14 years old. And when she travelled, at least ten of her classmates wanted to do the same thing. So I was like a volunteer promoting for the priests.
And then with my next daughter I sent her to that program as well. But with the little one who is ten years younger than the oldest one, I started to check on other organisations and I started to work with another person on commission. I used to travel with the kids to Vancouver, so I was a group leader. But then we had a problem related to money, so I decided to start sending emails to the organisations and different schools myself and I figured out that I could do it by myself.
“Since the beginning I don’t accept students that misbehave and students with bad grades”
But I didn’t have an office, I just worked with my daughter’s school classmates. When I arrived at the school people were looking for me because they wanted to travel abroad. But when my daughter finished high school and she was going to university, my husband told me that if I wanted to keep going with this business I needed to set up an office. So we bought a shop in a shopping mall which is where I am right now. I’m the owner of the office and I keep going with this wonderful business.
The PIE: How has it grown in terms of how many students you deal with every year?
MC: Well it’s growing a lot. I used to just have students from state schools but now I have students from all the private schools and also from public schools. I am already well known. I think there are at least three educational programs like this in my home city, but I don’t like to think about them because I like to think I’m good at what I do. So what I do is I choose the student depending on their grades and their behaviour – since the beginning I don’t accept students that misbehave and students with bad grades.
The PIE: So your program is selective?
MC: Yes, and people know that. And I don’t like to be a cheap agency. I also have a good break but not long because I want to be selective.
The PIE: Who is your typical student? What do they tend to look for?
MC: To be a very successful program, I have at least 25 students going to the US on the J-1 visa program. Unfortunately that program is going down because, well, Mexican parents don’t really want their students to go to the US. They think that they have been receiving – I don’t want to be impolite – but they have been getting comments and treatment from the principle person there that have been really rude to us, to Mexico.
“Mexican parents don’t really want their students to go to the US”
Parents are angry. They don’t want to send the students to the US but – thank God – I have different destinations so those teenagers that used to go to the US, now they are going to Canada. And if they can afford the flights, I have students going to New Zealand, to the United Kingdom, to France, to Germany. So they are choosing different destinations. I think this is sad because the US used to be the most popular destination to improve their English, but now that market is changed.
The PIE: So your students go mostly for language study?
MC: No, I work mostly with teenagers. They go for an academic year, at least for ten months. I help them set up a J-1 visa at private schools as well as public schools; in Canada it’s boarding schools. I work also with the universities. The universities are stopping their students if they don’t have a good English level, so they look for me to send the students to improve their English language abroad.
The PIE: So when did you start to see people turning away from J-1 visas?
MC: Since last year during the campaign. I got some parents that when they arrived in my office, I wanted to talk about the J-1 visa program and they said: ‘No no no, we don’t want the US, we want a different destination.’ I didn’t send a bunch of students, but at least 100 students every year. But since last year I’ve noticed that parents are looking for different destinations. So now I’ve sent around 25 students to the US.
The PIE: It seems the parents are the ones who voice their concerns the most?
MC: They are very concerned about how the children are going to be treated in the US. Let me tell you something – at the moment I have 25 students and they are doing well with their host families. But even when I explain that to the parents that there are no problems with the students because they’re not illegal people, they are with their visas, they think that they are not going to be well. And also they are angry about all the comments about Mexico.
“I can’t force the parents to send them to the US even if it is a more affordable program”
The PIE: What do you think can be done?
MC: The educators have been very nice. They have been making a big effort to let us know that everything is well. But you can’t force the parents to send them to the US, so I have to respect their decision. I am sad about that, because I started with the J-1 visa program and it was very very successful. But what can I do? I can’t force the parents to send them to the US even if it is a more affordable program. They don’t like it.
The PIE: Do you see the US’s reputation improving in the future?
MC: I think problems going to the US are going to last for a while, at least in my home city. But I took my first trip there, to encourage them and the adults. I talked to them and I said that it was good, that I went there and I didn’t have any problems. But the parents don’t understand and with everything else as well – nobody talks about the main person in the US that Mexican people see as bad news.
The PIE: What other factors influence student decisions on where to go from Mexico?
MC: The kind of English, and also if they are going to be allowed to change the host family if they don’t feel comfortable with them. So Canada is a magnificent destination, because as you pay the host family you are allowed to be moved if something happens or if the student doesn’t feel comfortable with the family. And also related to this, if they don’t have the budget they don’t have any problem.
“Like my family, I like English. I have been trying to learn English for my whole life”
The PIE: How much demand is there for English in Mexico?
MC: It is in very, very, very high demand. It’s like generational wellness, you know? Because like my family, I like English. I have been trying to learn English for my whole life, but I never had the opportunity to travel abroad. So with each student and with my daughter, I make myself feel very happy sending them abroad. My daughters already speak better than me. And also my grandchildren, they are learning English right now to improve their parents and to improve me. So that’s what’s happening with other families. To be a professional, successful person, you need English. English is very important for the Mexican middle and upper middle class and to have their children learning English and improving.
