SAN MARCOS -- Seeking to improve education for students on both sides of the border, nearly 300 teachers and administrators from Tijuana and San Diego gathered at Cal State San Marcos on Saturday for the third annual Border Pedagogy conference.

Under the theme of "We all share the same children," conferees said that so many migrant students are educated in both Mexico and California during their careers, that educators need to understand both systems and collaborate to make the community better on both sides.

"Children don't know borders," said Rodrigo Martinez, director of the Universidad Iberoamericana de Tijuana. He lauded the cooperative spirit of the conference Saturday. "When the will of the people of both sides of the border come together, beautiful things happen."

Participants said they sought to compare classroom experiences and methods and dispel myths and stereotypes -- not only stereotypes about the skills and capabilities of the students who cross the border, but of the ways education is done on each side.

"For example," said Margarita Luna Delgado, education professor at the Jesuit Universidad Iberoamericana de Tijuana, "the myth is that teachers in California, on the other side, have so many resources to work with. When we get teachers from Tijuana together with those teachers in San Diego, they learn that it's not necessarily so. And they find that money doesn't always make it better.

"And when you ask teachers from California what they need to make their programs better, they always say 'more money,' " she said. "But you take them to a school in Tijuana and teachers there will show them, 'look, if we don't have money, we can still teach.' It opens their eyes."

Most important of all, Luna said, is that the teachers and administrators realize while we share many of the same problems and issues, that they share many of the same students, the same opportunities and a common future.

Keynote speaker Carlos von Son, Spanish professor at Cal State San Marcos, said the students, educators and communities on ambos lados -- both sides -- are witnessing and participating in the making of a new border culture.

He said the culture is exemplified by the growing use of "Spanglish" -- a dialect combining Spanish and English words and constructions.

"I'm very proud of that," he said, adding that he wants his students to explore what makes then unique as border residents. "We're witnessing something that is enriching both cultures."

The participants of Saturday's conference were from mixed backgrounds, including education students, primary school teachers, high school teachers, doctoral students and education planners from both countries.

One school, the Lazaro Cardenas secondary school Tijuana, even sent 65 of its teachers to the conference.

"We have a lot of kids who are migrants," said Ann Ramos, an English immersion teacher of first-grade students at Laurel Elementary School in Oceanside.

"I'm always wondering … what kind of schooling happens over there," she said. "I want to understand where they are coming from."

After opening comments by Martinez, Roy McTarnaghan, interim president of Cal State San Marcos, and the superintendent of education for Baja California, Juan Jose Ramos Aguilera, the participants separated into small groups.

They began with four main themes, including the social and political context of the border; the language and cultural issues; how the surrounding border communities influence education; and how educational programs in the border region can shape the surrounding communities.

They experienced some of the struggles faced by students who cross the border as they struggled to understand each others' languages, experiences and culture in the small groups.

Some flowed easily where most participants were fluent in either Spanish or English and the conversation stuck to one or the other.

Other groups faltered, and inched along as some struggled along with the help of a bilingual translator at each table.

Still others got stuck on points of culture or politics, while adjacent groups got on like old friends.

"That's why we're here," said Juan Necochea, professor of education at Cal State San Marcos and conference organizer. "To meet face to face to talk about education. Whatever they want to talk about. It's all important."

Luna said some of what was shared and learned at the first at Cal State San Marcos conference in 2001, and last year at Universidad Iberoamericana in Tijuana has already been incorporated into teacher training programs in Tijuana and Mexicali.

She said she expects even more out of this year's meeting -- the biggest yet.

"If we look at the border and the children like one community," Luna said, "we can make it work."

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.