In 1965, the U.S. government was scrambling to replace agricultural laborers who had been lost after the Bracero guest worker program was ended. Officials turned to high school students, who were recruited under a program called “A-TEAM.” In a recent article for NPR, Gustavo Arellano investigates why the program failed and what the participants thought of their foray into farm work.

He talked to a participant who volunteered to work in melon fields in southern California and a historian about why the program failed and what it can tell us about the nature of migrant labor today.