Mexican American Education In The 1920's

America was an expanding country which had acquired more than half of the territory that had once belonged to Mexico. Investments from capitalists of the nation had a purpose to monopolize the country and obtain the wealth for the elite class as they thought of themselves to be. Advancements in the industrial area led to an increase in agricultural and mining work. Although there are many discriminatory laws set to keep the “foreigners” (Mexicans) in the lower class, the Mexicans had an opportunity for a greater future, with increasingly better working conditions and wages, some form of legal representation in the United States, and a chance for their children to receive an education. South of the US border conditions for the lower class of

Once arriving to “el otro lado”, they would settle in to their jobs, and try to save up enough money for their children to attend school with hopes that they could one day amount to something great so that their kids would not have to work as hard as they did. “Without an education, a people are frozen into the lower castes” (Acuna, 168). From a film, there was a small excerpt where a field worker regrets the fact that he had not gotten an education because now he was restricted to very minimal possibilities to move up in life. During the early 1920’s there was a rise in nativism, where Anglos attempted to belittle the intelligence of Mexicans due to genetic and cultural inferiorities. “In defense of their culture Mexican Americans reacted organizationally […], in California they established escuelitas (private schools) throughout the state” (Acuna, 188). The escuelitas were an attempt at an establishment to provide an adequate education for the Mexican population. Wealthier people in other southwest states who could afford to proceed with law suits managed to get their children into the white schools, those who could not afford the legal fees boycotted the schools in hopes of reaching an