Education for Mexican-Americans, or Chicanos, was something that was fought long and hard for. Years of oppression and social inequality were ingredients for an unpleasant time of protest, and violence, and incriminating actions. For many years, Chicanos in California and the Southwest had to deal with segregation, police brutality, and unlawful convictions. The children were thought of as future laborers so they weren't taught with the same standards as other children. There was an ongoing struggle with Chicanos all over the country along with the African-Americans who felt cheated in similar ways to gain the civil rights that the Anglos had. These actions were eventually brought to the attention of The Supreme Court and overturned and set new standards for the events to come. .
The 1960's were a time of movement and struggle for the Chicanos in the United States. Chicano students felt that they were being deprived their education and that it was becoming a big problem. This had been the first time that they had actually begun making actions since there were some in college, and they realized that what was being done was unfair. High school students had begun to talk and begun to plan their walkouts. They had many reasons to act; they were unfairly judged and taught. Many children, in lower grades were being put in "Mexican schools" and would be punished for speaking Spanish. .
Bilingual education was a big concern that the Mexican parents wanted to address. The problem was the lack of bilingual education and the lack of government support and funding for it. Lyndon B. Johnson, the president of the U.S. at the time, felt that bilingual students lost valuable time learning English. (Acuna, 333) Many students were being put into special classes and classified as mentally retarded because they could not speak English. This went on and parents complained, but it was eventually stopped when a couple of parents from Santa Anna, California took their complaints to the Supreme Court.