8 percent of the total number of undergraduates and 1.1 percent of all graduates students. (Mariscal, George. Brown Eyed Children of the Sun. Lessons from Chicano Movement, 1965-1975. 2005). .
Once Chicano students identified the problems, they began to express themselves at school and amongst themselves after school. Some students went to the Student Body Council at their school and informed the schools of their requests. As the complaints went unheard, students began to organize outside of school in order to address the issues. "Student demands included the hiring of Mexicano instructors, counselors, and administrators; bilingual and bicultural education; and closer cooperation between schools and the barrio." The Chicano students decided to take action "on the morning of a beautiful spring day, 3 March 1968, on the streets of East Los Angeles when over a thousand students walked out of Abraham Lincoln High School, other schools in the area followed Garfield High School, Roosevelt High School, Lincoln High School and Wilson High School. "Later that day several thousand students walked out of five other predominantly Mexican American high schools, and by the end of the day ten thousand students had joined the strike. (Gonzales, Manuel. Mexicanos. A History of Mexicans in the United States. 2009 2nd Edition). .
In terms of numbers, it represented the first major mass protest ever undertaken by Mexican Americans." (Munoz, Carlos. Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement. 1989).The term "Blow Out" was used to signal to signal the students to walk out. The massive display of civil disobedience involved dozens of arrests and beatings by Los Angeles police officers. Members of University organizations such as United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and members of the militant Brown Berets aided in the student walk-outs. By the end of the week, more than 15,000 students had walkout out of classrooms throughout the city in solidarity with the demands of the striking students.
