Aliso School: 'For the Mexican Children '

ALISO SCHOOL: 'FOR THE MEXICAN CHILDREN' tells the story of more than two decades of segregation in the elementary schools of Carpinteria, California, from the 1920s to 1947. It's a best-seller in Carpinteria, because this is the first time the Mexican-Americans in that community have been asked to talk about those days. "Thank you, John McCafferty, for telling our story. Until now, no one was interested," one member of that community said. Many of the Aliso students, now grandparents themselves, still have vivid memories of their school years -- the separate and unequal school building, the lack of encouragement for those who wanted to take college-prep courses, and the unwritten but enforced separation between themselves and the other children in town. They also remember those teachers who truly cared about them and helped them succeed in spite of the difficulties. Many California communities segregated the Mexican-American children into separate schools, a practice that ended in 1947 with a court decision in Orange County -- seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of black students was unconstitutional. Much has been written about that historic decision. Now, at last, California's own story is coming to light. McCafferty's book, with its extensive research and many interviews, should be read by all those who are interested in the history of public school education.